Foreign coaches cause turmoil, referees suffer frequent harassment
For a long time, the lack of referee authority in the professionalization of soccer in China has become an insurmountable stubborn problem.
Recalling the battle between Sichuan and Shanghai in the 11th round of the 2000 A-League, referee Wang Jingdong ruled that foreign aid player Santos' handball was unconscious, which enraged Shenhua's Yugoslavian coach Petrovic. The old Peter rushed into the field to seize the ball, and even shoved the referee, fortunately Shenhua assistant coach Jia Xiuquan to save the day, otherwise the consequences are unimaginable.
After the game, the Football Association on Petrovic's treatment of the light, only a one-match suspension, seems to be the default of his "crime cost" is not high.
However, similar incidents followed - in the same year, Dalian skipper Kosanovic rushed the field and chased referee Zhou Weixin, and was heavily fined by the FA with a six-game suspension and 60,000 yuan fine.
The penalty was harsh compared to the 26 rounds of the A-League at the time.
However, compared with the later Shandong Luneng manager Kucka, Petrovic and Kosa's penalty can only be considered a "piece of cake".
After the match between Shandong Luneng and Guizhou Hengfeng in the 13th round of the 2015 Chinese Super League, Luneng's coaching staff and players clashed with the referee, and Kucka was charged with assaulting the referee, suspended for seven months, and left with an injured corner of his eye, lost.
The top league has become the norm in terms of violence against referees, and the lower leagues are even worse.
In 2013, Shenzhen Fengpeng played against Qinghai Senke in the quarter-final of the Chinese B League, the visiting player Wang Chi, dissatisfied with the penalty, went up to scold, abuse and trample on the referee, and his teammates Song Chen and Huang Chao joined in the attack on the referee.
Ultimately, all three admitted to violent behavior and were all suspended for eight months.
However, the cost of such penalties is clearly not enough of a deterrent for emotionally out-of-control players, coaches and club officials.
In the last two seasons of the Chinese Super League, officiating has once again become a high-risk group:
In the first round of the crucial relegation battle between Dalian Ren and Chengdu Rongcheng in the Chinese Super League in January this year, Dalian Ren players and club officials attacked the referee after the match due to dissatisfaction with the penalties, with player Yang Hao Yu even hitting the referee in the face.
In the end, Dalian was fined a total of 830,000 yuan, eight people were punished to varying degrees, and the hands-on Yang Hao Yu was banned for one year.
Despite the previous experience with Dalian, a similar scene played out again six months later:
In the June 28 battle between Chengdu Rongcheng and Shenzhen, Shenzhen team official Guo Xiaofeng pushed the referee's chest and was red-carded, but did not stop, and then pushed the referee from behind, and was eventually banned from entering the field of play for 10 months and fined 160,000 yuan.
From the first A to the Chinese Super League, although violations of the referee occur from time to time, but considering the high cost, most coaches and players do not dare to cross the line easily.
However, in youth tournaments, low-grade leagues, amateur tournaments and even women's soccer tournaments, where the system is confusing and the way out is unclear, the cost of infringing on the referee is obviously much lower, and the use of hands at the drop of a hat has allowed violence on the pitch to spread unchecked.
Back in the 1993 National Games soccer preliminaries in Yanji, the battle between Shaanxi and Jiangsu, there was a farce of Shaanxi players chasing the referee after the game.
In the end, Shaanxi's team leader and each of the six starters were given a 2-3 year suspension.
Sixteen years later, the National Games men's soccer group A group stage of the "Beijing-Tianjin derby", and witnessed a violent group fight.
Dissatisfied with the referee, many people from the Tianjin team chased after referee He Zhi Biao after the match, and Zhao Shitong, who was in the lead, rushed out of the crowd and pushed He Zhi Biao to the ground.
After the match Zhao Shitong was banned for life, Tianjin team also has 8 players and TEDA team official Shi Yong was sentenced to 5 games to 3 years ranging from the punishment of the ban, 6 people are banned in the period of more than 2 years, career basically declared the end.
In June 2011, after a match between Guangzhou Evergrande's second team and Sichuan University in the China B League, Evergrande's second team player Zhu Pengfei punched and kicked the referee, even worse than Zhao Shitong - unsurprisingly, Zhu Pengfei was also sentenced to a lifetime ban.
Compared with Zhu Pengfei, Wang Guodong, who violated the referee three times in the 2nd round of the 2006 National U17 Football League, also rewrote the record of coaches chasing referee's penalty tickets by himself.
In that match, Wang Guodong rushed onto the field 32 minutes into the first half to abuse and assault the referee, causing the match to be interrupted. After half-time and full-time, he then attacked the three referees who left the field, and eventually Wang Guodong was suspended for 18 months and fined 10,000 yuan.
However, the most ludicrous thing is that the referee has become a punching bag in the original old friends catching up and having fun in the old A-game.
In the third round of group matches of the fifth Old A-League Stars soccer tournament in November 2016, during the match between Hubei Old A-League team and Sichuan Bingugu team, Hubei's Ma Cheng was dissatisfied with the referee's penalty kick decision and led an impact on the on-duty referee.
Shortly after the restart of the match, Hubei bench attendants rushed onto the field in an attempt to infringe on the referee, and both were expelled from the current tournament and banned from the Old A game for life ......
The referee's status in the players' minds is evident in the fact that the amateur tournament is such a big deal.
There must be zero tolerance for violations of the referee
Is the FA's standard of punishment for assaulting a referee too heavy, ranging from an eight-month suspension to a lifetime ban?
On the contrary, compared with the international soccer world and even basketball and tennis, if you take action against the referee, you will be banned for many matches or face the risk of going to court, which is the "starting punishment".
In the 31st round of La Liga 2019, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, Diego Costa played only half an hour, was sent off by the referee for a malicious foul, and after the match, "beauty" received a big ticket of eight matches ban.
Of these, four were for swearing and four were for pulling on the referee's arm after being sent off and trying to stop the latter from showing yellow cards to two other players from his team.
In the Chinese Super League, this kind of physical contact between players and referees has become almost routine - but many referees generally choose to turn a blind eye and endure the humiliation of spitting in order to put the matter to rest. This obviously only contributes to the players' sense of provocation.
What are the penalties for the more egregious intentional violence against a referee?
In the Argentinean C-League, Galmens Sport player Tirone, dissatisfied with female referee Cortadi's decision, punched Cortadi in the neck from behind, who fell unconscious on the spot.
The perpetrator, Tirone, was then taken away by the police, and the Argentine Football Federation (AFF) announced in the first instance that he had been banned for life, with Tirone himself facing a civil lawsuit and further claims.
And the worst act against a referee in the NBA was when Amir Johnson held onto the ball and didn't give it away for a blown technical foul, then threw his braces at the referee.
Hands between players are commonplace in the NBA, but hitting a referee? Nobody crosses that red line.
Compared to the international sports world's "zero tolerance" for referee violations, the distance between the Chinese Super League can be seen at a glance.
