Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion have been in trouble with Chinese fans over an erroneous post featuring star forward Kaoru Mitoma and an academy graduate.
Brighton & Hove Albion were forced to issue a flustered apology to their Chinese supporters over a post featuring notorious Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda. The post shared on X featured star forward Kaoru Mitoma and academy players.
Both were shown holding football cards featuring Onoda, a former Imperial Japanese Army officer. He became known in Japan after World War II for being the last soldier to surrender in 1974 after intervention from his former superiors.
A post featuring Onoda went viral on Chinese social networking site Weibo, with many users expressing their anger. Brighton has since deleted the post.
A statement said: “The club sincerely apologizes for the offense caused in China by recent posts regarding our academy’s participation in the Premier League’s Christmas Truce Tournament. We value our Chinese fans very much and it was never our intention to cause offense.”
The post was reported to be a genuine falsehood, as the Seagulls were attempting to promote the fact that the Under-12 team, who won the Premier League Education Project, were scheduled to compete in the Christmas Truce Cup in Belgium.
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The Premier League describes the Christmas Truce Cup as a tournament that “offers academy Under-12 players the opportunity to test their footballing talent against Europe’s top clubs while gaining a deeper understanding of the historical events that shaped our world”.
Onoda’s position has remained controversial since the surrender. Although he was initially hailed as a hero in his homeland, he is vilified in China due to the numerous atrocities committed against the country by the Imperial Japanese Army during the war.
Onoda also killed 30 civilians in the Philippines, mistaking them for enemy troops. He hid in Japan after World War II, believing that the announcement that the war was over was a deception from Japan’s enemies.
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He was thought to have died in 1959, but was found alive in the Philippines. Onoda eventually passed away in January 2014 in Tokyo at the age of 91.
Aside from their participation in the Christmas Truce Cup, Brighton have made a strong start to the season under manager Fabian Hürzeler. The Seagulls are currently fifth in the Premier League after a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest at the weekend.
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