Messi match organiser faces mounting pressure for refunds, as Hong Kong lawmaker threatens to take complaints to court
- Lawmaker Bill Tang warns more than a dozen people ready to file complaints to court if Tatler Asia does not offer proper explanation over Messi’s failure to play
- Messi playing in Japan but remaining on bench for whole game in city sparked speculation from political analysts, with one suspecting incident orchestrated by ‘foreign forces’
Public pressure for refunds is mounting against the organiser of a football match featuring Inter Miami in Hong Kong as a lawmaker has threatened to take complaints to court within a week if Tatler Asia failed to give a proper explanation over star Lionel Messi’s failure to play.
Messi played in Japan but remained on the bench for the whole game in Hong Kong, which sparked further speculation by analysts, including an opinion piece by mainland Chinese newspaper Global Times, which said it suspected the incident was orchestrated by “foreign forces”.
Lawmaker Bill Tang Ka-piu on Thursday delivered an ultimatum outside the Small Claims Tribunal in West Kowloon and said more than a dozen people were ready to file their claims if Tatler Asia did not explain the reasons for Messi staying on the bench within a week and give refunds to those who paid more than HK$3,000 (US$384) each for tickets.
The city’s consumer watchdog had logged 1,178 complaints linked to ticket sales for Sunday’s friendly between Inter Miami and a Hong Kong XI, including 234 from tourists, by 5pm on Thursday. Claims have snowballed to about HK$8.1 million in total.
Tang said it was in the Consumer Council’s power to pressure Tatler to offer the public an explanation, as the organiser was suspected of violating the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
“Picking the legal battle with Tatler is to find out whether a contract signed between Tatler and Inter Miami indicated that Messi must play in the match,” he said.
“If there was no such agreement, then Tatler scammed every Hongkonger.”
