Do people care about the beautiful game in China?
These people do! They call themselves 御林军 yu lin ju (imperial guards or elite troops) and are one of a few hardcore fan groups that follow the Chinese team Beijing Guo An. Despite the stadium being mostly empty these fans sing chant and cheer almost non stop throughout the game. After reading the excellent Bamboo Goalposts I thought it might be an idea to try and document the beautiful game here in China.
Despite China’s much publicized dark era in football, the national team did not qualify for the 2010 World Cup and the ex head of the Chinese Football Association, Nan Yong, is currently in prison on bribery charges, there are loyal fans. Not many but they do exist. Things could be looking up though as Wei Di the new head of the CFA seems to have the right idea focusing on developing young players and getting the game into schools. It’s a tall order and one that I hope the government and more importantly the public will be patient with.
10 Comments
July 8, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Yes, Chinese football is the Nation’s shame.
July 8, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Yes a shame indeed but one that I hope they sort out. However technically in breach of Fifa regulations as the CFA is under the control of the government. Would be interesting to see if FIFA would just kick them out and then they’d be forced to sort out their house or play football in isolation. Pretty sure that won’t happen though so I’m hoping the new CFA boss starts to get football into schools and people start encouraging kids to participate in sports in general instead of focusing purely on test scores and academia.
July 8, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I can imagine what it’d be like if china would be playing in world cup, the country is never never lack of soccer buffs..
July 8, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Yes lots of people love the game. I hope they do qualify for the 2014 World Cup but if they don’t I hope they stick with the grass roots football program
July 9, 2010 at 12:41 am
Hey Pete
Awesome shots, what was the atmosphere like in the stadium?
talk soon
dave
July 9, 2010 at 5:50 am
Have you seen this Facebook group? You should meet up with him if you ever want to go to a Shenhua game!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=9948560577&ref=ts
July 9, 2010 at 9:49 am
Thanks for stopping by and having a look. The atmsosphere was a bit patchy certain sections of the stadium are filled with these fans who make noise all game long but large parts of the ground are empty. Also as distances are quite big there aren’t usually many away fans. We should catch up soon
July 9, 2010 at 9:50 am
Thanks for the suggestion yes looking forward to the Guo An Shenhua game should be a biggy. How’s life back in Blighty?
August 1, 2010 at 5:56 pm
hi petey,
very nice pictures indeed! much like the atmosphere in southern sudan when i play with the kenyan contingent of UNMIS:-D
August 3, 2010 at 12:33 am
Hey Georg thanks for the comment. The fans really do get into it. They are playing Barcelona next week hoping to get tickets and watch with these fans. Also the photography workshops were featured in the China Daily today!