Footballers keep mum over scandalous revelations

• Source: Global Times
• [21:03 February 08 2010]
• Comments

In looking toward the future, Liu Peng, minister of the General Administration of Sport of China, recently put a more positive spin on the entire fiasco, with a recent article by China News quoting Liu as saying the results will create a better attitude toward the sport, a higher standard of play, and an improved league.

Do the players share the minister's sentiments with regard to the sport? It is hard to tell, as no one seems to want to know the players' opinions.

Maybe athletes have been told not to comment. Maybe they are refusing interviews. Maybe they have nothing to say.

But, when China is ranked 73rd overall in the world, and having failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, maybe it is better that the players don't talk.

The focus has seemed to shift away from the athletic abilities of China's football players to the officials running the sport.

As it is an ongoing investigation, perhaps it is best that athletes are not sharing their opinions.

After all, the last time players spoke up on illegalities within the league, Chinese football fans were blessed with the semi-popular phrase, "I just came to take a shower." That was the excuse given when several players on the national team were caught heading to a hotel with women who may or may not have been prostitutes.

Given the league-wide improprieties that are currently being looked into, it might be best to avoid coining such catchphrases this time around.

The author is a Beijing-based freelance writer. globaltimesopinion@yahoo.com