"If the three balls (in this case, football, basketball, and volleyball) don't go up, I won't be blind!" This affectionate remark is the oath issued by the founding marshal He Laozong in view of the backward development of China's three major balls.
Marshal He Long had a bold personality, spoke straight and straight, he believed firmly in the revolution and had a fierce spirit, and in the face of old Chiang Kai-shek's butcher knife policy, many people retreated and were pessimistic and disappointed, but at the crucial moment, he always adhered to his faith, did not forget his original intention, and insisted on "picking up two kitchen knives to do the revolution" and pulling out an armed team. This contingent also became an important spark for the later development and growth of the Red Army.
This kind of "not accepting defeat" personality of "not accepting defeat" in a critical moment, whose faith is as solid as a rock and strives to turn the tide, runs through Marshal He Long's life. After the founding of New China, according to the arrangements of the higher-level organizations, the focus of General Manager He's work shifted from the military to the administrative affairs, and he successively served as vice premier, director of the State Sports Commission, and other important posts, thus doing a great deal of work for the development of various undertakings in New China. Especially during his concurrently serving as the director of the National Sports Commission, he mainly grasped football work in the style of a soldier and paid great efforts to promote the development of the national football cause.
Marshal He Long grasped the work of the national football team, the requirements are very strict, in 1963, once before the competition, he personally gave the national football mobilization training, and even angry: "If football can't get the top 3, come back and disband and re-engage!"
So why does Mr. He have such a big temper with the national football team? What happened then? What was the outcome of the final race? The matter also starts from the special fate of Mr. He and the sport of football.
After the founding of New China in 1949, He Long, then commander of the Southwest Military Region, vice chairman of the Southwest Military and Political Committee, and third secretary of the Southwest Bureau, not only actively worked with Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping to steadily promote the work of suppressing bandits in the southwest region, but he also took out his energy to coordinate the formation of the southwest military region's football team.
Since then, He Boss has formed an indissoluble relationship with football.
Three years later, in 1952, the first national football team in New China was established, and Mr. He, who was far away in the southwest region, immediately paid attention to this news and took the lead in inviting the national football team and the southwest military region football team to carry out a "large-scale military training.".
Due to the abundant talent and masters of the national football team at that time, the football team of the Southwest Military Region played very passively, and the goal also encountered "dangerous situations" many times. Although goalkeeper Zeng Xuelin showed courage and saved the ball many times, he was unable to return to the sky.
Although the southwest military region football team failed to achieve good results in this friendly match, Mr. He saw the tenacity of the team members.
After the game, Mr. He specifically praised goalkeeper Zeng Xuelin: calling him a "rubber gate", jumping high and playing far. ”
Later, due to some reasons, Zeng Xuelin came up with the idea of retiring, and when Mr. He learned about it, he specially gave him ideological work and enlightened him: "Engaging in sports and playing football is also a revolution."
Under the encouragement of Mr. He, Zeng Xuelin gradually found the direction and re-invested in the cause of football, and under the personal recommendation of Mr. He, Zeng Xuelin was also successfully selected for the national football team, put on the national football shirt, and became a member of the national football team.
In 1954, according to the arrangement of his superiors, He Long left the southwest region and went to Beijing to serve as vice premier and director of the State Sports Commission. As soon as he took office, Mr. He focused on the development of the three major goals, especially football, and he invested a lot of energy.
At that time, the world football scene was divided into two camps, one was the capitalist camp headed by Europe and the United States, and the other was the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. If the Chinese national football team wants to make great progress, it needs to fight with the football powers of these two camps to train troops.
Since at that time, our relations with the capitalist countries were in a period of disharmony, the objects that could be used for reference and training were mainly the football teams of socialist countries.
Under the guidance of Mr. He, the State Sports Commission has done two major things. A big thing is to implement the football "out of the strategy", from the domestic selection of excellent football seedlings, to Hungary "study abroad", because at that time the Hungarian national football team technology was in the forefront, once won the Olympic championship. Another major event is the implementation of the football "introduction strategy", the so-called "introduction" strategy, that is, to hire excellent foreign coaches to coach in China to guide Our football team.
Driven by these two measures, a group of outstanding football talents have grown rapidly, and the development of Chinese football has also entered the fast lane at the end of the 1950s, and the results have improved rapidly. However, the development of football was not smooth, and in the early 1960s, Chinese football entered a "trough period". Especially in 1962, when playing against the weak myanmar, Pakistan and other national football teams, Chinese football was defeated.
In the face of the report card handed over by the national football team, Mr. He, who mainly grasps sports, is very anxious and very hot. In 1963, in order to break the monopoly of sports in the Western powers, Emerging countries such as Asia and Africa united and decided to start a new world games and plan to hold a new world games, which is the famous Emerging Forces Games.
In order to do a good job in the preparation of this grand meeting, He Long personally attended the preparatory meeting, due to the unsatisfactory results of the previous national football team, at the meeting he made meticulous guidance on the preparation of this sports meeting, talking about the excitement, he took the pipe in his hand and knocked on the table, saying: "This new meeting, if football can't get the top three, come back and disband and start again!" ”
The tone of Mr. He's sentence is very heavy, very weighty, and full of spurr for the national football team to achieve good results. After hearing these words, the participants also had a solemn expression and deeply felt the heavy responsibility on their shoulders. However, the competition on the pitch, after all, relies on technology, who is technically hard, in order to laugh to the end.
During the competition, although the national football players tried their best and reflected a better fighting spirit, due to poor strength, in the competition for the ticket to the top four, the national football team finally lost to Uruguay.
When the whistle at the end of the game sounded, the national football team members also had a heavy heart, and although they were not convinced, they could only accept this cruel result. After the Games, the superiors held a grand celebration meeting in the Great Hall of the People for all the athletes participating in the competition.
At the celebration meeting, the three major teams of national football, basketball and volleyball each sent a representative to toast the central leaders. Due to the poor results of the national football team this time, when the captain of the national football team, Chen Jialiang, came to Mr. He with a wine glass, his heart was very sad, and he choked up and said: "Our football team did not complete the task, failed to live up to the expectations of the party and the people, and felt very uncomfortable in my heart." But we must not be discouraged.... Wherever you fall, you get up. ”
After Hearing Chen Jialiang's touching words, Mr. He was also very touched in his heart, he knew that the team members had tried their best, although the results were not satisfactory, but the end of their struggle not to accept defeat was worthy of respect. So he stretched out his hand and patted Chen Jialiang's shoulder and said, "You are sad in your heart, and I am even more sad in my heart, you are reviewing the people for me!"
Mr. He's words were very sincere, taking the responsibility for the defeat on his own and taking responsibility for his subordinates, which made people very moved. However, the national football team is a little worried in their hearts, because before Mr. He's sentence "football can't enter the top three, come back and disband", everyone remembers it clearly, and He Long's general style of acting has always been to do what he says. However, this time, Mr. He "lost his word", and he did not disband the national team after the game.
Why? Because Mr. He knows very well that the development of football relies on solid technology and a good mental outlook, and at the current stage, the members of the national football team have tried their best, and the dissolution of the national team is only a temporary angry words. At present, the most urgent task is to practice your own skills.
Subsequently, Mr. He actively took measures; on the one hand, he sent people to the national team to "stay at the point" to guide the training of the national team and vigorously grasp technical training; on the other hand, in order to improve the mental outlook of the team members, Mr. He also sent people to send the team members to the "sixth company of hard bones" to "become soldiers," cultivate their spirit of bearing hardships, and use military life to temper the spirit of the team members to "fight for the honor of the motherland."
Under these strict measures, although Chinese football has begun to show a sense of recovery and has a good momentum of development, it is regrettable that there is still a great distance from the world's strongest teams.
On June 9, 1969, Mr. He, who witnessed the bumpy development of the national football team, died of illness at the age of 73. Today, the development of the national football team still has a long way to go, and the football descendants still need to redouble their efforts to live up to the trust of the marshal.