Luneng Club once boasted of "spending money to buy fairness" and had close ties with the top management of the Chinese Football Association. Legend has it that seeing a bundle of green onions at the gate of the Chinese Football Association means that the representatives of the Luneng Club have visited, because Shandong people never return empty-handed. Unlike the Southern Club, which spends money to buy victories, Luneng uses the method of giving gifts after the fact to connect feelings, just like visiting relatives, and circumvents the violation procedure in a roundabout way. Since 2010, after the anti-corruption storm has swept away, whether Shandong Football Club will be punished has been undecided. At that time, the leaders of the Chinese Football Association had some contradictions with Luneng Sports, such as Wang Hao's transfer in the table tennis match. Some people have been leaders of the Football Association for 8 years, but they have never been to Luneng Club or Luneng Football School, while others have just taken office and gone to Luneng for research.
Since 2010, Luneng has not dared to spend money on public relations, while other clubs continue to do so. Therefore, some people believe that Luneng has suffered a loss in terms of refereeing, which began in 2010 and continues until 2023, and it is generally believed that the referee is focused on Luneng. Everyone has heard about the news between Luneng and the referee during this period. In 2023, the head of the Chinese Football Association will be interviewed by CCTV reporter Bai Yansong and publicly admit that there are problems in the Chinese football refereeing circle, such as business shortcomings, mountaineering and circle culture. Is there a way for him to fix it?I think most of the problem will be solved by solving the problem of the appointment of referees.
To put it bluntly, these referees are temporarily employed by the Football Association, and they will also have emotional biases, basically whoever pays the fee, he will listen to whomever he says, and whoever hires the referee, the referee will listen to whomever he says. Therefore, the root of the problem is still in the management department of the referee, if the management department has no selfishness, it is the first step to solve the problem of Chinese football referees. As for the professional level of referees, Chinese football is not even bothered to cultivate the reserve echelon of players, let alone referees. The so-called referee training course has instead become a tool for referees to form cliques among themselves. Therefore, the solution to this problem also lies with the management. If the professional level of the referee is not high, then it is necessary to solve the problem of the professional level of the referee and train the referee through training, which is of course the way to solve the problem.
Chinese referees, like Chinese football players, do not have a new talent training mechanism, or there are but not sound and ineffective, and there are very few people who can be qualified for referee work. If the referee in question is solved, there will be no one on the court to enforce the law, and this will certainly not solve the problem. Therefore, excessive communication between referees and clubs should be limited. Each club holds an annual meeting every year to receive referees. This is nothing new, and it is no longer a secret unspoken rule, but an open rule. Some senior referees have even become the best people in some clubs, operating in the referee circle. In key matches, no matter which referee enforces the law, he must follow the wishes of these senior referees, otherwise he will not be able to gain a foothold in this circle. Therefore, this issue must be addressed immediately and one by one.
It is necessary to establish a recusal system or require referees to have approval from both teams before the game. For example, in the 2023 league, Shandong Luneng clearly knew that the law enforcement referee would make an unfair judgment on himself, but he was helpless. In the course of the game, Shandong Luneng was worried that the referee would openly favor the opponent in full view, how could all this be reasonable?