SINGAPORE: Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo acknowledged that he “probably should have been more respectful” after being caught referring to Hong Kong players and fans as “idiots” following the Asian Cup qualifier between Singapore and Hong Kong on Nov 18.
Following the Lions’ historic 2-1 away win at the Kai Tak Stadium, which sealed Asian Cup qualification for the first time on merit, Neo was seen in a video circulating online telling the players: “It was fantastic, the team was fantastic. You kena pressured by them, all the fans were bloody idiots, end up players also played like idiots... But you all played like lions.”
In response to an Instagram commenter who suggested his words were “totally out of order”, Neo responded saying: “Indeed I probably should have been more respectful. I take back what I said.
“The Hong Kong team were really tough and their fans were fully behind them. That’s something we should respect, and let’s also get behind our Lions.”
Hong Kong were backed by a vociferous 47,762-strong home crowd, but ultimately came up short in the winners-take-all match, which saw the Lions qualify for the Asian Cup for the first time since 1984, when they were hosts.
The clip appeared to be taken in the dressing room after the match.
Neo’s own Instagram account also featured him addressing the players in the same setting, but that video showed the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth telling the team “we really made history tonight” to a raucous reaction from the players.
There were mixed responses in the Instagram post.
Said aw04d4wat: “What’s said in the dressing room, should’ve stayed in the dressing room. Let’s move on. Let’s not let this distract us from the real goal of improving Singapore football.”
“To be fair, the speech in the Hong Kong locker room would have been 1,000 times more colourful,” added dominicpoon.
However, briearn called the incident “very bad sportsmanship”.
On the pitch, world No. 148 Hong Kong started the brighter of the two sides, opening the scoring in the 15th minute through Matt Orr but squandered several chances to widen their lead by half-time.
Singapore regrouped to fight back in the second half, with goals by Shawal Anuar and Ilhan Fandi enough to seal qualification for the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia as Group C winners. - The Straits Times/ANN
