By Koh Yizhe/Red Sports
A Singaporean fan pointing a mocking finger at the China players. They were not happy with the way China were rolling on the ground with the slighest of touches. (Photo 1 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Jalan Besar Stadium, Wednesday, July 1, 2009 – Host Singapore lost 3-0 to ten-men China in Group B of the final round of AYG football. With the defeat, the hosts are out of the tournament. But the Chinese added insult to injury as they belittled their opponents throughout the match, making fans question their attitude on fair play.
After scoring his second goal, hat-trick hero and China's captain Yan Peng (China, #10) gestured to the fans with his index finger to his lips. Towards the end of the match, the Chinese were rolling on the ground theatrically with minimal contact from the Singaporeans, which prompted boos and jeers from the Singapore fans.
Marc, an Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student from his school’s football team, as well as his teammates, wasn't too happy with the Chinese players.
He said, "I don't think Singapore played badly especially Suhaimi (Singapore, #26) who was really good. The build-up for the attacks were good but the finishing was simply not there. We feel that this is the case for all their previous matches as well. They also have an obvious size disadvantage."
"But we are not quite happy with the way China played. Although they scored good goals through their captain Yan Peng (China, #10), they dived a lot and showed an obvious lack of fair play. Just look at the way he celebrated his goal! Want to act tough like that! Even when they took the throw-in at the end when one of their players was injured, they kicked it out instead of passing it back to the keeper."
When asked what other sport will they now watch, with Singapore out of the football tournament, the Secondary Three students jokingly said, "Diving, since China seems to be so good at it! Now we know why the Chinese are so good at diving!"
For Jenell Tan, she felt that the China players were very dramatic with their tumbles on the ground throughout the match. Although she is not a soccer fan, her school arranged for her to get tickets to watch the match. But she admitted that she expected Singapore to lose and that China's Yan Peng is a "good player" except for his mocking celebrations.
Students from Temasek Polytechnic, who declined to be named, chose to take the side of the Chinese, saying that they were "laughing at the Singaporeans who were jeering at the Chinese."
"It shows a clear lack of sportsmanship by the Singaporeans. It is like they are sore losers and can't accept defeat. While we agree that China had it coming as they were very "action", dived a lot and constantly belittled us, jeering can only be accepted to a small extent. But this kind of behaviour is expected especially since we are the host nation and there is more support for Singapore than there is for China."
About Singapore's performance, they commented, "We expected better of them. There was a lack of teamwork, and the players didn't know what to do with the ball when they had it. There was a lack of composure and we only hit long balls forward, causing us to lose possession. But whatever it is, it doesn't matter because there is always a next time! This AYG is like a warm-up for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), where we will be facing tougher opponents."
Singapore’s AYG footballer, Dhulkhilan, felt a loss of respect for China after the match.
"When we came into the match, we had great respect for China. But what they did – celebrating the goal with gestures to the fans, as well as diving, that simply wasn't fair play. Our level of respect for them is just not the same; it has definitely dropped."
"We gave it our best, but it is not all about winning. Instead, it is about giving 100% which is what we did and it was only unfortunate events that led to the goals. We did well to cope with China and should have made the one-man advantage count."
He also thanked the fans for their "fantastic support".
"We were quite shocked to know so many fans showed up for our matches! I thought it would be like training sessions! That would definitely be the highlight for me: to play our matches in front of the home crowd. Although we are a little disappointed because we wanted to at least reach the semi-finals, it wasn't as easy as we expected it to be. For now, we can only look forward to the YOG."
Wang Yaopeng (China, #15) goes to ground for no apparent reason. (Photo 2 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
Xu Jun lies on the ground while waiting for treatment… (Photo 3 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
… before getting stretchered off. He was able to get to his feet the moment he was out of the pitch. (Photo 4 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
It was a frustrating outing for Muhd Adri Bin Adnan (Singapore, #19) as not only did his team fail to score, but also struggled with the constant stoppages in the game. (Photo 5 © Koh Yizhe/Red Sports)
number 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
not much to say,
the chinese were just over-reacting with the falls and tumbles on the field.
On the contrary to much of the comments made here, I think that the Chinese were actually neither proud nor too arrogant. From watching the match, although only through the television set, I thought that the Chinese hadn’t been rude or unsporting to us Singaporeans at all. Just like how “passerby” has said earlier, the gesture by captain YanPeng was actually to silence the very loud and equally as demoralizing jeers from the Singaporean supporters.
Also, the falls by the Chinese did not look like they were mere fakes. When you watch the soccer match on tv, the videographers normally zoom in, and you can see the legs being stuck out, and people tripping over them. Even if someone falls for no apparent reason, it may be that he has had an old injury that had suddenly acted up, or something. It is just a may, but since people assume that the Chinese have had faked their falls and whatnot, I guess it is fine to also presume that an old injury had caused that particular fall.
As quoted, “Students from Temasek Polytechnic, who declined to be named, chose to take the side of the Chinese, saying that they were
‘laughing at the Singaporeans who were jeering at the Chinese.'”
I choose to think the same way. Even if the Chinese had really been unsporting, the Singaporeans had not shown a great magnificent display of sportsmanship either.
As Singaporeans, everybody is just especially sore because as host nation, it would be best if we had really good results for all sports. When wholeheartedly supporting a team, there is no doubt that favoritism grows. And when it gradually increases, people will begin to find faults, however small they may be, from the opposing team.
To Singapore(the first to comment on this very post):
You are just biased. Please do tell me what is wrong with the North Koreans? Are you implying that the North Koreans are “bad”? Because it seems so to me. I’m not scolding you or anything like you had initially expected, but the Chinese had neither disgraced China, and neither do they look “bad”.
To Kar-Teck Yeo:
In actual fact, the Chinese do have supporters. I am a major fan of the Chinese for sports like diving and basketball for example. And do not start to hit me with comments like “Get lost, you China supporter”, because I happen to also be a huge supporter of Jeffrey Lightfoot, Jonathan and Hanafi.
aiya ah-tiong kia…wad to expect
not like we expected much from these chinese anyway…
i would say the gesture to the fans after the goal was mainly to silent the jeers that the supporters did to the china team, if the supporters don’t jeer and they still do it then that’s no good.
i think both sides also got wrong , the singapore fans should not jeer , and also china should not be too proud
Singapore no 1 for sportman ship.
Indeed it was frustrating to read about such behaviour in football in general, but truth be told, the Chinese aren’t noted for their sportsmanship in any sports. This “win-at-all-cost” mentality may have garnered them rolls of honours, but they will never win fans.
I don’t think Chinese national teams (in any sports) have much neutral supporters at all.
China obviously have no sportsman ship .
Disgrace to chinese people only .
You all can scold me if im wrong .
Some china peeps are good but some are so bad that they looks like they are from the NK !