Chapter 106 The highest fruit is the sweetest

On October 29, 1999, the Chinese Olympic team, considered the strongest ever, tied with South Korea 1:1 at home.Although logically speaking, the following events may result in the Chinese Olympic team qualifying, but in fact, the hope is very slim.From the final whistle of the game on October 29th, as soon as the live broadcast on the TV station ended, I received a call to write an article about it.In the next few days, there were a series of phone calls asking for manuscripts like this, which made me want to refuse, and I wanted to write, but I couldn't say anything for a while. Yes, what can people say?

A few years ago, I wrote an article entitled "Clearing Misunderstandings", to the effect that I am not actually a football fan, and I am far away from the qualifications of a football critic. The personage clears up the misunderstanding, don't pull me to talk about the ball again.But the misunderstanding is hard to eliminate. The people who invite me to talk about the game always say: "Your article "5.19 Long Shot", we still remember it until today..." It was May 19, 1985. The Chinese national team "accidentally" lost at home to the Hong Kong team, which is generally regarded as a weak team, and lost the ticket to the World Cup that seemed to be close at hand.After the game ended, some spectators who were psychologically unbearable had some extreme behaviors, and a small number of "troublemakers" were designated as "black sheep" and were arrested and punished.After that, I quickly wrote and published "May 19 Long Shot", starting from a case, and made a sociological and psychological analysis of this incident, which unexpectedly caused a sensation.Later, this article was included in various anthologies on football. What's more interesting is that the Chinese Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong has included it in textbooks for several consecutive years and listed it as an official textbook.This article became one of the "courageous years" in my personal writing history.

The years are long, from 1985 to 1999, I was approaching my sixtieth age from 40 years old, "A hero should not mention his courage in those days", "May 19 Long Shot" not only should not be mentioned by me personally, but also by all parties in society. forget it.If you pay attention to my creation, then I have published a lot of works since then, and I can definitely bring up my new works for discussion. But people still remember "May 19 Long Shot".I think it's not because of how well my article was written, but because—it really makes people take a long breath, and even burst into tears—the Chinese men's football team entered the Olympic Games and the World Cup. After 15 years, there is still no achievement. Not only have we fought and failed repeatedly, but the situation of each defeat is very similar to that of "5·19".

This "valuation" of "May 19 Long Shot" is an extension of painful memories.Am I proud of it? Thinking about it carefully, the viewers of the game on May 19, 1985 are very different from those who watched the game before the 1980s. Before the 1980s, sports competitions were endowed with strong political and diplomatic significance, "friendship first, competition second", "cheering and applauding for both sides", and most of the spectators entered the stadium in an organized way, and those who bought tickets scatteredly Often not in the majority.And by that time in 1985, sports game spectators paid more attention to winning or losing, and spectators who bought tickets freely became the mainstream in the stands. Therefore, although the sudden "5.19 incident" recorded However, we can say that on that night, a strict sense of "contemporary fans" was born in China-although as far as the entire fan group is concerned, they are fans with a low level of civilization. In the past 15 years, we found that Chinese football fans have gradually matured.Although irrational and uncivilized performances often appear on and off the field, as far as the mainstream is concerned, fans have created a very bright and full "fan culture", which can not only connect with the "fan culture" of fans around the world, but also Can have distinct Chinese characteristics.Now there are healthy fan groups everywhere, and there are many "professional fans" among them.There are special event spaces such as "fan restaurants"; there are support organizations that support a certain football team; inside and outside the stadium, fans have their own flags, vertical banners, and various "props", ranging from metaphorical In the stands, the fans will "code" themselves, and the complexity of some costumes is comparable to that of the generals on the opera stage. The other is almost "naked", and seems to express his longing for his beloved team with "bitter meat"; after the start of the game, the body language of the fans is often more colorful than the players on the field. In addition, the "wave of people" will also be stirred up in a group way... In recent years, fans have become more and more enthusiastic about chartering planes to fly overseas to watch football and cheer.All in all, it can be said that the fan base in China has gone out of Asia and into the world.

Therein lies the tragedy.The fans have matured and communicated with the world, but what about Chinese men's football? "A football dream in 15 years, only to win the game and lose fame", a super fan called me in frustration after the Chinese Olympic team failed to win the crucial three points on October 29: "Look, I even saved up the airfare to go to Sydney to watch and cheer..." Now the wave of commentary on Chinese football is still very high, there is everything to say, and the debate is also very fierce.Just because I once wrote "May 19 Long Shot" and participated in the "Football Night Talk" of the CCTV Sports Channel the year before last, and published a piece of "Sports (including football) games are human games, there is no need to overdo it." I care about winning or losing rankings" has led to some rebuttals, so people want me to talk about my views after the Chinese football team has no hope of breaking out of Asia again—and lost its last chance in the 20th century.