Yan Confident of Chinese Soccer's New Look

China's new soccer boss Yan Shiduo says he is confident he can steer the ailing local game onto the right track, but first, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) has to function more efficiently, as is reported by Chinadaily.

"If you want to look after others' affairs, you better take good care of yours first,'' said Yan, the new head of the CFA, said. He urged the association, which has allegedly been slack in its past work, to emphasize self-improvement.

China's professional soccer league, the nation's most-watched sport, has suffered markedly as a result of the growing hooliganism of its fans, violence on the field and allegedly biased refereeing.

Confrontation reached a peak earlier this month when rioting fans clashed with police because of controversial refereeing after the league match on June 15 in the ancient city of Xi'an.

The police were forced to use tear gas and water cannons to control fans who hurled bottles and stones. Eight troublemakers were arrested.

It is widely believed nationwide that the CFA should share part of the blame for the deteriorating situation.

Though its disciplinary division has fined dozens of players, coaches, league managers and referees for their misbehaviour during the past seven years, the CFA has always failed to issue powerful and convincing punishments when trying to counter big incidents which could turn over the association.

Fans and some officials said they believed Shenyang and Chongqing, two Division One clubs,fixed a match that had the net effect of causing Guangzhou to be relegated to Division Two last year.

The association surprisingly ended the case with lavish fines assessed against the two clubs, but the game's results remained untouched.

But observers said such indulgence will simply leads to the degradation of the CFA's authority in China.

"It will take some more time for the CFA to gain the experience it needs to structure itself with support of the law,'' Yan said. "The association is evaluating itself and trying to improve. I believe they will come up with some satisfactory answers.''

The former senior official of national sports committee, said he had visited six provinces and 10 clubs since he took his post in April. His first-hand observations caused him feel optimistic about the popular sport.

He thinks China's rapidly growing soccer game, while laden with many problems, has great potential.

"Development had been seen in the game's popularity, investments made in it, stadium improvements and management since the professional game began six years ago,'' he said.

He attributed current problems to overheated enthusiasm, both with respect to fans and officials. Simultaneously, he urged clubs, players, coaches and fans to accept defeat more rationally.

"We do have many problems, but I am confident we can overcome them through deepening reforms,'' he said.

He promised to improve the footballers education in the sense of the sport.

"Some of them are so little educated that they do not know how to respect referees and rivals,'' he said, suggesting the current training methods which largely sacrifice education, needs to be renovated.

However, he is reluctant to use the achievement of China's men's team as a standard to evaluate the association, although failure to enter the World Cup final has bewildered the nation for a decade.

"It is not appropriate to link them together. We must know clearly our position in the world and Asia.

"I do not make any timetable for the Chinese team to accomplish that,'' Yan said.



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