Recently, reporter Xu Yi had the honor of conducting an in-depth interview with Xing Qi, the first referee in charge of the Chinese Super League in Zhejiang. Xing Qi insisted that he has never encountered any team trying to buy him with money.
Xing Qi began his soccer career at the Jiaxing Junior Sports School, and then he entered the Physical Education Department of Zhejiang Normal University for further study. His love for soccer kept Xing Qi yearning for the passion of the pitch, but a teacher's point of view changed the trajectory of his life: "You may stop playing soccer at the age of 35, but refereeing can be done until the age of 45." These words became a turning point in Xing Qi's life. He obtained a referee certificate during his college years, was promoted to a national referee in 2007, and qualified to referee in the Second Division League in 2008, and was successfully promoted to the Central League in 2013.
As a referee, Xing Qi understands the importance of mental fitness and admits, "The adaptation process is essential, coaches and players sometimes pressure you in various ways, and you can't avoid these."
In 2007, Xing Qi refereed a provincial women's soccer match. Faced with a female coach's persistent opposition and abuse, he chose to stick to his principles and decisively sent the other party out of the match, which ultimately went on smoothly. That game made him realize that his ability to handle on-the-spot situations had been greatly improved.
In the first few years, Xing Qi's refereeing experience in the Central League made him deeply realize the difficulty of refereeing. Facing the scolding of fans and accusations from the media, Xing Qi said, "These are what referees must accept. We will watch the video of the game after the match and summarize our enforcement. For unreasonable accusations and abuse, we have seen it and forget about it and will not take it to heart."
Xing Qi also shared his own experience in the process of law enforcement: "Fighting with coaches and players, first of all, we have to judge their intentions, whether they are intentionally pressurizing you, and then make the corresponding penalty, never be led by the nose by the other side."
Chinese soccer has experienced the storm of counterfeiting and blackmail, and the image of referees has been seriously affected. Xing Qi said, "Every profession has those who do well and those who don't, so as long as you do the right thing, you're not afraid of that. I love soccer and I love the profession of refereeing, so I finally insisted on it until now."
During Xing Qi's soccer career, he had heard some rumors about referees: "At that time, it was as if there were some messy assignments that were going around the soccer circle." But he insisted that he had never encountered any monetary bribes from teams: "I can say very responsibly that I have not once encountered such an assignment. After that rectification, the habits of Chinese soccer are much better now, and the referee's work is now very standardized."
Xing Qi revealed that as soon as the four referees arrive at the tournament, they have to move together with the two match 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 referees, but the local football association, which is also to prevent the referees from taking care of the home team.
