International players disappeared for 20 years, the tradition of the hometown of soccer has never really been cut off

Streaming video platform developed in the era, about Chinese soccer, the fan circle circulated a saying: the lower the picture quality, the higher the level - "low picture quality" era, is the glorious period of Meizhou soccer; and now the lack of Chinese soccer pyramid of the top talents, into the The "low quality" era is the glorious period of Chinese football.

Chi Minghua is the past of Meizhou soccer, Liu Binbin, Ye Chugui and Zeng Chao is the present of Meizhou soccer, then the school soccer "body-education fusion", the future of Meizhou soccer and how? The newspaper interview team in-depth Meizhou counties (cities, districts), visited all levels of education administration, kindergarten to high school more than a dozen schools, for the readers to disclose the "hometown of soccer" Meizhou campus soccer development - this issue, is the first of the series.

Wuhua Olympic Sports Center and the statue of Li Huitang outside the stadium

In 1998, Liao Keqiang was 29 years old. At that time, he used the little savings he had on hand to open a fruit store in the old town of Jiangbei, Meizhou, and became a self-employed man. "I didn't read much, I graduated from junior high school and went around, trying my hand at any job, we produce pomelo here, so I'll just sell pomelo."

Liao Keqiang, a native of C village, has two hobbies, one is playing mahjong and the other is watching soccer. "When I was a kid, I played, I didn't get selected for the gymnasium, so I don't play anymore, just look and laugh." He is very clear, kicked not on the sports school, is not able to make a living by playing soccer, not as early as possible to find a thing that can support themselves.

The same year, Chi Minghua announced his retirement. At that time, there were several voices in Meizhou soccer and even Guangdong soccer, sending off, regretting and looking forward to. The first was to say goodbye to a veteran who had been selected for the Guangdong team at the age of 17 and had experienced the "5-19" and professionalization; the second was to regret that there was not a hometown professional team in Meizhou that could accompany Chi Minghua in the last step of his professional and career journey; and the third was to look forward to the emergence of the next Chi Minghua. Liao Keqiang also remembers that Chi Minghua retired from the Yunnan Hongta, "Meizhou is poor and there is no boss to organize a team. Hakka people recognize their roots, who wouldn't want to retire in their hometown?"

In 1998, the city of Meizhou had just been established for 10 years, and at that time, you could always hear "About 1998" and "The Heart is Too Soft" in the streets. Only, Meizhou people did not expect, from 1956 onwards, known as the "hometown of soccer", a county out of the seven international football Meizhou (former Meixian region), will experience a period of close to 20 years of international football blank period, until Liu Binbin selected for the national team.

"Hometown of soccer" and Li Huitang became the business card of Meizhou

In 1994, Chinese soccer began its own professionalization. Since then, Meizhou's once-proud youth training system of amateur sports schools, gymnasiums and professional teams has been strongly influenced by the youth training of newborn professional clubs. When money became the biggest driving force and variable in China's professional soccer, and when professional clubs wielded RMB to frantically harvest good talent from all over the world, Meizhou soccer became the first victim to fall in a pool of blood.

Xie Yuxin played for Shenyang Sea Lions in 1999, and at that time he was a different person from the Xie Yuxin who came back from the Netherlands. Since the 2002 World Cup, it is the low period of Meizhou soccer, but also the beginning of the low point of Chinese soccer.2015, due to the development of Jiangnan New Area, Meizhou's economic center of gravity began to shift to the south bank of the Meijiang River. So Liao Keqiang found a location on the south bank of the river and opened another fruit store.

Many years later, Liao Keqiang got a chance to watch Chi Minghua play soccer live. "It was a year of the village's Hefei Cup, and Chi Minghua came, along with Guo Yijun and Xie Yuxin. I heard there was also Wu Wenbing. After so many years, it was the first time I saw so many international players live."

There is a ball to see in the New Year, Meizhou people will never fall, not to mention there are so many former international players and provincial team players. "The stadium is full of people, there are a lot of people from Wuhua and Xingning, there are four or five thousand it, New Year's people are a little more, a lot of people in Meizhou are back from outside." Said Liao Keqiang while breaking open a pomelo, "When I was small, some people could not afford to buy a soccer ball, so I kicked this, this is our ball, this is our life."

Villagers in C Village watch the Hefei Cup (via Ball Country)

The Chinese national team traveled to Sharjah, UAE, again in the early hours of last Sunday. China will face Oman and Australia here. One win and three losses in the first four matches, as well as the heartlessness during the matches, made people not have any confidence in the national football team to get out of the tournament.

Liu Binbin, who traveled with the national team to the "Top 12" tournament, is a native of Meizhou. However, he left the Meijiang District People's Primary School at the age of 12 and entered the Luneng Football School. There, he eventually grew into the new Meizhou international footballer. The first Meijiang District People's Primary School, now the entire Meizhou City school soccer leader, in recent years to participate in competitions at all levels have received excellent results, and for a number of professional clubs to send a number of excellent soccer seedlings. mid-October, this year's "Mayor's Cup" district-level selection of the tournament has just finished, the People's Primary School once again to get the first.

In the school soccer circle in Meijiang District, there is a saying that the people's elementary school, the principal of the water. All the principals of the People's Primary School in Meijiang District have attached great importance to school soccer. Meijiang District for the primary school principal position to take the rotation system, but no matter who to the people's elementary school as a principal, their soccer results are not bad.

Rao Xiaowen, the current principal, used to carry a lot of baggage: "I had a lot of pressure coming here. Everyone knows that soccer is a specialty at People's Elementary, so what if I mess up? Don't say it's a real step backward, even if we don't progress, people will think we're going backwards."

Principal Rao kicks off the new semester's Principal's Cup game

Rao came to People's Elementary in 2020. Though a female principal, she's no amateur at soccer.When she attended Songkou Middle School in Meixian District in the 1980s, she was different. While other girls were singing and dancing, she followed her older brothers and sisters to play soccer. "Purely because of a unique hobby, I played soccer for a bit, and the more I played, the more I liked it."

On the grounds, People's Primary School is not the best school in Meijiang District. Although Meizhou is economically backward, it does not skimp at all on pitch construction. Some of the newly built schools have invested more than a million yuan just to build the courts. The People's Primary School, located in the old city center, is restricted by the environment, and all it can do is to renovate the concrete field and make it into an artificial grass field after laying a cushion layer. Even so, the size of the field is still not up to the standard of a conventional five-a-side pitch.

Rao Xiaowen was named a model worker in Meizhou City in 2013, but her status as a model worker at the People's Primary School has been seriously "threatened". The "threat" comes from Mr. Zhong Yousheng, who is responsible for teaching and training soccer at the school. Mr. Zhong, who will be retiring next year, has worked in Renmin Primary School for his whole life. According to Principal Rao, "I'm a model worker myself, but Mr. Zhong is even more of a model than I am. Every day he basically goes home after dark, and on weekends he insists on leading team training. Throughout the winter and summer vacations he is the busiest, training on campus every day. It's because of coaches who love soccer so much that we start higher than other schools."

Soccer games at People's Primary School in Meijiang District

Teacher Zhong had his complaints, and sometimes, he would go to the principal to complain that he didn't get overtime pay, or anything else for that matter. This made Principal Rao feel guilty. She always comforted Mr. Zhong, "You have a heart of love, which is more important than anything else. If it were up to me, I'd award you a labor model."

Principal Rao was also a bit helpless about the situation, "There is nothing subsidized to do the grassroots work of school soccer, it's all based on love and dedication. Without violating the rules and regulations, I will try to help them solve the problem." Zhang Keguang, Zhong Yousheng and a large number of other such hard-working school soccer coaches have made positive contributions to the development of school soccer in Meizhou.

The People's Primary School has four varsity teams of all ages. Because there is only one field, when the "Principal's Cup" tournament is held, the training of the school team and the ladder team can only wait until the evening. At that time, parents would wait at the school gate without complaining. Principal Rao feels that the parents have put in a lot of effort to support their children's soccer.

Meizhou people love soccer, but soccer training is an arduous process that leaves parents holding the bag. However, in the "hometown of soccer", they prefer their children to love soccer, like their elders. Meizhou school sports circle always say, "Meizhou people's love of soccer is deep-rooted. You have to do the work for sports and athletics, but when it comes to playing football, Meizhou people don't need to be mobilized."

This kind of game is not just a holiday for "little players"

As an odd-numbered year, 2021 is a special year for sports. Due to the global outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020 have been postponed to this year, along with the Copa America and the 14th National Games in Shaanxi, in just a few months, soccer events are inundated. This year's National Games also featured mass events, including futsal. In the Futsal Group A and B matches, the Guangdong team entered the final. A group final, Guangdong team penalty kicks defeated Inner Mongolia, won the runner-up, and in the B group final, Guangdong team 2-1 reversal of Jiangsu team to take the gold medal. The gold medal, the second for Guangdong at the Games, was the first of its kind.

The mass soccer team that won back-to-back gold and silver medals for Guangdong is from Wuhua County in Meizhou City. Although it is a mass project, the medals of these projects will also be counted in the total medal table of the Games, so the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau attaches great importance to the selection of the futsal team. In the end, after layers of competition, the Wuhua County team qualified to represent Guangdong in the National Games.

Wei Yuanping, a manager of a cultural company and captain of the Guangdong team in the Group B final, wore the No. 10 jersey and was the big brother on the team. "The province attaches great importance to this National Games and has specially arranged a professional coaching team for us. The chairman of the Football Association, Ye Xianguan, not only came to see our training, but also attended our departure ceremony."

Wei Yuanping won the gold medal

Though it is only a mass event, the gold medal is not low in gold content at all. Under the guidance of a team of professional coaches, Wei Yuanping and his team went through nearly half a year of rigorous training. Futsal is different from 11-a-side soccer in that it requires four players other than the goalkeeper to run constantly, and all tactics are based on non-stop running. This is a great demand on physical fitness, and is even more of a torture for Wei Yuanping, who is already in his forties. "The intensity of the professional team's training is too high, and when practicing physical fitness, I went home every day with my legs shaking, my hands were weak, and I couldn't even lift my tea cup." Wei Yuanping was y impressed by that experience.

Not everyone who participates in the Games team training selection can stay, with the depth and refinement of the training, and gradually there are players left, based on a variety of reasons. Some because they did not meet the standard, some because they could not stick with it, and some because they were too busy with their work. Liao Haifeng of the Wuhua County Education Bureau is one of them.

Liao Haifeng is a desperate man, every training and competition is one of the most fierce players. He wanted to go to the National Games and didn't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because he had already missed the championship once. Once he went to Beijing for a game, he even bought a plane ticket, but in the end he was too busy working and didn't go. As a result, the team won the championship in Beijing, and he, who was previously the main player, ended up being a spectator at the celebration banquet. No one can know in advance that the team will win the championship, but Liao Haifeng has firm confidence in the team: "Wuhua's soccer, in Meizhou are top." So he has always made the championship his goal.

Meizhou players representing Guangdong against Jiangsu (via ball hometown)

The plan is in the eye of the beholder, the success is in the eye of the beholder. This time, he still didn't make it. The work of the body, health and art is a lot, do not look at the "body, health and art" only three words, in fact, contains the school sports, campus soccer, health education, art education, national defense education and other work. As Wuhua County Campus Football Office, each year to organize and hold Wuhua County "Governor's Cup" Campus Football League more than 600 matches, as well as the Mayor's Cup and Governor's Cup of the team's mission as well as the county soccer camp selection, but also to host the provincial and municipal campus soccer tournaments and activities. The work makes it difficult for Liao Haifeng to take care of the team's training. He had no choice but to give up.

"They owe me two championships," Liao Haifeng some reluctance, "took the gold medal players and bonuses. If I go, I'll have to come back and treat them to dinner, from Wuhua to Meixian, home and away."

What makes Lao Liao a bit regretful is that his son prefers to play basketball. "I also wish he could play soccer like me, but there's no way, I have to respect his choice." Meizhou people although soccer as their life, but they are very sensible. Being tolerant is a better way to reflect the charm of the "home of soccer".

Meizhou, on behalf of Guangdong, picked up a gold and a silver in the five-a-side competition at the Games

The absence of international soccer players doesn't mean Meizhou people don't have soccer. Meizhou in the popularity of soccer is still doing the best, may be at the top of the talent, there is indeed a lack of, but in the foundation of this piece, in the heart, hard hard to grasp. To the outside world that Meizhou soccer slippery slope point of view, Meizhou insiders are not very agree. As early as 2009, Meizhou introduced a ten-year plan to revitalize the soccer township. Today, the second ten-year plan is also in the stage of consultation draft.

Meizhou people know their own soccer very well, know their own strengths and shortcomings, but also full of confidence in revitalizing soccer in Meizhou, the southern school of soccer. To put it bluntly, Meizhou people are not convinced. Xiao Junshan, the former principal of Guangyuan Primary School in Meizhou District, once complained that Guangyuan Primary School only won the third prize in the selection of large classroom sports activities: "Affected by the epidemic, last year's selection of the way the video recording was used. This is unfair! Guangyuan Elementary School has a small venue, and recording video loses in terms of momentum. In fact, the effect of watching it live is much better than the video! If I win the third prize again in the future, I won't participate!" Xiao Junshan said in anger, but the words penetrate the stubbornness of the unconvinced.

This year, she was transferred to the new Meijiang District Yuancheng elementary school as principal. Yuancheng Elementary School was built and put into use in 2021, the hardware conditions are very outstanding, Xiao Junshan know, here, she has only one goal, is to make all students love the game of soccer, participate in soccer activities.

Principal Xiao Junshan

Meizhou people are not defeated the bottom of the barrel, from their ability to do more with less talk. The first elementary school in Wuhua County is a national school soccer specialty school and a model school of soccer in Meizhou. Principal Li Jun is a tough guy, he himself is a soccer enthusiast, wearing leather shoes can also be upside down 20 to 30 times. Early in Wuhua County Nanshan Primary School as a principal, due to the lack of professional soccer teachers, Li Jun personally as a soccer team coach.

After arriving at the county primary school, he upgraded the original dirt field to an artificial turf field equipped with a plastic runway, and with the infrastructure, there is capital for development.

Wuhua County is a strong soccer county in Meizhou, and strong soccer schools abound. When he was still at Nanshan School, one year, Li Jun took his team out for a game while his son represented another school. One day, when the two schools got together for dinner, Li Jun was "despised" by others - it was a traditionally strong team in Wuhua, and even though it was just a joke, the other side still expressed their contempt for the Nanshan school team in their words. "Within three years, we will definitely beat your team!" Finally, Li Jun dropped this sentence. A year later, the two teams met again, and Li Jun's team finished winning, honoring its promise two years in advance.

These are the first time that we've seen the world's most famous footballer, and we've seen the world's most popular footballer. Compared to the past splendor of a county with seven international players, the people of Meizhou admit that they have slipped, but they are not convinced. As long as there is good soil, the hope of Meizhou soccer is still there, the hope of southern school soccer is still there, and the hope of Chinese soccer is still there!

Li Jun (back row, wearing glasses) and his teammates

Luo Tiequan, deputy director of the Meizhou Municipal Bureau of Education, has two "honorary signboards" for school soccer. When he was the deputy director of Meijiang District, Meijiang District was named the National School Football Outstanding Pilot County, and he was also named the National Football Outstanding Pilot County Director. This is rare in school soccer and proves the high recognition of Luo's work." Instead, he didn't think much of the two awards; in his eyes, it was water under the bridge. In addition to being the deputy director of the Education Bureau, he also has an important identity - a soccer enthusiast. "I insist on playing soccer twice a week, once with our school board's team, and once with soccer buddies who have similar interests."

Luo Tse-kuen's hometown is Xingning, a county-level city backed by mountains, where economic underdevelopment goes hand in hand with high education quality. Although Xingning was left off the list of poor counties in Guangdong province issued in 2017, economic development there has been unsatisfactory. Born in the late 1970s, he played soccer as a child in his hometown's Wo Ping or rice paddies, barefoot because he was afraid of breaking his shoes. There were no balls in the mountains, so he would pick a softer dirt grapefruit to kick. At that time, the children in the mountains, the weekend activity is to play soccer.

As the head of the bureau in charge of school soccer work in Meizhou, he needs to think more. As a child, he witnessed the glory of soccer in Meizhou, and also experienced the downturn of soccer in Meizhou during the period of education and success, which made him have a more sober and comprehensive understanding of how to develop campus soccer in Meizhou. "Football still needs soil. In addition to the popularization and promotion of the school, but also need more parents to drive the children's interest in soccer, like I like to play soccer myself, my children very young like to follow me to play. But some parents do not like soccer, the child is a little less influenced."

Mayor's Cup 2021

In recent years, the "integration of sports and education" has become a mainstream trend in the development of school sports. This change makes Luo Tiequan very excited. He has his own ideas about the development goals of soccer in Meizhou. "I don't know if it's a coincidence that the decline of soccer in Meizhou is synchronized with the decline of Chinese soccer. We Meizhou people are from the southern school and emphasize technology. Like Xie Yuxin, he is skillful and fast, but his height is not an advantage compared to northern players. Originally, there was a southern school and a northern school in Chinese soccer. Later on, most of the coaches of the national team are from the northern school, and the players they select and the tactics they set also tend to be from the northern school. Our southern school is weaker. In fact, I think Chinese soccer should stick to the path of integrating the southern and northern schools, and soccer skills must be started from childhood. Japan is an example for us to learn from."

In 2010, the city of Meizhou formulated and introduced the "Meizhou City, revitalize the "soccer township" ten-year plan, put forward to revitalize the "soccer township" of soccer as the goal, to re-brighten the" soccer township" brand. The brand of the "hometown of soccer".

Luo Daiquan believes that: "Although the economy of Meizhou is underdeveloped, but the poor also need to run. The most basic requirements, our physical fitness to do better than people in the Pearl River Delta region, we have to be a 'walking chicken', determined not to be a feed chicken. Hakka people can suffer and are not afraid of suffering. Meizhou should pay close attention to the popularization of school soccer and the basic technical aspects, and then through the improvement of physical fitness, combined with the characteristics of the southern school of soccer and the Hakka culture, to develop the soccer belonging to us. I hope that one day we can revitalize Meizhou soccer and revitalize the southern school of soccer."