Attitude to Sports In China

Im interested in hearing views on the "beautiful game" (thats soccer/football to the uninitiated ) in China.

I get the impression that it isnt a popular participant sport in China, Why? Is it because it lacks a Yao Ming or what? I use to watch the Chinese women play and they were pretty good, why cant the men be like that, well regionally anyway.
I realise your traditional games T/T, badminton are very popular but as China intermingles with the West, I would like to see China take on the WEst in their strong areas of sport. Now cricket in its many forms is becoming a very lucrative professional sport.

I am not sure if you are Chinese or not. If you are... you will know that this is one of the sore spot for the Chinese people... so called soccer stars are more interested in drinking, chasing after women than play the game well... etc

jwangyue said:

I am not sure if you are Chinese or not. If you are... you will know that this is one of the sore spot for the Chinese people... so called soccer stars are more interested in drinking, chasing after women than play the game well... etc

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No I am not Chinese, China isn't the only country that has troublesome sports stars.No person is greater than the sport, therefore it appears to be a problem of the soccer administraters.

International soccer (world cup, euro leagues) is extremely popular in China. During the world cup, productivity was down dramatically as everyone was staying up late to watch the matches. It basically became a de facto holiday.

Domestic soccer isn't nearly as popular as the domestic players are not that fun to watch, when compared to the international leagues, which are easily available.

Participation wise, soccer doesn't stand out as it does in many countries, but it isn't a lightweight either. Every college will have soccer fields, and highschools with enough real estate will too.

RedMercury said:

International soccer (world cup, euro leagues) is extremely popular in China. During the world cup, productivity was down dramatically as everyone was staying up late to watch the matches. It basically became a de facto holiday.

Domestic soccer isn't nearly as popular as the domestic players are not that fun to watch, when compared to the international leagues, which are easily available.

Participation wise, soccer doesn't stand out as it does in many countries, but it isn't a lightweight either. Every college will have soccer fields, and highschools with enough real estate will too.

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One has to start somewhere. Look at Africa, it was minnow when it came to international soccer 2 decades ago, and now its hosting a world cup, with many of its players playing in the European League.
I remember an article I read in Newsweek I think, about how Chinese sport was Govt directed, and many children saw it as a way to earn a good living.However with todays capatilistic lifestyle many children see other alternatives to make a good living than become a state sponsered sportsperson.
However with soccer and other professional sports if you are good enough, one can earn untold wealth by most Asian standards anyway.

I reckon if China applied itself it should be good enough to dominate the sport regionally, theres only Japan and Korea and now Australia that provide the serious competition.
One thing I have noticed though, In soccer,hockey, basketball, the players have the individual skill level to play in international level, but there appears to be an aversion with the rough stuff. eg Over the years Ive Watched NZ and Australia play China in Basketball and soccer,hockey and player to player you are better, but then we deliberately resort to the 'in your face hustle and other rough techniques, u get put off, and subsequently loose.

bladerunner said:

Im interested in hearing views on the "beautiful game" (thats soccer/football to the uninitiated ) in China.

I get the impression that it isnt a popular participant sport in China, Why? Is it because it lacks a Yao Ming or what? I use to watch the Chinese women play and they were pretty good, why cant the men be like that, well regionally anyway.
I realise your traditional games T/T, badminton are very popular but as China intermingles with the West, I would like to see China take on the WEst in their strong areas of sport. Now cricket in its many forms is becoming a very lucrative professional sport.

Click to expand...

china is beginning to challenge the west in their dominant sports. atheletics and swimming though not medal winners at least they are making appearance now through qualifications. and i dont get why china must prove its sporting dominance to the west, why cant the west prove themselves to china in china strong fields. every country has different strong fields in sports. cricket, hardly any nation plays that major ones are south africa, australia, england, new zealand, sri lanka. but other than that not many countries play it or know about it.

with that said im suprised how a rising superpower india with population of +1 billion only won 1 olympics medal in beijing. thats pretty sad when i think about it.

the 4 major euro leagues (spain, england, germany, and italy) are very popular in china in addition to the world cup and euro cup. on the other hand, people have given up on the chinese male national soccer team because of their poor performance (dropped from 52nd place during 2002 world cup to 100th place at end of last year). Most are still rather optimistic about the female team but they are still worse than back in 1999 (2nd place in world up).

the problem with the chinese national soccer team is not the coach, but the system. too much politics are involved in it, so the coach ended up with not that much power whereas the infamous (yes, infamous, hated by all chinese soccer fans) head of chinese football association usually had final say. and to add salt to the wound, he always make big impossible promises ahead of the games.

China is really good at diving, they should be able to figure out soccer soon enough.

(Sorry had to say it )

I know theres a lot of sports that give a lot of pleasure by just participating, but I was looking at it from the aspect of being able to make a good living from it.. Unfortunately most Olympic sports Like athletics, swimming, gymnastics, apart from for a few exceptional individuals like Phelps, only provide a modest return for most participating individuals.Some people even go as far as suggesting some sports like Basketball, tennis, shouldnt be included in the Olympics.
Unfortunately most Sports that have a very good financial return for the individual have their origins in the Western environment like cricket wherein the Indian sub Continent You can earn up to $1.5US million for 6 to 8 weeks), but on the other hand China has a large population and with increasingly affluent population a Successful Chinese sports star can get a lucrative payments for advertisements.
I notice Japan has its own heritage sport like Sumo Wrestling where one can do well financially, does China have anything like that?
WEll getting back to Soccer, its a pity the administration is ruining it for the aspiring payer and its supporters. It doest mean you cant compete in Future World Cups, Look at the USA where soccer is a nothing sport, it has competed in quite a few World cups.

^^ I did find this martial arts competition on Youtube: