Chinese ‘traitors’ wearing Son Heung-min shirts mobbed by angry home fans during loss to South Korea
- Videos go viral on social media showing fans in Tottenham jerseys being subjected to physical and verbal abuse in the stands in Shenzhen
- Several supporters wearing Son shirts escorted out of stands by police and called ‘traitors’ by national team fans
Chinese fans wearing Son Heung-min football jerseys were subjected to abuse as China lost 3-0 to South Korea in their Fifa World Cup qualifier.
The 31-year-old forward had been mobbed by home fans and given a hero’s welcome when he arrived at the airport with his international teammates in China this week.
But video footage emerged on the Chinese social media platform Weibo after the match showing multiple unsavoury incidents involving fans wearing replica Tottenham shirts bearing Son’s name at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre.
One Chinese fan wearing a white Spurs jersey in the home stands during the match was seen seemingly making provocative gestures to other fans.
Another video showed him being mobbed and grabbed by angry supporters in China national team shirts.
In another video, he was then seen taking the shirt off and holding it up in the air, but was booed and had water bottles thrown at him by supporters in the same section.
He was later taken away by security, according to video footage on Weibo, and popular Chinese football commentator Sun Yuxuan had little sympathy.
“At the home game of the national football team, holding up the jersey to provoke the home fans is purely asking for trouble,” Son wrote to his 2.1 million followers on his Weibo microblog.
Other videos also went viral on social media showing two Chinese fans of Son being escorted out of the stadium by police after the match.
Pictures showed they had been wearing Son jerseys in the stands and were involved in physical altercations with other fans.
But their jerseys were now concealed with jackets as a large group of angry home fans surrounded them outside the stadium, calling them traitors and throwing projectiles.
One person was seen aiming a kick at one of the fans, prompting the police and the fans to start running away as an angry mob chased them.
“Switching to a No 7 Tottenham jersey, you are arrogant for a while and sad later,” a user on Weibo wrote regarding the incident. “As a Chinese, you can wear the uniform you like, you can also like your stars, and you can cheer for your favourite team, but you cannot despise and provoke the Chinese, because you are also Chinese.”
Other social media users commended the behaviour of the angry home supporters, and said the Son fans were lucky they did not get seriously hurt.
“If you dare to do this in the Premier League home fan zone, you won’t be able to see the sun tomorrow,” read a comment on one of the videos.
“Why doesn’t he wear a Tottenham jersey and sit in the Arsenal stands? Then I respect him as a man,” another user joked.
“If you ask for a hammer, you will be hammered. Maybe you want to be famous and want to go crazy,” someone else said, while another comment insisted that “no other country would tolerate this! They deserve it”.
Another user said “it’s wrong to hit someone” but that what the fans were wearing was “obviously intentional”.
“If you just walk quietly, it wouldn’t be like this,” read a response. “As long as there are no obvious unfriendly behaviours, it should be fine. Many people go there to chase stars. The premise of chasing stars is not to cause discomfort to others.”
