Original title: The whole village is dispatched to prepare for the “Village Super League”: the village in the mountains has a “football whirlwind”
In the past month, Kouzhai Village won 3 football games and got 6 pig feet. These pig’s feet tied with red strings are still frozen in the refrigerator. Yang Huaizhang, the leader of the Kouzhai Village football team, plans to wait for the team to gather and cook a pig’s feet hot pot with some fresh tofu to reward everyone.
During the Spring Festival this year, Chejiang Sanbao Dong Village in Rongjiang County, Guizhou Province held a village-level football league. Eight villages participated and lasted for a week. Netizens benchmarked against the “Chinese Super League” and called this competition “Village Super League” and “Zhai Super League”.
In mid-May, Rongjiang County held a county-wide “Village Super League”, which started every Friday to Sunday night, and more villages participated. This summer, “Village Super” has become a hot topic on various online platforms. Netizens are amazed that there are so many “Messi” in Guizhou villages, and they can kick beautiful long shots and hang golden hooks upside down. There are also fans from outside the province who come from afar just to experience this passion.
Among the 20 village-level teams participating this time, the strength of Kouzhai Village is moderate. In the eye of the “football whirlwind”, this village in the mountains with two to three thousand people is also bustling. Its way of preparing for the game is the epitome of this county and village football team.
the hope of the whole village
At 3 p.m. on Sunday, someone rode an electric tricycle through the streets of Kouzhai Village. He yelled with his horn: “The time for the competition is coming soon, everyone gather at the gazebo at 4 o’clock and set off together!” In the tricycle compartment, someone was beating a big drum.
This day’s game was between Kouzhai Village and Yi Village. Team leader Yang Huaizhang said it was a “tough battle”. Yicun is a strong team in the county, and Kouzhai Village has never won against it, and the best result is a tie.
In the past month, Yang Tongyang has to rush back to his hometown from more than 200 kilometers away every week, just to participate in the “Village Super League”. The 25-year-old has loved playing football since he was in secondary school. When he was in college, he participated in the college football league and scored with a free kick, breaking the history of his alma mater not being in the “final eight” for more than 20 years.
There are more than one players like him who came back from other places to compete. Yang Huaizhang said that in order to allow the players in the village to participate in the competition with peace of mind, the team will reimburse travel expenses or charter a car for everyone.
Kouzhai Village is an ordinary Guizhou mountain village, and the villagers are not rich. But when it comes to donating money to the team, the villagers are very enthusiastic. Some donate five or ten yuan, and some donate one or two thousand yuan. After the “Village Super League” became popular all over the Internet, the Kouzhai Village team has never been more “lavish”. Everyone has pooled 50,000 to 60,000 yuan to serve as the logistical support for the players. There are also villagers who want to donate money. Shi Li, the village party secretary, said that the money is enough, so don’t donate now.
Shi Li has been married to Kouzhai Village for 12 years. In her impression, there are football games in the village every Spring Festival and summer vacation. Shi Li’s husband likes to play football, and these years are spent in football games during Chinese New Year.
In the past, Shi Li had no interest in football and never watched football games. Until the Spring Festival this year, after watching the entire “Village Super League” game, she also fell in love with watching football games. She watched all the “Village Super League” games without landing.
When Yang Tongyang was a child, he often watched his uncles play football barefoot on the ground covered with cinders. He also fell in love with playing football when he was in middle school, and even watched the World Cup with a few classmates before the senior high school entrance examination. Over the years, whenever Yang Tongyang walked out of the house, his parents would always ask, “Are you going to play football again?”
Yang Tongyang works in another county. Every time he goes back to the village, he has to take a taxi to the high-speed rail station, then take the high-speed rail to Rongjiang Station, and then transfer to a car to go home. Yang Tongyang was not afraid of tossing, he said with a smile: “I must come back, this is related to the honor of the village collective.”
These ordinary “workers” and “student children” in the society have returned to their hometowns and become “soccer stars” and “the hope of the whole village”.
“The momentum must not be lost”
In addition to the loudspeaker shouting, the WeChat group in Kouzhai Village also posted the game notice early. This time it was the turn of the first, second, and third village groups to provide logistical support. Each person paid 5 yuan, which made up seven or eight hundred yuan. In addition to buying water and popsicles for the players and coaches, everyone also brought some watermelon and roll powder. Ready to eat for the fans at the scene.
The bayberry at home is ripe, bring some bayberry; the watermelon is ripe, pick some watermelon. Hand-made jelly and rolled noodles made by the villagers are must-have snacks. Shi Li said with a smile: “The villagers make these snacks spontaneously.” The competition among the villages has extended from green fields to logistics support. “Everyone always wants to make snacks that others have never made.”
The excitement had already begun before the game: the strong man was beating the big drum, walking in the front of the team, followed by the official players in jerseys and teenage youth training players, and behind them, there were braids , a kindergarten girl waving a small red flag, and a young mother with a baby. Some people carried small watermelons grown by themselves, and the maids carried jelly noodles and “footballs” made of glutinous rice. This colorful team walked through the streets mightily.
When playing in the “Village Super League”, momentum and technique are equally important. Yang Huaizhang said that every game, the village will dispatch a cheerleading team of 100 people, and 600 to 700 villagers from the whole village will be there to cheer. “It’s not enough to overwhelm other villages. Even if you are inferior to others, you can’t be inferior to others.” Villagers often bring stainless steel basins to act as gongs and drums to strengthen their momentum.
The summer in Rongjiang is hot, and at halftime, the cheerleaders rushed to the players with fans and hand-held small fans, and fanned them hastily.
During this time, Yang Bing became busy again. As the head of the coaching staff of the Kouzhai Village football team, he has trained several batches of youth training players. The first batch of youth training players, such as Yang Tongyang, have now become the main force on the field. This month, he will also serve as the commentator of the “Village Super League”. Every night when there is a ball game, Yang Bing will comment at least one game. Saturday is the most lively, the game lasted from 3:30 pm to 12:00 at night, and sometimes it didn’t end until 1:00 in the middle of the night. Two weeks ago, he also commented on the same stage with the famous football commentator Han Qiaosheng. “The county is very ‘powerful’, equipped with good audio equipment.” Yang Bing said.
The game time is approaching, and the stands are full of people. Different from common ball game spectators, the “Village Super League” spectators basically carry snacks in their hands. This also made many netizens envious.
At first, some netizens questioned that the audience in the stands were “children” hired by the county. Yang Bing said with a smile: “It’s really not a ‘caretaker’.” The men, women and children in the stands were all very involved when they shouted “Come on”. Some netizens commented: “Cheering for my brothers, children and grandchildren, how can I not work hard?” Yang Tongyang said that there were also more intense confrontational moves such as tackles in the “Village Super League”, “but they were all tackles, not opponents. If someone shovels. If I shovel at people, I believe that the villages will not agree.” People on the court, even if they are not in the same village, are bound to be related.
It is equally friendly to “pseudo-fans” here. There are 16 ethnic groups in Rongjiang County, and 80% of the county’s population are ethnic minorities. During the intermission, there will be folk performances such as Dong songs and Duoye dances on the court. The Guzhou No. 4 Elementary School held a national costume show on the football field. The children wore national costumes of different shapes, stepped on model steps, fixed points, and looked around the audience. There are various snacks such as Rongjiang roll noodles, jelly noodles, and watermelon on the sidelines, and fans can eat for free.
The future of country football
Yang Huaizhang worked as a barber and salesman, and traveled to several cities. He is now selling breakfast in the village, and what he usually thinks about is “the development of the football industry in Kouzhai Village in the next 10 years.”
When he is free at night, Yang Huaizhang often goes to “wander” in the small square in the village. Unlike other walkers, when he sees a child playing with a ball, Yang Huaizhang will pay close attention to the child’s movements and ability to control the ball—he is the “scout” in the village. Once a good seedling is found, Yang Huaizhang will communicate with the child’s parents and persuade them to send the child to the youth training team. Kouzhai Village formally established a team in 2010. In order to let the team have successors, a youth training team was established.
There is no football field in Kouzhai Village. The children train on the basketball court of Kouzhai Primary School, practicing basic skills such as juggling and passing.
After taking the children through the boring basic skills training, Yang Tongyang will take the children to play football for half an hour. He encourages the children to find their favorite football stars and “imitate whoever they want to play like”.
Yang Huaizhang is often worried that if the children accidentally fall, the rough and hard concrete floor will scratch the skin, “it hurts to see it.” Yang Huaizhang said that some villages are close to the county seat, and they can walk to the stadium in a few minutes. “The inherent conditions for playing football are good.” When the children came home from vacation, Yang Huaizhang sometimes took the children to the county stadium for training. It was inconvenient to take a 10-stop bus to the county seat. Yang Huaizhang felt that if there was a futsal field in the village, the training conditions for the children would be greatly improved. If so, they have the hope of winning over Yicun.
After the “Village Super League” became popular, the topic of discussion in the village after dinner changed from family short stories to ball games. Many villagers don’t understand football, so they can only see “he plays very hard”. “Through football, the village has become more cohesive, and there is no generation gap between everyone.” Yang Tongyang said. (China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Li Yajuan)