Chinese OSCs inc. Shenzhen Blues + Sun Jihai + China tours

I believe Sun Jiahi is still playing in top flight football at 36. Having just been exiled in China for a year, I shall make it my mission to go at see him play for Guizhou Renhe (they have a 55,000 seater stadium).

Down the road is Sven at Guangzhou R&F (at a ground for around 18000 souls) too. Hopefully I'll get to that game against Sun's team.

What I don't get here (Dongguan/Guangzhou areas) is how poorly followed or how small football is to people. Some people here have never seen a TV game and alot barely even know what soccer/football is. So, who is the Premier League marketing the game too? There is one TV channel (Guandong Sports) here show a selected UK 3pm kick-off at the weekend for free. Now, I have been here since the day after we played Norwich away (roughly 4 weeks) and have been showing off City, and football in general. The response has been very positive. Yet, one hour away is Hong Kong and they are football crazy there!

I understand the People's Republic of China has many different attitudes to sports and the like, but in a country as big as this (I'm overwhelmed by how large the cities are here) I'd have thought with their alternative access to social media (there are versions of everything found in the west and VPNs are normal) football could and should blossom here.

I know the Chinese Super League has strict rules on foreign players and UEFA also controls entrants from outside Europe but China could be a goldmine.

I literally shown one kid how to do kick-ups one day, and two weeks later he is still practicing. He can also shoot now, having fell over the ball the first time I shown him.

The PE teachers at my school just teach badminton, basketball, marching and athletics. I am now coaching them in how to coach basic football. I've been here for so little time, yet everyone I meet wants to try this new-fangled sport that is football.

Some lads I know are up in Inner Mongolia and I have friends in Beijing, yet football pitches, clubs and shirts are rare.

2002, South Korea and Japan, was the first world cup held in Asia. The next possible date for a tournament here could be 2030. The newest host selection policy is that any country may bid for a World Cup, provided that their continental confederation has not hosted either of the past two World Cups. Qatar belongs to the Asia continental confederation. After their spectacular Beijing Olympics, surely now is the time for the powerhouse of China to bid for the World Cup.

I doubt they will. They're export list to the Premier League stands at 5 players.

Dong Fangzhuo – Manchester U****d F.C. – 2006–07
Li Tie – Everton F.C. – 2002–04
Li Weifeng – Everton F.C. – 2002–03
Sun Jihai – Manchester City F.C. – 2002–08
Zheng Zhi – Charlton Athletic F.C. – 2006–07

Couple in the factor of recent scandals and match fixing, this presents problems for China.

But, here is a country devoid of footballing academies. Here is a country where drilling, practicing and perfecting go hand in hand with success. There is so much potential here.

If City are to be global, a solid partnership with a club and academy network would enhance our Asian presence. I haven't seen any football shirts out here yet, just basketball and athletics jerseys. Not even a dirty red fan (which is perfect).

We have a presence globally in North America (New York City FC ), Australasia (Melbourne Heart FC), Europe (Aarhus; Espanyol; Gil Vicente;Limerick ) and Africa (Right to Dream Academy; Mpumalanga Black Aces) but after a

Great thread this,so interesting.

Bought flights to see City in Shanghai a few years ago for me and our kid and he had some probs at the last minute so we couldnt go,was gutted.

Can I ask,I have been told by mates that have been that they found Chinese people to be quite rude,is that true or is it just Brits being precious?
 
Great thread this,so interesting.

Bought flights to see City in Shanghai a few years ago for me and our kid and he had some probs at the last minute so we couldnt go,was gutted.

Can I ask,I have been told by mates that have been that they found Chinese people to be quite rude,is that true or is it just Brits being precious?

Chinese people have a tendency to scream at each other and at everyone else.. In particular at me when I tried to order a "plucked chicken special" that somehow in Cantonese refers to shaved genitals or so I was told later.
Anyway.. They screamed a lot
 
Great thread this,so interesting.

Bought flights to see City in Shanghai a few years ago for me and our kid and he had some probs at the last minute so we couldnt go,was gutted.

Can I ask,I have been told by mates that have been that they found Chinese people to be quite rude,is that true or is it just Brits being precious?
China is one of my favourite places to visit
I've been there three times now and the people have always been great with us
Last time we were there we watched City V Arsenal at the Birds Nest stadium and then travelled round the country from there.
It's a fantastic place and I've only scratched at the surface, I'd love to go and spend a year or so there
 
China is one of my favourite places to visit
I've been there three times now and the people have always been great with us
Last time we were there we watched City V Arsenal at the Birds Nest stadium and then travelled round the country from there.
It's a fantastic place and I've only scratched at the surface, I'd love to go and spend a year or so there

Hi Squirty! how you doing mate?
I'll be going back to China late July / early August, been stuck in sunny Salford since last July for reasons that I won't go into here; I did get over for a couple of weeks in February for Chinese New Year and our wedding anniversary, went up to Beicheng to see the mother in law, bit chilly but decent people there as well.

Anyway, China is of course a huge place and it depends very much on the region how the locals behave. Personally I love Dalian, never had any problems there and although it is a small provincial city (7.5 million population or thereabouts) I've always found the locals to be polite, in fact my missus moans at me for being a grumpy old sod!

It's a few years since I last visited Shenzhen but the attitude there was totally different, I put that down to it being the gateway to Hong Kong.

Btw, the park in the middle of Dalian has a huge football in it, there's a restaurant inside apparently but last time I passed by it was all locked up.

I can't say that I've ever noticed Chinese people screaming at each other anywhere I've been to be honest, but I suppose with such a huge population even a small percentage of 'screamers' would be a significant number of people.

After the Bird's Nest game we headed over to Dalian where coincidentally (cough) there was an international beer festival...

I clicked on this thread as I was hoping that City were visiting again, hope they do before long!
 
Hi Squirty! how you doing mate?
I'll be going back to China late July / early August, been stuck in sunny Salford since last July for reasons that I won't go into here; I did get over for a couple of weeks in February for Chinese New Year and our wedding anniversary, went up to Beicheng to see the mother in law, bit chilly but decent people there as well.

Anyway, China is of course a huge place and it depends very much on the region how the locals behave. Personally I love Dalian, never had any problems there and although it is a small provincial city (7.5 million population or thereabouts) I've always found the locals to be polite, in fact my missus moans at me for being a grumpy old sod!

It's a few years since I last visited Shenzhen but the attitude there was totally different, I put that down to it being the gateway to Hong Kong.

Btw, the park in the middle of Dalian has a huge football in it, there's a restaurant inside apparently but last time I passed by it was all locked up.

I can't say that I've ever noticed Chinese people screaming at each other anywhere I've been to be honest, but I suppose with such a huge population even a small percentage of 'screamers' would be a significant number of people.

After the Bird's Nest game we headed over to Dalian where coincidentally (cough) there was an international beer festival...

I clicked on this thread as I was hoping that City were visiting again, hope they do before long!
Hi there mate, good to hear from you
I'm in semi-retirement now, so that I can spend some time getting to European games.

When we met you we then went on to Chongquing for a three valleys cruise, then Hong Kong, back to Xian and finished in Chengdu.
We were looking at going over next year, based in Chengdu and then heading up to Tibet, then through to Nepal. But I can see it being delayed for two years now.
Touring Cambodia this year for our Far East fix.
 
Hi there mate, good to hear from you
I'm in semi-retirement now, so that I can spend some time getting to European games.

When we met you we then went on to Chongquing for a three valleys cruise, then Hong Kong, back to Xian and finished in Chengdu.
We were looking at going over next year, based in Chengdu and then heading up to Tibet, then through to Nepal. But I can see it being delayed for two years now.
Touring Cambodia this year for our Far East fix.

Have to catch up for a pint sometime, although I'm hoping to be finally relocating to Dalian this year.

I forgot to mention that Karl (Irish rag, owner of Paddy's) has sold the place to a French bloke, just not the same so The Den is once again the preferred watering hole in Beijing (it's pure coincidence that it's metres away from Hooters)
 
The people here are so welcoming - Beijingers are a bit like Parisians - but on the whole everyone is ace.
I'm seeing more and more City shirts popping up and more football presence.

936666_10153041130000760_6739975936934187457_n.jpg

10672138_10153198644095760_714604942995100065_n.jpg

A mate built his own pitch on a factory roof!
10675769_10153198644695760_3010330677949041039_n.jpg


Just look out for Hitler FC!!! http://heredg.com/2015/05/team-hitler-an-odd-encounter-with-the-worlds-most-infamous-mascot/
10915296_10153537519590760_1860427636371547341_o.jpg


My team played against a team in City away kits - oddly one lad on our team was too cold at 15C and wore this flowery effort... (that's me at the back, a fat and bald Danny Mills in green)


10502048_10153964212835760_6625072421923634266_n.jpg
 
I was there in june 89, when it all kicked of in tiannamen, I swore I would never set foot in the country ever again and I wont
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.