Cleanliness of Suchao soccer matches attraction for fans

The lasting popularity of Suchao, local amateur soccer league matches in Jiangsu province, which poses a stark contrast with the increasingly cold shoulder given to Zhongchao, the Chinese Super League, offers some valuable lessons for Chinese soccer.

A Suchao match between Nanjing, the provincial capital, and neighboring Suzhou, the largest city economy in the province, on Saturday attracted more than 60,000 spectators to the former's home ground despite the humid 40 C heat, a record number of spectators for an amateur soccer match in the country and markedly higher than that of even some of the big matches in the top professional national league.

Local governments in Jiangsu have made tremendous efforts to make Suchao a popular brand among soccer fans in order to boost consumption, tourism and the local economic growth, and promote local culture.

Yet, it is the cleanliness of the game and its close connections with the community that have given practical meaning to the government support. So although the level of Suchao, without any foreign player or foreign coach, is visibly lower than that of Zhongchao, it has won people's trust in a short time.

The devotion to the sport and their hometown teams the players have demonstrated in the matches also show spectators the real charms unique to the most popular sport in the world.

The root cause why Zhongchao is losing the support of Chinese fans, and the interests of investors is the systematic corruption of the soccer circle that has seemed unchecked since 1994 when China launched its first professional league, the predecessor of Zhongchao, as evidenced by the series of graft cases related to Chinese soccer exposed over the years, which involve sports officials at different levels, coaches, referees, players, club managers, agents and even foreign players.

Also, the Suchao players, who are from different walks of life, are closely connected with local communities. So local residents, even those who are not soccer fans, might become interested in the game, and the weekend matches become a get-together for the local community. Suchao thus serves as a stage for players to enjoy the game, as well as an occasion for the spectators to share the emotional highs and lows of the matches.

Before big money flowed into the Chinese Super League most of the players were also from a city or a province, having a very close connection with the local clubs. Like those from Dalian, Liaoning province, and Qingdao, Shandong province, two coastal cities contributing many soccer players in the 1980s and 1990s to the Chinese national team.

But after the professional league caught people's attention, the inflow of hot money not only increased the players' income in a short period of time, but also enabled clubs to employ foreign players and coaches. Many good players left their hometown club to work for wealthier clubs. It was also during the fast transition of Chinese soccer that the lack of effective supervision quickly made the professional league a cash cow for some to capitalize and exploit fans' support for personal gains. The corruption later exposed ruined many people's confidence in the game.

The more problems that appeared, the more the Chinese soccer circle sought quick success by naturalizing foreign players in large numbers and employing big-name foreign coaches. As a result, Chinese soccer ignored youth training, and has not had any player playing in a major world-class league for years.

The decline of Chinese soccer was thus a self-perpetuating cycle. It has regressed from being in the second-class level in Asia to the third over the past three decades.

Many observers regard the popularity of Suchao as an economic phenomenon, or a successful public relations project of the province. But that is only a side effect. It is the cleanliness of the game, and the sport's connections with local people that really pull people to the stadium.

If the Chinese soccer circle only draws economic lessons from the popularity of Suchao, the professional game will continue to lose fans to its amateur counterpart.