The more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed the glaring absence of a football field from the large, if faded, sports field, which clearly includes a running track and two basketball courts.
This is because in a country obsessed with overseas football, notably the Premiership on the UK – as well as being susceptible to marketing promotions worthy of any American sports franchise – watching is one matter, playing is very much another.
Chinese football is a shambles. The national team have only ever qualified for one World Cup (2002) and failed to win a game. Since then they have been unable to make any impression whatsoever in the qualifying stages, never making the second round.
To boot, their domestic game is as corrupt, inefficient and flooded with shoddy foreign imports as Poland’s – including a burgeoning hooligan scene. It got so bad that last year the only domestic TV station which showed the Chinese Superleague decided to halt broadcasting in protest at frankly an embarrassing spectacle.
So the best way to address the problem and improve the quality of the domestic game is to build a basketball court in every single village of the country, right? We’ll that’s what the government, in association with the sports ministry, announced last year.
I mean what’s easier: give some kids a round durable ball suitable for all surfaces, to kick around absolutely anywhere or build high-maintenance facilities that require a ball suited to a singular purpose?
But you can’t blame them in a way, because China’s famed export machine has actually shipped out some top-quality basketball stars, most notably Yao Ming, center for the Houston Rockets. Unlike the gimmicky fads in football, Dong Fangzhou signing for Manchester United for example – that are soon exposed to be the marketing gimmicks they are – Ming and a few other Chinese players are actually good enough to play in the NBA.
Ming is in himself a business industry in China, a country that promotes its sporting icons to another level altogether, and after his recent injury an entire army of Chinese reporters had to turn back home. Chinese TV stations complained that his absence would reduce viewing figures for their sports programmes, affecting ad rates.
It would be easy to scorn that glorifying a single sporting success is the exclusive act of a developing nations, but in England too we are so desperate for success that we are willing to even glorify curling.
Tags: StreetVIEW
