OT- Growth of American Football in China.

by Raider289 on Jan 22, 2012 1:36 PM CST

Last off-season, we had some fun talking about the earliest developments of gridiron football in China.

It looked unclear if they would have success with the game or not.

This off season, I did not know what to expect when I looked again, because sometimes huge movements in China can disappear overnight, but this did not happen. Football in China appears to be growing at a healthy pace!

I am glad, because the life-lessons of the game have a lot to offer, and with such a large population, I think China will be better off with football, than without football. Right now, Chinese new year is on - the big holiday, and families are gathering. Maybe a few of them will relax and talk some football like we do over the holidays?

What I find most interesting is that it is still very early for them, so the football looks cleaner and more pure without some of the silliness we sometimes see. It must be like football was like here in earlier times. That's actually refreshing. They also look like they having fun with it and understand most of the meaning behind it also.

Last year it was interesting to point out that, in Chinese game-film, the Chinese were playing at a higher level of intensity and passion, and did not look uncomfortable with themselves compared to the new football starting to grow in England.

I made a quick check of game film available on YouTube and found that, this year, the Chinese appear to have held their ground and perhaps grown it, but it is worth recognizing that some of the British teams have made improvements, while others have not. The sport appears to have grown significantly there, also, but sometimes they look like high-school teams, and they do not appear to be as comfortable with the sport as the Chinese yet overall.

It appears that they have everything in place to be successful with this game, and good for them.

There are new videos to watch on YouTube, the Beijing guardians have a new website that looks fairly good.

Even the NFL, or a Chinese version of it- is there now.

http://www.nflchina.com/eng/

Footage from the founders bowl, that took place on Nov 27th of 2011 is below. Shanghai won against Beijing 35-7, and there were some amazing passes during the game, so don't miss those in the highlights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuqN2WpzJn4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQjq2I9dLVk

And here is a press release on the bowl game:

http://gamedaychina.com/founders-bowl-i

Beijing guardians website, with a video section where you can watch them struggle against Shanghai from a QB helmut-cam. It may look ungraceful to us, but this is a brand new sport to them, so they do well considering the circumstances. Seems that the teams have a handful of western players on each side, and I bet this will change as they get more experience:

http://www.beijingguardians.com/

I am not sure if I can find the official Shanghai team website.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Double-T Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Double-T Nation's writers or editors.

Tweet Comment 5 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Pretty interesting

I sent these links to my nephew. He is in Hong Kong teaching English for 2 years.
He graduated from Tech last May. He got a dual major. Business and Mandarin.
They speak Cantonese in Hong Kong and while he is teaching Mandarin he is taking classes to learn Cantonese.

_____________________________________________
"I was taught to fight, taught to win" .... "Don’t Give Up"

by RndRckTTU on Jan 22, 2012 8:57 PM CST reply actions

The language didn't look like a problem in the football.

You may have noticed in the video, that the Bejing guardians quarterback was speaking in English, and the articles I found about them indicate that they use a mix of languages.

Many Chinese now can speak some very basic English, so my feeling is that they will probably end up using a mix of English and Chinese, once they find the most suitable balance between the two. Whatever mixture of languages that is most effective and efficient will probably be best. Surely the majority of the Shanghai Nighthawks spoke shanghaineese, but also enough English and Mandarin to play and win. I also saw some youth flag football videos of some kids and younger guys playing as an introduction to the sport, and it also looked like there was some language mixture.

I think the Chinese have enough experience dealing with different languages that any language barriers in football aren’t as much trouble as you might think. That seems to be good news for a sport that has so much to offer the players, and the fans.

Can you imagine how lucky the current players are? They have the honor of making history and introducing the sport to a nation. It’s an amazing thing to watch a new sport being born in a foreign country.

by Raider289 on Jan 23, 2012 12:21 PM CST up reply actions

That's very cool.

I have a cousin that has been in East Asia for 16 years teaching English. I have been to Hong Kong myself and over some parts of East Asia. Very beautiful country and the people are very hospitable. We played some basketball while over there. I will never forget walking into their gym and smelling gas. Yes, they used gasoline to clean the wood floor. It was hilarious. The people are great though.

"Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips."

by westtxscrub on Jan 24, 2012 8:22 AM CST up reply actions