Footballers keep mum over scandalous revelations
- Source: Global Times
- [21:03 February 08 2010]
- Comments
Illustration: Liu Rui
By Zachary Franklin
Each day brings a new football story splashed across the pages of Chinese newspapers, and for all the wrong reasons.
Over the past few months, the football world in China has been rocked by scandals, allegations of gambling, match-fixing, bribery and threats against officials.
The list is becoming so long that it seems newspapers are running out of accusations to throw at the China Football Association.
Contained in the news stories and opinion pieces are official press release quotes, public official interviews, fan reactions and words coming from almost every kind of source one could connect with the scandals.
I say "almost" because the actual players' opinions have been missing from the discussion, left out either because it seems unimportant what the players think or because they players themselves are not talking.
This comes despite the fact that the Shanghai Oriental Morning Post recently ran an article, subsequently picked up by the Associated Press and published in USA Today, alleging that Chinese football players were paying bribes to attend national team training camps and international matches.
The article did not mention how many players were involved in the scandal, or to whom the bribes were paid. The article did note that as much as $29,282 was being paid by each so that players could participate in international competitions. Not one player was mentioned or quoted in the story.
It seems odd that the players, who make up the majority of the China Football Association, would be unwilling to comment on the matter.
After all, it is the players who are about to benefit the most from the purge that is taking place in the Chinese football ranks.
To date, hundreds of officials, referees and players have been interviewed in connection with all the aforementioned allegations, and it has taken the coordinated efforts of multiple governmental bodies, from the Ministry of Public Security and the People's Bank of China to the National Tax Administration and the Ministry of Commerce, to get a clear picture of everything that is going down.
As USA Today reported last month, 16 top officials were arrested on suspicion of bribing and threatening players and referees to determine the outcome of games they had bets on.
Phoenix News recently published an article documenting more than 13 years of corruption, gambling and questionable practices that have continued to exist in the Chinese football.
Sentencing for widespread illicit behavior is about to commence, but so far, the athletes seem to want no part of it, remaining quiet on the newspaper pages and television news broadcasts.
The scandal has put everyone's comments except the players' into national headlines.
