On May 2, the CFA issued a penalty of 50,000 RMB to Henan FC for "improper interference" with match officials in the passageway during the second half of the ninth round of the Chinese Super League. On May 4, Guangzhou won 1-0 against Dalian Yingbo in the ninth round of the Chinese First Division League. After the match, Guangzhou goalkeeper Huo Shenping was pushed by Dalian player Wang Xuanhong as he was leaving the field, which immediately triggered a heated confrontation.
Only two days into the May Day holiday, a succession of incidents in the Chinese Super League and Chinese League One have sparked heated public debate. Despite reports that Guangzhou goalkeeper Huo Shenping's "tough behavior" triggered a "serious warning" from the supervisors in the players' tunnel, the truth is far more complicated than that, and the Football Association will need to understand it in depth before reaching a conclusion.
Today, I am not going to delve into the details of the cause, passage and outcome of the incident, but I would like to express my personal views on the incident itself, with a view to arousing the grave concern of the management.
Seemingly simple Henan club punishment, in fact, triggered a lot of speculation from fans and the media. One fact that cannot be ignored is that some people believe that the inconsistency of the punishment standard may affect the mentality of the Henan team. According to the CFA Disciplinary Guidelines, "discussing the rules" with match officials during a match (including in the tunnel during halftime) is considered as "interference", and the amount of fine should be more than 20,000 RMB. Depending on the severity of the situation, you may also face heavier penalties. From the Football Association's penalty announcement, Henan club clearly belongs to the latter, 50,000 yuan fine in line with the rules.
My view is that the officials of the Henan club who committed the act of "interference" should bear the consequences of this mistake. Although they may have felt aggrieved, they were required to file a complaint after the match. In fact, the refereeing committee noted in its follow-up assessment that the referee had missed the yellow card for Zhejiang's No. 29 player (Zhang Jiaqi), misjudging two yellow cards as one red card.
Reports of the match between Dalian Yingbo and Guangzhou are likely to generate more controversy and challenges to the FA's punishment. However, questions have been raised as to whether Huo Shenping's bow to the home fans was a direct result of the clash, and whether his being "pushed down" was the real reason for his yellow card.
This paper does not evaluate this, but tries to look at the issue from another angle.
In the past nine rounds of matches, especially the first five rounds, the number of fines in China's second division has increased significantly, far exceeding that of last season and the Chinese Super League in the same period. According to incomplete statistics, China's second division received only 10 tickets in the 2023 season, while it surged to 18 this season. In comparison, the Chinese Super League had only three tickets in both seasons. This seems to indicate that while the management is concerned about the Chinese Super League, the introduction of the "New Eight Rules" also proves the importance attached to the Chinese Super League clubs to strengthen their own construction. In other words, Chinese Super League clubs may have achieved more significant results in strengthening their own construction. However, the lower the level of the league, the less attention and management, the more problems there will be, which may form a vicious circle and further damage the foundation of Chinese soccer. This phenomenon should cause the FA to think deeply.
In recent years, the issue of refereeing has become a focus of attention and a hot topic of discussion. In the past few seasons, there have been numerous claims about referees, including "mountains", "humane whistles", "holding", etc., and some people have even blamed the programmers. But the fact is that no referee has ever been publicly dealt with for fighting corruption in soccer. Fans can't help but ask: Is it true that no one in the refereeing ranks has major problems? Why is there so much secrecy about this team?
The game is not only a confrontation between teams, but also involves fans and other interested parties, including referees and match supervisors. The principle of fairness and impartiality should be upheld by all participants. As the Henan club's "officials" know, the state-owned shareholders have been extremely strict about the style of play and discipline this season, and even though there have been some problems in the past, they have not complained. This time, however, they "knowingly violated the law" and allegedly could not tolerate the "double standard penalty".
If referees could be more strictly educated and managed, and if there were fewer low-level mistakes in the game, the game might flow better, and there might be fewer disputes and clashes. At least, players and coaches might not be so impulsive when problems arise. From this point of view, I think that in addition to strengthening the management of clubs, players and coaches, there is also a need to strengthen the management of referees. Only if everyone has a higher work ethic, the level of the league can be improved after the promotion.
