Chinese football, this time made history

Recently, Chen Xuyuan, former chairman of the Chinese Football Association, Yu Hongchen, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, and Li Tie, former head coach of the national football team, have held court trials of "football moths".

At the same time, on March 28, the Chinese Football Association issued the "Notice on Hiring Football Social Supervisors", which intends to be open to the national news media and fan organizations, and invites representatives of discipline inspection and supervision, the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) where the competition area is located to participate in the supervision work as football social supervisors.

Can social football supervisors become the "other eyes" for effective supervision of football?

The Chinese Football Association announced the hiring of football social supervisors for the society

Once, who was supervising Chinese football

China News Weekly learned that the Chinese Football Association has never publicly hired social supervisors to the public in history, and the issuance of the "Notice" is the first in history.

In addition, the "Notice" clearly states that the work of football supervisors is a public welfare activity and does not receive remuneration, which also ensures the "third-party" attribute of the supervisor and avoids the embarrassment of "supervising oneself".

Previously, did the Chinese Football Association have no social forces involved in supervision?

A retired former member of the press committee of the Chinese Football Association told China News Weekly that in the past, the Chinese Football Association had sent members of the press committee to the competition area to carry out relevant supervision work, and some other high-profile projects had similar work arrangements.

"In the 90s of the last century, when Wang Junsheng was in charge of the A-League during the Chinese football period, the press committee under the Chinese Football Association once selected some personnel to serve as off-field supervisors during the game. ”

According to the former member, the members of the press committee of the Chinese Football Association are mainly from major news media, and the specific supervision work is to check the relevant layout of the competition area and check whether the relevant processes of the game are in place and perfect, but it is difficult to specifically and deeply involve the "corruption" and "match-fixing black whistle" related issues in the football field.

The former commissioner also admitted: "Media supervision alone is far from enough. In his view, although the news media, especially football reporters, who are close to the football industry, can have more insider information than ordinary people, it is difficult to obtain evidence "on paper".

"There have been some 'gossip' about the final score, the use of personnel, and even red and yellow cards before certain games, and then they can indeed be confirmed one by one in real football games. The person recalled, "Even so, it is more of a 'ridiculous letter' that cannot be believed, and for serious news media, if they report on it, it will not work without 'real evidence'." ”

In 1998, the football media "Yangcheng Sports" publicly wrote that the well-known football referee Lu Jun was punished for the game and accepted "black gold", and was later sued by Lu Jun. Due to insufficient evidence, "Yangcheng Sports" lost the lawsuit and compensated Lu Jun 80,000 yuan for mental damages.

Lu Jun, the former "golden whistle" of Chinese football, was punished by law. Photo/Visual China

"In such a situation, for a long time, the media's supervision of the football field is easy to taste and not be in-depth and thorough. In reality, some media have an intricate 'symbiotic' relationship with relevant clubs and units in the football field. How to break this situation also requires more in-depth thinking. The former commissioner said.

What can the fans supervise?

According to the relevant notice of the Chinese Football Association, the second largest group of supervisors is fans in major organizations.

In this regard, Zhong Bingshu, former president of the Capital Institute of Physical Education, commented on China News Weekly that the Chinese Football Association has openly hired football supervisors to the society this time to introduce the power of mass supervision in the new journey of football reform, which should be fully affirmed.

Zhong Bingshu believes that the supervisory role of the masses has not been reflected enough in football work in the past, "If the supervisory role of fans can be organically combined with the actual work of the Football Association, it will be of great benefit to the development of football in the future." ”

Among the fans who care about and love Chinese football, "Brother Refund Money" He Sheng is one of the well-known fans who have been recommended by the majority of fans to apply for social football supervisors. Under the support, He Sheng also publicly announced on social platforms that he had signed up for the football supervisor application.

He Sheng told China News Weekly, "If you are lucky enough to be selected and do what you can for Chinese football, you will do your best and not follow the crowd." ”

He Sheng said that he is currently an "individual fan" and has not yet been affiliated with the fan organization of any province or national team.

"I'm also thinking about the scenarios in which I can exercise some relevant supervisory rights if I succeed in applying for a football supervisor," He Sheng said, "I guess that for example, in the lottery activities of some football events, on-site ticket counting, ticket singing, scrutiny, etc., supervisors may need to participate." In addition, there may be opportunities to sit in on some of the industry's internal meetings. ”

"Brother Refund Money" He Sheng Picture/He Sheng Weibo

"But in fact, what I hope more is that the work of Chinese football will be further open and transparent under the supervision of supervisors in various fields. He Sheng believes that "as long as the information is not transparent and asymmetrical, it is likely to cause widespread misunderstanding internally, externally, and in society." ”

At the same time, He Sheng said that in addition to the transparency of work processes and policies, the use of funds is even more so. "For example, the related expenses incurred by the clubs and the Chinese Football Association, and the sponsors' sponsorship expenses for national teams and youth football at all levels, etc., all need to be able to accept the inspection of the whole society and stand the test. ”

"I think that it may be difficult for the media and fan organizations to directly find actual evidence of corruption and match-fixing like the public security and discipline inspection departments, but now is the era of social media, whether it is professional media people or fans, for some suspected and potential problems, they can continue to speak out through the Internet, which will help promote the discussion and resolution of related issues. ”

He Sheng believes that the good side of Chinese football should not be ignored, and it also needs to be widely disseminated by the whole society. "For example, the Chinese Football Association said before the start of the league this year that it would establish a 'blacklist' system for referees from the 2024 season, and at the same time review major controversial penalties, and the results will be made public to the public. I think the push for this work is very much in line with the expectations of the fans. ”

In anticipation of how to win, on the evening of April 3, the Chinese Football Association officially announced the results of the referee evaluation of the last round of the league. Among the relevant controversial penalties raised by a total of 5 clubs, the Chinese Football Association admitted that 4 of them were wrongful judgments and missed judgments.

You must know that in the past, if there was a similar controversial penalty, the Chinese Football Association would not respond and admit its mistakes, but would also "quibble" through some voice channels, causing greater dissatisfaction in the industry. Today, the Chinese Football Association's "open and honest" measures and attitudes have won wide praise from inside and outside the football industry.

Addition of the offence of manipulating sports competitions?

At the same time, the Chinese Football Association also mentioned three important groups of people in the notice, namely representatives of discipline inspection and supervision departments, representatives of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. These three types of representatives will be invited by the Chinese Football Association to the relevant departments of the cities where the league is located.

Lawyer Ding Tao, director of the Entertainment and Sports Law Research Center of Guangdong Zhuojian Law Firm, believes that the participation of discipline inspection and supervision personnel in various aspects of football supervision has the greatest deterrent effect on the potential "fake gambling black" in football.

Previously, in the fourth episode of the documentary "Continue to Promote In-depth Advancement" of China Central Radio and Television, "Promoting the "Three Non-Corruptions" as a Whole", there was a direct and specific exposure of the match-fixing and game manipulation behaviors that Li Tie, the former head coach of the national football team, had been involved in.

In fact, in the process of Li Tie leading Hebei Huaxia Happiness to play match-fixing all the way to upgrade the Chinese Super League, the football industry was not unaware at that time. The Dalian Fans Association once held a special press conference to publicly report the Hebei Huaxia Happiness Club, and Shi Xueqing, the former general manager of the Dalian Yifang team, made a special trip to Beijing, hoping to submit the report materials to Yu Hongchen, who was then the vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association and was in charge of league affairs.

As a result, the report was eventually closed for various reasons.

After many years, with the strong intervention of the discipline inspection and supervision departments and the public security department, through Li Tie's "point to face", the football moths were quickly wiped out.

In the interview, many interviewees believe that since the Chinese Football Association wants to eliminate violations of laws and regulations in the football industry to the greatest extent, it must simultaneously increase the inspection of the discipline inspection department and the law enforcement efforts of the public security organs to form a strong "anti-corruption defense line".

"At the level of party discipline, in addition to the discipline inspection and supervision department to promote the 'mobile inspection' of party members and cadres in the football field should be normalized, the Chinese Football Association invites discipline inspection and supervision personnel from all over the competition area to join the supervision team to unblock the channels for reflecting relevant clues. Ding Tao said.

In addition, Ding Tao also believes that people's congress deputies and CPPCC deputies may effectively participate in the construction of relevant laws and regulations on football and sports through participating in supervision.

In fact, during this year's National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, Liu Guoyong, deputy director of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China, proposed the addition of a legislative clause on the crime of "manipulating sports competitions", which was very constructive and forward-looking, and aroused strong repercussions in society and fan groups.

Liu Guoyong previously introduced in an interview that the current phenomenon of manipulating sports competitions has shown multiple characteristics: the expansion of the scope of manipulation of sports competitions, the gangization of the main body of manipulation of sports competitions, the diversification of methods of manipulating sports competitions, and the concealment of the form of manipulating sports competitions.

At the same time, there is currently a lack of provisions in the Criminal Law of the mainland that specifically regulate the manipulation of sports competitions. In practice, such acts are mostly convicted and punished on traditional charges such as bribery and gambling, bribery by non-state functionaries, and gambling. The above-mentioned traditional crimes have the problem of not being able to fully evaluate the manipulation of sports competitions. Therefore, it is necessary to set up special legal provisions for more professional personnel to intervene in the investigation and evidence collection to ensure the fairness and justice of sports competitions.

Ding Tao believes that the suggestions put forward by Deputy Director Liu Guoyong have spoken the voices of many fans, and also learned from the regulations of many sports developed countries in the world, which is very commendable. Ding Tao further added from the legal level: "Nowadays, there are many kinds of behaviors that manipulate sports competitions and affect the order of the competition, and the means are hidden. Combined with the modesty of the criminal law and the identification and evaluation of relevant acts, the addition of crimes requires the sports community and judicial experts to continue to fully discuss and demonstrate in light of the actual situation. Ideally, if the various types of match-fixing behaviors can be accurately classified, it will help the administrative authorities, industry associations, and judicial organs to formulate different strategies and implement precise crackdowns on specific behaviors. There is reason to believe that the wisdom of people of insight from all parties will continue to improve the construction of laws and regulations related to football and sports. ”

Author: Ye Zhufeng