Xing Qi: Sticking to the fair path of soccer refereeing
Recently, reporter Xu Yi had the honor of conducting an in-depth interview with Xing Qi, the first Zhejiang referee to enforce the Chinese Super League. Xing Qi insisted that he has never encountered any team's buying behavior with money as bait.
Xing Qi began his soccer career at the Jiaxing Junior Sports School and later attended the Physical Education Department of Zhejiang Normal University. Having loved soccer since childhood, Xing Qi was initially not interested in becoming a referee, believing that the position of a referee was not as appealing to him as playing soccer. However, a teacher's inspiration made him realize that the golden period of a soccer career is limited, while the career of a referee is much longer. Xing Qi obtained his refereeing certificate during his college years, and in 2007 he became a national referee, and in 2008 he was qualified to referee in the Second Division League, and in 2013 he was successfully promoted to the Central League.
Becoming a good referee requires a strong psychological quality. Xing Qi said that it is exactly what he keeps working out through one game at a time: "The adaptation process is inevitable, the coaches and players may pressure you by opposing, these are unavoidable."
In 2007, Xing Qi was a referee for a provincial women's soccer match. During the match, a female coach kept objecting and even started to insult the referee. At that time, people around him suspected that Xing Qi might not be able to control the game. However, he chose to be patient and showed the red card to send the coach off the field at the critical moment. After the game, Xing Qi said that that game had greatly improved his ability to handle on-the-spot situations.
During his time as a referee in the Central League, Xing Qi has encountered curses from fans and accusations from the media. He said, "These are what referees have to accept. We will watch the game video after the match and summarize our enforcement. For media accusations and fans' curses, if they are unreasonable, we have seen it and forget about it, and will not take it to heart."
Xing Qi believes that the referee needs to fight with coaches and players "battle of wits": "If coaches and players have over-aggressive behavior, it is necessary for you to first determine what they want, is not intentionally to put pressure on you, and then make the corresponding penalties, can not be the other side led by the nose. "
China's national soccer team had experienced the fight against counterfeiting and blackout, and the image of our referees has been greatly affected. Xing Qi said: "In fact, in every profession, there are those who do well and those who do not. I think as long as I do right, I'm not afraid of these, I love soccer and I love the profession of refereeing, so I finally insisted on it until now."
Xing Qi revealed that he had never encountered a situation where a team was bribed with money during his time as a referee: "I am able to say very responsibly that I have not once encountered such a job. After that rectification, the culture of Chinese soccer is much better now, and the work of referees has become very standardized."
Xing Qi also revealed that as soon as the referee arrives at the venue, he has to be together with two competition supervisors, "except for sleeping in the room, everyone has to be together, go out and take the car together." It is not the home team that receives the referee, but the local football association, which is also to prevent the referee from taking care of the home team.
