Even top government official are trying to help rejuvenate the game, writes CLIFFORD COONANin Beijing
RENOVATIONS ARE going on at the Workers’ Stadium, home of the Chinese football champions, Beijing Guoan, and anoraked workers stick up posters extolling the virtues of the club – a sign that fortunes are picking up for the capital’s favourite team.
The Chinese are crazy about soccer, but the Beautiful Game has seen some ugly moments in recent years, as the super league has struggled to deal with illegal gambling rings, corrupt referees known as “black whistles” and accusations of match-fixing. To cap it all off, China’s national team has been dire.
But senior figures in the game and in the government are planning a counterattack to restore some of football’s glory in China.
“Chinese football has got some serious problems. It’s really been through a bad patch, but I think we are seeing signs of an upturn now,” says Zhang Lu, Guoan’s manager and vice-president of the club.
“We had difficulties in the management of the league, but now the government is paying a lot of attention to these issues and is coming up with practical and effective ways of dealing with the problems,” says Zhang, who is famous in China for his commentary on Italy’s Serie A league.
China’s legendary performance in the Olympics, topping the medal table, only makes its poor soccer performance look even worse, which is part of the reason why in recent weeks senior officials such as the president, Hu Jintao, vice-president Xi Jinping, and state councillor Liu Yandong have each mentioned the need to rejuvenate the game.
“The level of Chinese football is relatively low,” says Xi, who is widely considered to be Hu’s anointed successor. “But after wining so many golds in other sports at the Beijing games, China is determined to make its football go to the top level. But this might take a long time.” China is ranked a lowly 97th in the Fifa world rankings, and did not make it to the 2010 World Cup soccer finals in South Africa, but they are trying to claw their way back into Asia’s football elite.
Ordinary fans are frustrated with the state of the sport in China. “I used to watch Chinese soccer games. Even when I was 22 I went to the stadium with my father to watch a soccer game. But the games were boring and the teams didn’t play well,” says Xiaoxiao (26) from Shandong province, who prefers Italian football these days.
“I’m a little bit pessimistic about the outlook for Chinese soccer. It has many bureaucratic problems in its system. If it wants to become world class, Chinese soccer needs fundamental changes,” he says.
Meng Xiajie (29), a teacher from Beijing, is a major Manchester United supporter. “A long time ago I used to watch Chinese soccer games, like the national team or Beijing Guoan. But I have to say I was let down. They have so many problems. The players don’t play like true professionals, you have the ‘black whistles’, game-fixing, scandals, problems with the system . . . I feel sometimes Chinese soccer is hopeless. But still in my heart I hope one day we will have great Chinese players,” says Meng.
The main focus of the clean-up so far has been a crackdown on gambling rings. Gambling is illegal in China, and the dragnet thus far has netted a number of former top players and officials, and the men suspected of “manipulating domestic soccer matches through commercial bribery”.
“The ongoing campaign by the ministry of public security campaign against soccer gambling is beneficial for the image of the super league,” says an unnamed spokesman for China’s top league.
“A healthy league has always been one of the goals we pursue, and that includes opposing soccer gambling and all acts of gamesmanship. These acts are a serious cancer to the super league brand,” he says.
The signs are positive. Despite the poor performance of the national team, local teams still have wide support.
In 2009, 190 million viewers tuned into watch the super league, a record figure and a big rise from 137 million in 2008 and 144 million in 2007. And almost four million spectators went to watch the super league last year, with an average attendance in the stadiums of 16,300, again an increase on previous years.
The money is not comparable with the sums seen in England or Italy, where private TV companies pay big money to clubs for broadcast rights. Almost all football in China is carried on public television.
Most of the clubs’ income comes from sponsorship, and a number of big firms, such as the tyre-maker Pirelli, have become involved in sponsoring the league, despite the economic slowdown.
Beijing Guoan’s Zhang Lu reckons more needs to be done to improve the way referees are appointed.
“The system of appointing refs is very important, checking his credentials. He has to be trustworthy. All over the world it’s difficult to judge a referee, but there is no doubt in China that people from different interested parties try to bribe referees,” says Zhang.
To make the game more widely popular, children need to be encouraged to play.
“It’s not basketball we’re competing with. Chinese children don’t play games any more, they just study,” he says.
Zhang’s club’s biggest moment came when Honduran Emil Martinez grabbed a hat-trick and defender Zhou Ting added a penalty to beat Hangzhou Greentown 4-0, in front of 60,000 delirious spectators at the Workers’ Stadium. It was Beijing Guoan’s first championship since the professional national league was formed in 1994, and the capital erupted into wild celebrations.
The hope is that kind of elation can carry the football league through testing times.