Ma Ning, China's most controversial referee, has been greeted by fans with banners and an "effigy" incident, and has almost become the face of "black whistles" in the Chinese Super League. However, his performance at the Asian Cup was unanimously recognized. Iran beat Japan on penalties in extra time, Manning made a decisive decision, Japan coach Mori Baoichi took the initiative to shake hands with him after the game.
Why is Manning controversial in China? Let's start by evaluating him in two ways:
Enforcement Level: Is Manning a Faint and Mediocre Whistle?
So far, Maning has performed well in the Asian Cup without any major mistakes and his enforcement ability has been widely recognized. Apart from his previous World Cup enforcement performance, Manning has basically had no negative controversies in international matches and can be seen as the face of Chinese refereeing in international matches.
As far as business level is concerned, Manning can also go out on the international stage and score at least a passing mark, rather than a dim or mediocre whistle.
Ethics: Is Manning a "black whistle"?
The first thing to be clear is that mistakes are inevitable and cannot be categorized as "black whistles". The Army has said that ordinary people don't see "black whistles". That said, it's clear that the probability of an error is not black whistling, but either a matter of level of play or interference from other factors on the field. No one is stupid enough to let the national fans catch on.
Therefore, it cannot be defined as "black" because of his mistakes, and it certainly cannot be proved that he is not, but we have to wait for time to make a judgment.
The reasons for Manning's controversy in China may be as follows:
1. Superficial reasons:not likeable, too strong, tired of peers
Manning's scale of enforcement was so strict that he was known as the "Card Master", often in blackface. Although this powerful image is not pleasant, it is not a big problem and is mainly dragged down by his peers. The overall low standard of domestic referees and the failure of decisions to persuade the public have fostered the bad habit of players arguing whether the decision is right or not. Manning can't see this and has a heavy hand, leading to antagonism.
2, the root cause: the overall level of domestic referees is low, to take the blame for the Football Association
The overall level of domestic referees is low, Manning and Buyout Jiang have very little level, too many whistles, and almost every round of the league is very controversial. The FA did nothing in the face of the low level of refereeing. There was a day when fans were egging on Maning, but in reality they were dissatisfied with the Chinese referees and the FA. It can be said that Maning shared a lot of the blame and brought a lot of the pot in order to help the FA.
Manning is in a bit of an awkward situation at the moment, internationally recognized for his abilities, but cursed in China. We all know that it is not the fans who should apologize to him, but the FA!
