Crayfish is paired with beer, the bar is packed with people, cheers are constant, and social media screens are flooded... This is not the scene of the World Cup in Taiwan. In Taiwan, the World Cup is not so lively and much more deserted.

Crayfish paired with beer, the bar was packed with people, cheers continued, and social media was flooded... NO! This is not the scene of the World Cup in Taiwan. In Taiwan, the World Cup is not so lively and much more deserted.

Russia's opening ceremony Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Can

TV is hard to find live match channel

The fierce battle of the World Cup is in full swing. In the first game after the opening ceremony, Russia played against Saudi Arabia, and the 5:0 score was exciting. On the same day, some mainland friends in Taiwan pressed the remote control wildly and flipped through the channels over and over again, but could not find the channel that broadcast the game live. They asked all over the world which channel had the live broadcast. The Russian team scored a goal, but " China Television ", which claims to have the live broadcast rights, was still explaining the opening ceremony. Friends from the mainland said: "What a joke."

Later, I learned through Taiwanese friends that it turned out that Taiwan was the only A TV station that broadcasts the World Cup, "China Television", did not purchase the rights to the group stage, but only bought the rights to broadcast the games after the top 16. No wonder the small TV station in Taiwan could not watch the group stage broadcast, and the mainland fans in Taiwan had to Watch the game online.

This is the situation of the World Cup in Taiwan. Fans are not very enthusiastic, TV stations are not prepared to invest heavily, businesses are also lack of interest, and late-night fast food restaurants on the streets rarely have slogans about enjoying the World Cup. Some stores are worried that customers will occupy seats for too long during the broadcast of the World Cup, which will affect business.

Taiwanese fans are not enthusiastic about football

In the final analysis, the main reason for the failure of the World Cup in Taiwan is that football is not a popular sport in Taiwan, and fans here have little enthusiasm for football.

People often say that Taiwan is a "football desert", and it is not groundless. In the past, Taiwan has been deeply influenced by the United States in many aspects, including sports. The four major professional sports leagues in the United States are football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey, but football is not included. In Taiwan, the first sport is baseball and the second sport is basketball. Only baseball can fill the streets of Taiwan with thousands of people. Major sports stations often broadcast baseball live, but football is indeed rarely seen, even in the World Cup held every four years.

Due to the lack of soil, the enthusiasm for football has not been high for a long time. Taiwan has not established a professional league system. There is no future for playing football. There is a gap in talent training. Young players have not many opportunities to develop professionally.

Football enthusiasts go to mainland China to realize their dreams

In fact, there are many football enthusiasts in Taiwan, and there are also football players with considerable strength. Chen Boliang is one of them.

Chen Boliang, who was born in Kaohsiung in 1988, is known as "the first professional football player in Taiwan". Like most Taiwanese players, he once participated in the island's semi-professional corporate league, playing football and working at a power company. At that time, he received a monthly salary of about NT$19,000, or more than 4,000 RMB.

But he has always harbored the dream of becoming a professional player and is eager to accept higher-level challenges. In 2012, he moved west to the mainland, joined the Shenzhen Red Diamond Club, competed in the Chinese League , and secured his main position in the first season. In 2013, he joined Shanghai Shenhua Club. In 2016, Chen Boliang scored the first goal for a local player in the Chinese Super League in the new season on behalf of Hangzhou Greentown . In view of his good performance, Hangzhou Greentown signed a five-year contract with Chen Boliang, which shows that the team attaches great importance to him, and he was also appointed as the team captain.

Chen Boliang believes that in recent years, mainland China has vigorously promoted football. The league and football talent training system are very good, and the passion for football among young players can be fully felt. He once pointed out in an interview that what young Taiwanese players currently lack most is a stage. If they go to the mainland to play football, there will be no language barrier, which will be more conducive to communication on and off the court and help them adapt to the environment faster. "If you have a dream, chase it, just in case it comes true." Chen Boliang encouraged young Taiwanese players.

In recent years, many Taiwanese basketball players have gone to the mainland to play, such as the finals MVP Li Xuelin who helped Beijing Shougang win the CBA championship, Lin Zhijie of Zhejiang Guangsha team, etc. I believe that we will see more Taiwanese players on mainland China’s green fields in the future.

Our Taiwan special correspondent Long Jin

Source: Beijing Evening News

Editor: TF003