On the way out, the Zhejiang team members deeply felt the enthusiasm of the fans, and they firmly believe that this enthusiasm will become a powerful driving force for the team to move towards upgrading.
Numerous fans were inundated with inquiries about the Zhejiang team's flight information, and even on a busy weekday afternoon, a number of fans spontaneously traveled to the airport to see the team off. Among the crowd were Xu Mingfa, an old man, and his partner, a pair of veteran fans who have been following the Zhejiang team for many years, and this year plan to continue to travel to Meizhou to cheer on the team in subsequent games.
"When the team departed this time, we definitely had to go to the airport to see them off." Lao Xu said with deep emotion, as he and his partner became one of the many fans who saw them off.
Lao Xu, who is well known in Zhejiang fan circles, became interested in soccer in the 1970s when he was serving in Xinjiang. As a former soldier who played soccer in the army, Lao Xu's love for soccer began in that era. "At that time, wanting to understand
World Cup
of news, only through reference news, so everyone would clamor to read the newspaper." Lao Xu recalled. After returning to Hangzhou, Lao Xu was still obsessed with soccer. Whether it was the national team's matches in Hangzhou, or the matches of Hangzhou's local professional or corporate teams, Lao Xu would go to the matches in person: "I remember that tickets were only a few cents, but at that time, the monthly salary of a worker was only 36 yuan, and the salary of our cadres was only 35 yuan and 50 cents."
In the A-A era, Hangzhou didn't have a top league team, so Lao Xu traveled to Shanghai at his own expense to watch matches, and sometimes took advantage of business trips to watch high-level matches. 2007, Greentown was promoted to the top of the
China Super League (soccer league)
The old Xu joined the fan organization Green Spirit: "I often go to watch Greentown games before, but the Green Spirit is mostly young people, I can not like them like a game from the beginning to the end of the jump, so I have not been joined. 2007, the hometown team to the Super League, I was incredibly excited, and since then no longer hesitant." Old Xu every home game will go to Huanglong Stadium to cheer for Greentown, and occasionally will go to the away game, had an away game in Harbin to watch the game took more than 30 hours of train, go to Chongqing was 28 hours of train: "Fortunately, I bought a sleeper ticket, some fans is a hard seat ticket, sit dozens of hours on the train to go to cheer for Greentown, I really admire them! "
Lao Xu also revealed that he has adopted some small strategies to win his partner's support for his soccer hobby. For example, his partner likes to watch women's volleyball matches, so every time a women's volleyball match is on, Lao Xu will turn on the TV in advance, make a good cup of tea, and accompany his partner to watch it: "In fact, I don't like to watch volleyball too much, but I'll pretend to be interested in it. I accompany her to watch volleyball, she will also support me to watch soccer. Haha."
With the passage of time, his partner also followed Lao Xu to go to watch Greentown's matches. "Last year, the first phase of Greentown played in the Meizhou division, which was not easily accessible and many of the matches were not open to fans, so we didn't go." Lao Xu said, "After Greentown played in the Super League group, my partner and I planned to go to Chengdu for a long time, and we stayed there for more than 10 days and watched three matches. In addition to watching the game, we also visited Sichuan and Chongqing, two people had a great time. Before, my old partner didn't even know the rules of the game, but now she knows the rules very well, and she can name all the players, and her enthusiasm for watching the game even exceeds mine."
Unfortunately, the Zhejiang team failed to make it to the Super League last year, and Lao Xu said he will continue to accompany the team this year. "If Greentown doesn't make it to the top league, we'll cheer for the team to rush up. I also have a wish to see Zhejiang soccer win a championship. Sometimes I'm thinking that if I can't get it in ten years, I'm afraid I won't see it ......"
