This post has absolutely nothing to do with Japan
It’s about soccer
Or footie, as the cool kids call it these days. Sunday evening, Cecil, Gavin, Marina and I headed over to Hongkou Stadium to watch some China Super League action. Shanghai Shenhua vs. Inter Shanghai, to be specific. This is called a derby. But it’s pronounced darby, I think. Now would be a good time to admit something: Living in Shanghai, I believe I have learned more British English than I have Chinese.
When I was around six years old, my mom bought me some new pajamas. The shirt had a picture of two guys playing soccer on it. And, since some 6-year-olds are stupid, it also had the word “SOCCER” printed in big bold letters. I threw a fit. Screaming. Crying. Why? Because I’m an American, Godammit! We hate soccer.
And then my family moved to England. The West Midlands. Sutton Coldfield. I attended the Penns Combined School — uniform required. Everything changed. I wore Adidas Sambas. I played Subuteo. I collected soccer sticker albums. I pulled for Aston Villa. I played soccer, excuse me, football — with a tennis ball, on blacktop — during recess. (I also played marbles, something called conkers … and got sent to the headmaster’s office because I somehow convinced a fellow second-grader to, inside our Ally McBeal-style co-ed bathroom, pull her knickers down. I still feel bad about that. Kind of.)
And then, after my dad’s year teaching at Birmingham Polytechnic came to a close, we moved back to America. I signed up for Little League baseball, stopped wearing my Sambas, and all was right with the world again. Soccer, aside from one ill-fated AYSO season in 1984, was out of my life. I think that’s why they voted me class president.
Eight years of bad fashions passed. And then, curiously, I attended a college that had a nationally ranked soccer team and no American football team. I attended many a match and my slow descent back to the dark side began. By the time I moved to Georgia in 1998, I was labeled a soccer sympathizer by my sports editor — he considered soccer a “commie sport.” Now, I live in Shanghai. There is no American football here. The pro basketball team plays in an ice box. And, in a city of nearly 20 million, the pro baseball team manages an average attendance of around 75. Soccer is the only show in town. Maybe my former sports editor was right.
But even soccer sometimes has a hard time drawing fans in a city full of diversions — especially when the league, like many things in China, has a reputation for being corrupt. Ever hear the term “black whistle”? There are three China Super League teams in Shanghai: Shenhua, Inter and Shanghai Zobon. Prior to this season, they were practically begging for fans.
And, at my first CSL game a little more than a week ago, it appeared as though they hadn’t begged enough. Aside from a chanting, jersey wearing, projectile throwing core group of fans that occupied an entire section of the lower level of Shanghai Stadium, the place was pretty much empty. Of course, it takes an awful lot of people to make an 80,000-seater look full.
One week later, at 35,000-seat Hongkou Stadium, the atmosphere was completely different — there was actually an atmosphere. The area around the stadium was abuzz. Traffic stood still. People stood everywhere — half of them, it appeared, were ticket scalpers. From inside the stadium, the crowd roared. And, for someone starved of almost any kind of sports action over the past two-and-a-half years, it was exciting. Hongkou Stadium even has concessions — oddly, a rarity at Chinese sporting events. Granted, the popcorn was sweet and the hot dogs came stuck on a stick, but it’s better than nothing.
How was the game itself? Well, Marina, a huge sports fan from the UK, explained it this way. If Shenhua, currently in third place in the CSL, was to face Arsenal, the final score would probably be around 10-0 [UPDATE: Marina just reminded me she said 10-1. Sorry.] … and that’s accounting for the fact that Shenhua probably would have at least two of the referees in their pocket. Thankfully, the best team in the CSL is from Dalian, not Highbury. So CSL games are often close. And boisterous, toilet-paper throwing crowds — especially at Shenhua’s Hongkou Stadium, especially when they’re playing a cross-city rival — keep things interesting. Dare I say it’s the best pro sports ticket you can buy in Shanghai.
Which, of course, isn’t saying much.
- Click here to watch a poorly shot (but brilliantly edited) 90-second video clip from the Shenhua-Inter game on Sunday. Gives you a good feel for the atmosphere at the match. (It’s a 9MB .mov file.)
- Photos from the two matches start here.
- Upcoming CSL matches in Shanghai are listed here. More Shanghai events can be found on the Shanghai metro page at Upcoming.org. (If you spot any mistakes in the CSL schedule, let me know. I pulled the info from sinosoc.com and they’ve already had one incorrect game time.)
- Starting tomorrow, I’ll be covering the BMW Asian Open golf tournament. It’s my first semi-real job in a long, long time. Good thing it ends on Sunday.
04.27.2005, 1:22 AM · Observations, Photos, Sports, Video
2 Comments
That 10-1 assumption was a bit exaggerated from my point of view. 5-1 will be more appropriate. Shenhua actually had defeated AC Millan 2-0 last year.
You stopped wearing your Sambas? Neil, if he ever met you, would never forgive. But he might, because you’re just a Yank…!