Tibetan soccer searches for a level playing field

Players, coaches and administrators hope to overcome challenges of high altitude and lack of funds

On a rainy summer day in 1938, the first soccer match involving Tibetan players was contested by a team from Nepal and a group of young aristocrats in Lhasa.

The historic sporting event was described by renowned writer Sochung, in his article An Overview of Tibetan Soccer.

The match took place during a downpour, and the Tibetan nobility were followed around the ground by servants carrying umbrellas to prevent them getting soaked, wrote Sochung, who like many Tibetans only uses one name.

Two young servants were substituted half way through the match due to exhaustion.

Soccer was first brought to Gyalze county during the British invasion of Tibet in 1904, Sochung wrote.

In the early days, there was scant understanding of the rules and often they were made up by the players.

For instance, some of the young aristocrats developed a hybrid form of the game where they tried to kick the ball as high as possible. Though unconventional, it drew large crowds who craned their necks skyward following the ball's path, Sochung wrote.

Gyime, a retired soccer coach from Tibet University, said it wasn't until the 1950s that the sport started becoming popular. Players who had studied abroad returned home with genuine soccer skills and a proper understanding of the rules.

The Potala team was established and competed against clubs made up of monks and soldiers, and soccer's image as a game for the upper class began to fade as it gained wider acceptance across the Tibet autonomous region.

The democratic reforms of 1959, which freed Tibet from its feudal past, transformed every aspect of Tibetan society, and soccer evolved into a sport for the general public.

In the 1960s, Tibetan teams played in organized leagues outside the region for the first time.

"Soccer gradually became normalized in the 1970s in Tibet, with a regional team set up and regular games conducted in the region since then," Gyime said.

He said ethnic Han players joined Tibetan teams and soccer had its "glory days" in the 1970s and 1980s when it was enthusiastically embraced by fans and players.

"Without television or social media, people were very enthusiastic about the game. Now the passion for soccer is facing competition in Tibet from multiple choices of entertainment," Gyime said.