Soccer Night 25 Years of Love: Memories and Changes
At the end of the Qingming holiday, the soccer commentary legend Liu Jianhong, some sentiments on the microblogging, stirred up the indelible memories in the hearts of countless fans.
Liu Jianhong recalled: "Looking back 25 years ago, the curtains of the soccer night opened in a panic and busy. It was a golden age of television and the starting point of Chinese soccer's exploration and innovation. Although I am now gray-haired, the media environment has changed drastically, and Chinese soccer is in deep trouble, the enthusiasm, dedication, responsibility and commitment of that year still make me feel extremely proud! In this critical period of breaking up the old and establishing the new, both TV and Chinese soccer need the courage to face up to the difficulties and the determination to carry out thorough reforms."
Soccer Night, the name, carrying the feelings of countless Chinese fans, unknowingly, it has gone through 25 years of spring and fall.
Every Thursday night, the familiar music plays and the familiar slogan rings in your ears, "The weekly festival for fans - Football Night begins." It's an unforgettable slice of life in every fan's mind.
On April 4, 1996, the first edition of Football Night debuted on CCTV. At that time, each program was nearly four hours long, covering both domestic and international soccer, and the live broadcast feature made many Chinese fans willing to give up their entertainment and stay in front of the TV.
The turn of the century was a simpler time, when online media had not yet emerged and paper and television were the most direct ways for fans to experience soccer.
Therefore, soccer night reached its peak in the 1990s, its ratings in the CCTV sports programs among the top, in the hearts of fans, it is the most viewers, the most influential, the most authoritative column, the advertising price is second only to the focus on the interview.
(first soccer night credits)
In the first few years of soccer night, the program team only six or seven people, host Huang Jianxiang, Zhang Bin and Han Qiaosheng. Due to limited manpower, Liu Jianhong, who just joined CCTV, needed to run Aa and Ab, and the content of Ab was almost undertaken by him alone, so he was called "Liu Ab".
Later, Zhang Bin gradually withdrew, Han Qiaosheng and Huang Jianxiang had other work arrangements, and by around 2000, Liu Jianhong began to become the only host of Football Night, which was also heavily labeled as domestic soccer with the opening of its sister program, World Soccer.
Soccer Night, as it was then known, covered the national soccer team's World Preliminary 10 tournament in 1997, and has been making a name for itself ever since.
Back then, Soccer Night fought against match-fixing and black whistles in 1998, and was even blocked by the CFA at one point.
At that time, the soccer night, in 2001, the entire follow-up to the World Qualifying Round 10, witnessed the national football team for the first time into the World Cup of national rejoicing.
At that time, the soccer night, accompanied the national football team through the entire World Cup in Korea and Japan, in the days that followed, accompanied the national football team through countless days and nights ......
As a result, whenever soccer night is mentioned, fans are reminded of the familiar voice of Liu Jianhong, as well as the countless matches of the national soccer team and the constant topics of controversy they bring up.
2007 Asian Cup, the national football team failed to get out of the line, the well-known publicist Li Chengpeng in the soccer night program bluntly said that the then chairman of the Football Association Xie Yalong flunked, "to become a pig factory director is quite appropriate," when Xie Yalong angrily form of color to call CCTV overnight for accountability.
On June 15, 2013, the national football team suffered a 1-5 defeat at home to the Thai Young Army, and Football Night launched a special program "Interrogate 1:5" to analyze the reasons for the defeat, and even bluntly threw out the topic: this "abnormal" game, is it related to gambling? The game is not a normal match, is it related to gambling?
This is the night of soccer, which faces up to the ills of the times and depicts the ups and downs of Chinese soccer with the most realistic strokes, just like a chronicle, step by step into the hearts of fans.
(Football Night airs interview with Junior Zhao Junzhe)
Nowadays, as times change, Football Night has had to make adjustments, with its content focusing on domestic soccer coverage, taking into account international soccer hotspots.
Nowadays, with the rapid development of online media, soccer night is no longer fixed on Thursdays, but adjusted according to the time of the tournament.
Now, accompanied by a generation of fans youth Liu Jianhong also left the CCTV, leaving only a piece of saddening feelings.
Soccer in the development, the times are changing, when the copyright competition is increasingly fierce, CCTV is also struggling, the world soccer, soccer night and other classic columns in the flood of time continue to be impacted, but whether it is the peak or the trough, is the sentiment or the expectation, they are always there, carrying our youth.
"China doesn't have the best soccer, but it has the best soccer program." It's a phrase that is often on the lips of Chinese fans. And after 25 years, will you still be in front of the TV to watch soccer night?
