Heavyweight task force named to tackle soccer corruption
Choi Chi-yuk 27 January 2010
Liu Peng thinks he knows what’s wrong with soccer on the mainland - and as the minister for sport, he hopes he has the cure.
A vicious cycle had developed between the low quality of play and repeated scandals involving match-fixing, gambling and corruption, he reportedly said yesterday.
The result was an angry public and a bottleneck that restricted the development of the sports industry and the establishment of China as a world-class sports power, the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News quoted Liu, minister in charge of the General Administration of Sports, as telling dozens of regional sports officials attending a conference in Beijing.
Liu named a task force of unprecedented strength - involving three ministries, his agency and three others - to crack down on corruption in the game by streamlining the supervision of professional soccer.
The other task force members are from the Public Security Ministry, the Civil Affairs Ministry, the Justice Ministry, People’s Bank of China, the State Administration of Taxation and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Liu pledged four measures to tackle the problems.
First, his agency would spare no effort to support and co-operate with the police in curbing match-rigging and soccer gambling. Recent events have shown the magnitude of the problems.
A report by a Shandong television station cited industry insiders as saying that Nan Yong, sacked last week as vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association after police took him in for questioning about corruption, had accepted 500,000 yuan (HK$568,000) to bribe referees in the country’s top league.
In a blog for the Guangzhou-based Information Times, Li Chengpeng, one of the mainland’s best-known soccer columnists, predicted Nan would not be the highest-level official brought down by the campaign. “I don’t believe Xie Yalong and Yan Shiduo [two former Chinese Football Association presidents] are clean. I dare say they used their power for improper purposes.”
Liu said the administration would also explore new policies and measures for managing professional clubs, and improve the quality of national teams at all levels by introducing a new event for teenage boys and girls at the National Games and by allocating 40 million yuan to set up and promote national soccer leagues in primary and middle schools.
Liu said more than 2,200 primary and middle schools in 42 cities had been selected for a pilot scheme for the teenage soccer league to train potential talent.
Liu Xiaoxin, chief editor of Guangzhou-based Soccer News, said he was optimistic about the sweeping campaign.
“The industry will either become prosperous or wither with no official attempt to carry out any type of reform anymore,” he said.
“For me, there is at least a possibility that the soccer industry in our country can be revived after the crackdown, or it may remain gloomy forever.”
The spirits of millions of Chinese soccer fans have been lifted by the current crackdown and by the remarks of President Hu Jintao and Vice-President Xi Jinping about the need to improve soccer. However, Liu Xiaoxin’s enthusiasm about the minister’s blueprint was not shared by every mainland soccer fan.
“As a fan of China’s national team, I think we will never taste the ecstasy of victory,” said Guo Lei, a 23-year-old from Beijing.
“‘Settle the problem by starting with the children’ is a cliche that I heard when I was a child,” she said. “But have they even minimally changed things in this regard? Nothing! It has been too complicated an issue that can’t be solved by pouring in money, or by setting up a disciplinary task force.”
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Heavyweight task force named to tackle soccer corruption
Choi Chi-yuk
27 January 2010
Liu Peng thinks he knows what’s wrong with soccer on the mainland - and as the minister for sport, he hopes he has the cure.
A vicious cycle had developed between the low quality of play and repeated scandals involving match-fixing, gambling and corruption, he reportedly said yesterday.
The result was an angry public and a bottleneck that restricted the development of the sports industry and the establishment of China as a world-class sports power, the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News quoted Liu, minister in charge of the General Administration of Sports, as telling dozens of regional sports officials attending a conference in Beijing.
Liu named a task force of unprecedented strength - involving three ministries, his agency and three others - to crack down on corruption in the game by streamlining the supervision of professional soccer.
The other task force members are from the Public Security Ministry, the Civil Affairs Ministry, the Justice Ministry, People’s Bank of China, the State Administration of Taxation and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Liu pledged four measures to tackle the problems.
First, his agency would spare no effort to support and co-operate with the police in curbing match-rigging and soccer gambling. Recent events have shown the magnitude of the problems.
A report by a Shandong television station cited industry insiders as saying that Nan Yong, sacked last week as vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association after police took him in for questioning about corruption, had accepted 500,000 yuan (HK$568,000) to bribe referees in the country’s top league.
In a blog for the Guangzhou-based Information Times, Li Chengpeng, one of the mainland’s best-known soccer columnists, predicted Nan would not be the highest-level official brought down by the campaign. “I don’t believe Xie Yalong and Yan Shiduo [two former Chinese Football Association presidents] are clean. I dare say they used their power for improper purposes.”
Liu said the administration would also explore new policies and measures for managing professional clubs, and improve the quality of national teams at all levels by introducing a new event for teenage boys and girls at the National Games and by allocating 40 million yuan to set up and promote national soccer leagues in primary and middle schools.
Liu said more than 2,200 primary and middle schools in 42 cities had been selected for a pilot scheme for the teenage soccer league to train potential talent.
Liu Xiaoxin, chief editor of Guangzhou-based Soccer News, said he was optimistic about the sweeping campaign.
“The industry will either become prosperous or wither with no official attempt to carry out any type of reform anymore,” he said.
“For me, there is at least a possibility that the soccer industry in our country can be revived after the crackdown, or it may remain gloomy forever.”
The spirits of millions of Chinese soccer fans have been lifted by the current crackdown and by the remarks of President Hu Jintao and Vice-President Xi Jinping about the need to improve soccer. However, Liu Xiaoxin’s enthusiasm about the minister’s blueprint was not shared by every mainland soccer fan.
“As a fan of China’s national team, I think we will never taste the ecstasy of victory,” said Guo Lei, a 23-year-old from Beijing.
“‘Settle the problem by starting with the children’ is a cliche that I heard when I was a child,” she said. “But have they even minimally changed things in this regard? Nothing! It has been too complicated an issue that can’t be solved by pouring in money, or by setting up a disciplinary task force.”
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