National General Body: Volleyball league reform is imperative

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 27 Title: Volleyball league reform is imperative

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jingyu

On January 24, the National Volleyball Work Conference was held in Beijing. At this high-level meeting, which is rare in recent years, the reform of the men's volleyball league has become the central topic. Under the active promotion of the level of the State General Administration of Sport, the reform of volleyball leagues has been on the string.

Since the launch of the home-and-away volleyball league in 1996, the Chinese Volleyball League has gone through more than 20 years of development. Soon after the launch of the league, Feng Kun, Liu Yanan, Zhou Suhong and other "golden generation" players stood out and became the cornerstone of the Chinese women's volleyball team to regain the World Cup and Olympic Championship.

However, due to various reasons, compared with the Chinese Super League and CBA League of football and basketball, there is a big gap between the professionalism of volleyball leagues, market heat and fan attention. This is not only related to the popularity of volleyball projects, market recognition, but also related to the development concept of the heavy women's volleyball national team and light league that has existed more or less for many years. Therefore, although the Chinese women's volleyball team has become a banner of Chinese sports, the mass base of volleyball, national participation and popularity among teenagers have not been correspondingly improved, and the reserve talent reserve in recent years is not optimistic.

In July 2016, the ambitious Sports Window (the parent company of Volleyball Window) joined hands with the Chinese Volleyball Association to become the business operation promoter of the Chinese Volleyball League, and the two sides had promised to join hands to create the world's first volleyball league. However, both sides proved to underestimate the difficulty of league reform. The window of sports entered the high market in the wave of capital sweeping the sports market, and finally withdrew in the industry trough caused by the new crown epidemic and the superposition of capital ebb. Under the background of the Chinese women's volleyball team's full preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games, the men's and women's volleyball super leagues that fell into the "naked run" were in a dismal operation and a dilemma.

The defeat of the Chinese women's volleyball team at the Tokyo Olympics has made the top management of the State General Administration of Sport turn their attention to the league again. Gou Zhongwen, director of the State General Administration of Sports, made a speech for more than an hour at the meeting on the 24th, involving three main aspects. First, we must draw the strength to forge ahead from the glorious course of the Chinese women's volleyball team; the second is to look at the problem of Chinese volleyball objectively and calmly; the third is to reform, innovate, forge ahead, and revitalize Chinese volleyball.

Gou Zhongwen said that the three major balls are not revitalized, and the sports power cannot be talked about. The degree of marketization of the men's volleyball league is relatively low, and the complexity of the reform is relatively small. We must have the courage of self-revolution and take the road of development with Chinese characteristics. He believes that a key problem restricting the improvement of the level of The Chinese men's volleyball team is that "the cake is small", and there are too few platforms for volleyball special talents to show themselves. Only by making the league bigger and allowing more people to have a platform for employment can this project develop better.

When talking about the revitalization of Chinese volleyball, Gou Zhongwen also stressed that it is necessary to adhere to the leadership of the party, carry forward the spirit of women's volleyball, accelerate the reform of the league, and strengthen the construction of the national team.

Li Quanqiang, director of the Volleyball Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport, briefed the meeting on the reform plan of the Chinese Men's Volleyball Super League. Li Quanqiang said: "The reform of the Chinese men's volleyball super league is not a tinkering with the original league, but a systematic reform based on whether it meets the expectations of the people, whether it implements the requirements of the party and the state, and whether it is conducive to the realization of the goal of a sports power." ”

Judging from the plan that is still being solicited for internal comments, the State General Administration of Sport has made up its mind on the reform of the volleyball league. The plan involves the establishment of professional operating agencies of professional volleyball leagues, the optimization of player registration and transfer systems, the establishment of financial fairness and many other key changes, which are very different from the existing league framework.

In addition to the leaders of the relevant departments and bureaus of the State General Administration of Sport and the leaders of the platoon management center, representatives of sports bureaus, platoon management centers and clubs of more than a dozen provinces, municipalities and districts in China also participated in the meeting by video. After the meeting, the reporter exchanged views with a number of volleyball people attending the meeting, who generally had a positive attitude towards the conference and the direction of the reform of the men's volleyball league, and also agreed with the direction of the "cake" of the volleyball project proposed by Gou Zhongwen, director of the General Administration. At the same time, some experts and industry insiders have also put forward suggestions on some operational aspects of the league reform plan, and look forward to the State General Administration of Sport and the Volleyball Management Center to listen to the opinions of all parties in a wide and in-depth manner before officially launching the reform plan, so as to better gather consensus and gather people's hearts for the imperative reform. (End)