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Playing fair is the name of the game

By Hong Liang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-17 07:44

The decidedly lackluster performance of the national football team in the World Cup qualifying matches has saddened the heart of many a football fan.

Much has been written about the problems, real or imagined, that have plagued the managers, coaches and players. None of those matters a whit to us football fans.

What has outraged us most was that our team not only played badly in many matches, but also played roughly, behaving, sometimes, like a bunch of ruffians. In the latest game played against Qatar, a Middle East country with a population no larger than a district in Beijing, the Chinese national team not only lost but, worse still, accrued four yellow cards and one red card for fouling.

As expected, some overly zealous fans have blamed the loss of the Chinese side in that game, as in some previous lost games, on the referees for taking sides. Some commentators have gone as far as accusing the international football governing bodies for ganging up against the Chinese team.

Meanwhile, almost all commentators have leveled their criticisms against what they called "the system" which they said has ruined what is arguably the country's most popular spectator sport. While there is a universal cry for heads at the Chinese Football Association, or CFA, to roll, everybody seems to agree that there is no easy solution to the problems.

But we can always start somewhere. Although I love watching football, I, like most other fans, have neither the time nor the interest to learn the system that governs the sport in China. But instead of attacking any person or organization in particular, perhaps we should spare a thought on what football, or any other sport for that matter, is all about.

It is, of course, about sportsmanship.

In any sport, winning is important, and I can certainly understand why so many Chinese football fans are obsessed about the scores. But the problem is that such single-minded obsession has put an almost unbearable pressure on the officials and players of the Chinese national team, forcing them into occasional lapses of judgment in the desperate attempt to satisfy the fans' lust for goals. In so doing, they have more than once lent a less-than-spotless sheen to the sport we love so much.

CFA was reported to have deliberately picked a high-altitude city to host a match against Australia with the intent to put the visiting team at a disadvantage, while sending the home team for training on the location months before the match was scheduled to take place. The choice was widely hailed by the local press as a clever strategy, although this may not have been CFA's intent whatsoever.

Clever or not, a strategy like that was definitely not in the spirit of sportsmanship which calls for, among other things, giving your opponent a fair chance. That match was a draw. But even if the Chinese team had won, I wonder how much pleasure and satisfaction the players and fans, believing rightly or wrongly in the rumored intent of the strategy, could have derived from such a victory.

We love football because it is a potentially violent game played according to a strict set of rules that are seen to be fair and equitable to both sides. Some people often compare this with the free enterprise environment of Hong Kong that is designed to offer a level playing field for all.

In business as in sports, victory is sweet only if the game is fair. So, give our players a break. It's okay to lose as long as they play hard and play fair.

E-mail: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/17/2008 page8)