Kung fu soccer a fantasy no more?

By Zhang Dongya

The idea of using kung fu to play soccer first appeared in Stephen Chow’s movieShaolin Soccer in 2001. Last year, several soccer fans founded a team in the spirit of the movie, seeking to bring its wild action off the silver screen and onto the field.

While the martial masters in the movie were playing to revive Shaolin kung fu, this team has set for itself an even more daunting task: to revive the national soccer team.

After the five-month-old Kung fu soccer team disbanded, Chinese-American Luo Caiyi called the founder to invest 3 million yuan. Despite doubts about the team’s future, founder Kong Debao still ams to unite kung fu and soccer. He will meet with Luo next month and begin to regroup.

Despair of national soccer team

Kong Debao, 38, was born in Heilongjiang Province. Kong, like most super fans, was excited to see soccer matches between the national and foreign leagues, especially after the Chinese soccer league went pro in 1994.

But staying excited is not easy, especially when your home team puts out one abysmal performance after another. The national team ranks 104, below even Ethiopia and Malawi.

Moreover, the team won infamy for their on-field brawls,   something most soccer teams leave to the fans. Some media compared the players to “martia arts heroes.”

Kong said his motivation for forming a kung fu soccer team was to save the image of Chinese soccer. “Kung fu is a cultural treasure that should be glorified instead of shamed as it was by the national team,” he said.

His idea dates back to before Chow’s film, he said. He said children who train in martial arts have an advantage in physical strength, flexibility and coordination; if they are also taught soccer skill, they may achieve surprising success, he said.

Five-month trial

In 2002, Kong moved to Beijing to expand his clothing business. After saving money for five years, he began to think about his dream of a kung fu soccer team and looked for opportunities to start it.

Even his friends could not take the idea seriously. In 2007, after he put his plan to paper, he approached a professional soccer coach about the plan. “Are you kidding me?” was the response.

But a talk with Zhang Lu, deputy manager of Beijing’s Guo’an Soccer Club, encouraged Kong to start the team. Zhang said someone else suggested using martial artists as soccer players at the Beijing ccer Association’s symposium a decade before, so it may have been worth a try.

Last March, Kong went to recruit players in Cangzhou, Hebei Province, which is known as China’s cradle of martial artists and acrobats. Wih help from the Beijing Institute of Sports Science and some professional equipment, he selected four players from 40 applicants. Later, he found another eight members at the Shaolin Epo Martial-arts School in Henan Province, and one from Beijing.

He invited Chen Jutong, an old soccer player on the Beijing Team, to coach the group in May. Chen, 59, had instructed some junior soccer teams in the city and was interested in kung fu. Still, he was reluctant to take the role.

It took some convincing, but Chen started to train the team on May 7 in the suburbs, where a village governor provided a field for free. However, by October their funds had dried up.

A new paradigm

During the five months, the players continued their martial arts training in addition to their daily soccer practice. They woke up at 5:30 am for a 10-kilometer run, practiced martial arts for one hour and then soccer for three. In the afternoon, action director Fan Ziyang showed them ways they could use martial arts moves in soccer.

On weekends, they played against some amateur soccer teams. The kung fu soccer team always won by a huge margin; the players were proud.

Chen said they had the advantage in physical strength, and they could bridge the gap of years of training within a few months. “Their martial arts background brought some seful techniques to them. For example, they could save a ball by using a hopping inside crescent kick rather than their head,” Chensaid.

But it was impossible to play without breaking the rules. “Without a doubt, almost all the kung fu movements would constitute illegal kicks, like a leg-sweep would be a major foul on the field,” Chen said.

He said kung fu soccer cannot replace or rescue a regular game, but that it is a totally new game which will require new rules of play.

But Kong still dreams of kung fu soccer being a real competition rather than an exhibition sport.

A reason to continue

Most soccer fans consider the kung fu soccer team a way of venting national frustration with the Chinese team, similar to the Shanzhai soccer team assembled in Suzhou on the premise that “there has to be 11 good players in China witha population of 1.3 billion.”

But some have been moved by the team’s spirit to invest big money in the team. Soccer fans want China to have a team worth cheering for and at the moment, the kung fu team is their only option.

Kong Debao has invested a lot in his dream. He blew through most of his savings and sold his car at too low a price. Now he is staking his home on soccer.

The instructor Chen Jutong also has hope for the kung fu soccer team. “If we could train the players from childhood, it may be possible to find them a place on the national soccer team,” Chen said.

After the team disbanded, some players remained in Beijing hoping for a new chance. Ding Yongwei, 19, from Cangzhou, found a temp job in construction materials. “I am a little old to learn to play soccer, but I love it as well as martial arts It is rare to have a chance to combine the two, so I will wait in hopes the team can get back together,” Ding said.

Kong said if the investment comes through, the only remaining problem will be to find more players.

Most of the martial art schools have no interest in embracing kung fu soccer.

For Liu Haiqin, president of Shaolin Tagou Martial-art School in Henan Province, he considered the future of the students who learned martial arts in the school. “Our students are taking regular courses and studying martial arts at school. If they leave to play soccer, I am not sure what their parents will think, or how we can ensure they still have a futurein kung fu,” Liu said.

“Theoretically speaking, all the teams that meet the requirements of te Chinese Soccer Association can join professional tournaments. They need registered players, a home field, sponsors and participation fees,”  Xie Zechang, a reporter forTitan Sports said. Such teams still have a long way to go before they can go pro.