I have been feeling bad that I haven’t written anything about the Women’s Football World Cup, especially when I wrote so much about the Asian Cup earlier this year.  And it’s not that the World Cup hasn’t been interesting – games have been delayed because of a typhoon and China has been accused of spying on the Danish football team. 

In an attempt to even up the balance and do my bit for women’s sport, I can happily announce that both China and Australia have squeezed into the quarter finals.  After being thrashed 4-0 by Brazil, China regrouped and defeated New Zealand 2-0 to knock the frustrated Danish team out of contention.  And Australia kicked a goal in the dying minutes to draw with Canada 2-2 and advance to the next stage.  Unfortunately, Australia’s next game is against Brazil.  I watched a bit of the game between Brazil and China, so I can attest to the Brazilian team being very, very good.  China might have more of a chance in its quarter-final against Norway, especially since China’s head coach is a Swede who probably understands a lot about the inner-workings of her Scandinavian neighbour. 

I read an interesting article in Tuesday’s Global Times about Nanhua football club, a Chinese team that toured Australia in 1923.  Apart from the Australian angle, it is interesting because it introduces a Chinese football legend that I had never heard of, a Hong Kong native called Li Huitang.  The article says that in 1976, a German football magazine rated Li as being one of the world’s five best football players.  Li was influential in retirement as well, becoming Deputy Chairman of FIFA in 1966. 

So, how come I haven’t heard of this guy?  He seems like the perfect example of Chinese soccer prowess and we all know that Chinese soccer desperately needs to be reminded about what is possible.  Is it because Li ended up in Taiwan and was the coach of its national team, or is it because Chinese sports journalism isn’t interested in ancient history?  Anyway, here are the details about Nanhua’s trip to Australia:

 In August 1923, Asian powerhouse Nanhua football club welcomed a major event when it was invited to Australia to play local clubs.  Before the matches began, a Melbourne newspaper published information about the Sino-Australian football matches and also attached an insulting cartoon that sent up the Chinese side.  In the cartoon, the Chinese team members had queues and wore strange uniforms.  Their haggard and bony appearance was an incarnation of the ‘Sick Man of Asia’.  This cartoon made all of Nanhua’s players furious and they vowed to win their matches and protect the honour of Chinese people. 

 

 Nanhua first played New South Wales, the best team in Australia.  Nanhua did not back away from a strong opponent and 18-year-old main forward Li Huitang scored twice in the opening five minutes.  Li later completed a hat trick and the match finished as a 3-3 draw.  While Nanhua’s performance rocked Australia, the nation was especially impressed by Li Huitang’s foot skills.  The Australia authorities awarded Li with a specially-made gold medal and the Hong Kong media labelled him the king of football.  Nanhua won eight matches in Australia, lost nine and drew seven. 

I have never been a soccer fan.  After growing up on a diet of high-scoring Australian Rules football, soccer has always seemed rather dull.  The prospect of watching a 90-minute game finish as a 0-0 draw seems mind-numbingly boring.  Soccer also seems like a soft game – there isn’t much physical contact and when there is, players often dive onto the ground and writhe in pain.  Despite these two aspects still being major drawbacks, I have started to treat soccer more seriously as a spectator sport.  For one, soccer is much more entertaining when you have a team to barrack for.  Australia’s participation in the World Cup last year certainly raised interest.  Soccer also has the advantage of being a global game and one of the only places where Australia and China cross swords in the sports arena. 

In fact, sport is very similar to language because it’s a way for countries to communicate with each other.  Like English, soccer has become the world’s lingua franca.  Australia’s current national sport is cricket, but it’s a language that is incompatible with most of the world.  Cricket is a dying relic of the British Empire and should be replaced as Australia’s national sport by soccer.  Rugby Union is a popular sport, but its worldwide appeal is limited and only New South Wales and Queensland are fluent consumers of the sport.  Soccer is the only real alternative to ensure Australia’s national sport can communicate with influential regions such as China, the US and the rest of Asia.