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Sunday 24 January 2010
Detentions give sport’s followers new hope
Mainland sportswriters and journalists were exhilarated yesterday, claiming they had finally discovered the root cause of the country’s substandard soccer performance.
Mainland sportswriters and journalists were exhilarated yesterday, claiming they had finally discovered the root cause of the country’s substandard soccer performance.
The interrogation of top officials at the Chinese Football Association, the biggest development yet in a months-long police crackdown on soccer-related crimes, has opened a window of opportunity for the nation’s most popular but scandal-plagued game, they said.
In an expansion of an inquiry into corruption and match-fixing in the sport, Nan Yong, the de facto chief of the government-backed association, was taken away by Shenyang police for questioning, along with two of his senior aides.
The fact that the Ministry of Public Security went public to confirm wide speculation that top soccer leaders may have been implicated in ongoing cases is unprecedented.
Observers of the sport said it underscored the seriousness of the cases and revealed the true scale of corruption in the game.
“But it is by no means a bad thing for the sport,” said Jin Shan, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.
“It is great news because after years of soul-searching, we have finally come to understand that instead of soccer skills, tactics or the physical condition of our players, corruption is the main culprit for our woeful standard of play and poorly organised professional leagues.”
Li Chengpeng - a popular soccer columnist who co-wrote The Inside Story of Chinese Soccer, a recent book on the rampant corruption in the sport - agreed.
“We have realised that our players should not be blamed the most for China’s repeated failure to achieve qualification for the World Cup finals,” he said. “Now we have been told that it was official corruption that has almost destroyed the ‘Beautiful Game’. No doubt it is also an indictment of our [sports and political] system as a whole.”
Ma Dexing, a well-known soccer writer, noted the rare police move came amid intense public interest in the anti-corruption probe.
Although it remained too early to say whether the officials were guilty, it showed the central government’s determination to root out corruption and other crimes in the sport, he said.
“It can do no harm to China’s soccer, which has already been at its worst anyway,” Ma said.
Rather, he said the anti-graft campaign would help rekindle public confidence in the sport and attract more business sponsors. “A lot of people have been scared away by rampant corruption and opaque rules in the sport, and combating corruption is in the interest of the billion-dollar soccer business,” he said.
But others said the latest detentions in the inquiry were likely to be the tip of the iceberg.
“We hope the investigation can be carried forward, although it must be difficult and it means more heads will roll, because a thorough investigation is the last hope for the scandal-rocked soccer,” Li said.
Both Jin and Li said it was time for sports officials, players and researchers to think about what is the next step for soccer. “The damage to the game from corruption, gambling and match-fixing involving top officials is devastating. We have to tackle the problems at the very root,” Jin said.
But Ma cautioned against such rosy predictions, saying that like the political system, the sports system was unlikely to change soon.
Although corruption is also a big problem in many other sports, there is no sign that the anti-corruption campaign will have a spill-over effect.
Still, the secretive probe, the details of which remain murky, has offered few clues about how soccer can recover, as state leaders have demanded recently.
President Hu Jintao, Vice-President Xi Jinping and State Councillor Liu Yandong have expressed their disappointment at the low standard of the national team.
Looking ahead, Xi said China would one day produce a team capable of winning championships - but admitted that it would “take a long time”.
1 comment:
Detentions give sport’s followers new hope
Shi Jiangtao in Beijing
22 January 2010
Mainland sportswriters and journalists were exhilarated yesterday, claiming they had finally discovered the root cause of the country’s substandard soccer performance.
The interrogation of top officials at the Chinese Football Association, the biggest development yet in a months-long police crackdown on soccer-related crimes, has opened a window of opportunity for the nation’s most popular but scandal-plagued game, they said.
In an expansion of an inquiry into corruption and match-fixing in the sport, Nan Yong, the de facto chief of the government-backed association, was taken away by Shenyang police for questioning, along with two of his senior aides.
The fact that the Ministry of Public Security went public to confirm wide speculation that top soccer leaders may have been implicated in ongoing cases is unprecedented.
Observers of the sport said it underscored the seriousness of the cases and revealed the true scale of corruption in the game.
“But it is by no means a bad thing for the sport,” said Jin Shan, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.
“It is great news because after years of soul-searching, we have finally come to understand that instead of soccer skills, tactics or the physical condition of our players, corruption is the main culprit for our woeful standard of play and poorly organised professional leagues.”
Li Chengpeng - a popular soccer columnist who co-wrote The Inside Story of Chinese Soccer, a recent book on the rampant corruption in the sport - agreed.
“We have realised that our players should not be blamed the most for China’s repeated failure to achieve qualification for the World Cup finals,” he said. “Now we have been told that it was official corruption that has almost destroyed the ‘Beautiful Game’. No doubt it is also an indictment of our [sports and political] system as a whole.”
Ma Dexing, a well-known soccer writer, noted the rare police move came amid intense public interest in the anti-corruption probe.
Although it remained too early to say whether the officials were guilty, it showed the central government’s determination to root out corruption and other crimes in the sport, he said.
“It can do no harm to China’s soccer, which has already been at its worst anyway,” Ma said.
Rather, he said the anti-graft campaign would help rekindle public confidence in the sport and attract more business sponsors. “A lot of people have been scared away by rampant corruption and opaque rules in the sport, and combating corruption is in the interest of the billion-dollar soccer business,” he said.
But others said the latest detentions in the inquiry were likely to be the tip of the iceberg.
“We hope the investigation can be carried forward, although it must be difficult and it means more heads will roll, because a thorough investigation is the last hope for the scandal-rocked soccer,” Li said.
Both Jin and Li said it was time for sports officials, players and researchers to think about what is the next step for soccer. “The damage to the game from corruption, gambling and match-fixing involving top officials is devastating. We have to tackle the problems at the very root,” Jin said.
But Ma cautioned against such rosy predictions, saying that like the political system, the sports system was unlikely to change soon.
Although corruption is also a big problem in many other sports, there is no sign that the anti-corruption campaign will have a spill-over effect.
Still, the secretive probe, the details of which remain murky, has offered few clues about how soccer can recover, as state leaders have demanded recently.
President Hu Jintao, Vice-President Xi Jinping and State Councillor Liu Yandong have expressed their disappointment at the low standard of the national team.
Looking ahead, Xi said China would one day produce a team capable of winning championships - but admitted that it would “take a long time”.
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