Wild Boar Forest, in white and blue, and the Star Tramps, two of the oldest teams in the Huilongguan Super League, play during the league's 4th season in 2007
身披蓝白相间战袍的野猪林队，正在迎战流浪明星队。他们是回龙观超级联赛中的两支老牌劲旅。图中的比赛是2007年回超第四赛季中的一场。
In the sprawling residential suburb of Huilongguan, northwest of downtown Beijing, the neighborhood soccer league is in the middle of its championship game. The audience, most of them the wives and children of the players, shout encouragement as two teams of men of all ages and sizes dressed in bright yellow and red run across the grass pitch on a college campus. Wang Yuyu, a 32-year-old former amateur athlete, cheers as the Tornadoes beat Meteor Garden 3-1. Wang has only missed a few matches in the past six years, and more than anything, he wants to see the league reach its 100th season.
位于北京西北郊区的回龙观，是一片庞大的住宅区。这里的居民们自发举办了属于自己的冠军联赛。比赛的观众，大部分都是场上队员的妻子和孩子，他们用力地给运动员加油助威。场上的队员们身穿亮黄色和红色的队服，无论年纪多大身材如何，都卖力地在人造草皮的球场上奔跑。王玉宇现年32岁，曾是一名业余运动员。他很兴奋，因为己效力的Tornado FC 队以3比1的比分击败了流星队。过去六年里，他只错过了少数几场比赛。现在，他正满怀希望地期待联赛第100场比赛的到来。
Chairman Wang, as some of the league members jokingly call him, runs the Huilongguan Super League, China's most influential grassroots soccer league. Huilongguan's members first met each other in 2002 through a classified ad posted on the suburb's community website. "We thought we'd have a kick around, but over 70 people showed up, " Wang chuckles. The weekend kick around soon turned into eleven-a-side, and by 2004, nine teams and about 180 players competed in Huilongguan Super League's first championship.
王玉宇一直负责运作这项中国最有影响力的草根赛事：回龙观超级联赛。 其他联赛队员都开玩笑地称呼他王主席。联赛队员们最初相识是在2002年，有人在网上的社区论坛发了个帖子，“我们本来就是想找几个人踢踢球，没想到一下来了70人。”王玉宇笑着说。周末相约的踢球活动很快可以组织起11人制的正规比赛。到2004年回超第一次正式开始联赛时，整个联盟已经有了9支队伍，大约有180名球员。
Soccer — referred to here as football — has been slow to catch on in China. When the Republic of China was founded in 1949, authorities took control of the development of all sports and turned them into yet another political project to achieve international recognition. Almost all resources for sports development went to élite sports schools that serve as talent pools to represent China in international sports events. Amateur sports, with little political significance, have been largely ignored. China established its first professional football league in 1994, following the example of European leagues. The system, however, never fully embraced the market values that made its European counterparts such a success. Although teams are sponsored by major companies like Samsung and Hyundai, they are still "owned" by their local football associations, which are government departments.
足球这项运动在中国起步较慢。1949年中华人民共和国成立后，官方接管了所有运动项目，并且将政治和体育挂钩，以实现为国家争夺荣誉的目的。举国体制将所有的资源都集中在少数几个精英体育院校里，精选出的有天赋的运动员从小培养，就是为了代表国家出征国际赛事。与此同时，业余体育运动由于不具备政治功用，长时间被当局忽视。中国足协参照欧洲的模式，于1994年成立。但中国足协一直没有像欧洲那样重视市场的作用，因此也没有取得同样的成功。尽管球队不乏诸如三星和现代这样的大牌赞助商，但他们依然被各地足协掌控。
The pro teams that do exist have problems of their own. The Chinese Super League, now the top-tier professional league in China, has been plagued by scandal in recent years. Despite government intervention to assign the best players to represent China at international tournaments, match-fixing, pitch violence, controversial referees and the outrageous behavior of star players have not helped professional football's fan base in China. "If you keep a record of the champion teams every year, you'll see that the players remain the same every year, only in different jerseys and representing different cities, " Wang says. "That's a different game played by a very small group of people. We don't play for money, fame or political glory. We play because we want to be a part of the sport."
专业球队本身也有自己的问题。中国超级联赛是目前国内水平最高的专业赛事，而它近年来麻烦不断。暂且不论当局为了国际重要赛事的档期随意抽调优秀球员，联赛自身的赛事组织，球场暴力，黑哨，球员素质等等问题一直被球迷诟病。“几年中超比赛看下来，就会发现场上球员一直就是那么几个人，每年不同的只是换了身队服换了个城市，”王玉宇说，“这已经成了他们一小撮人玩的游戏。而我踢球不是为了钱，名声或是政治资本。我们踢球完全是因为热爱这项运动。”
Huilongguan Super League takes its inspiration from the Community Shield, an English trophy that matches England's best professional team against its best amateur team for charity. "We came up with a slogan for the championship last year — 'Return sportsmanship to football, and let the people's sport remain a people's sport.' " Wang is not alone in his conviction. In recent years, amateur football leagues have started to catch on in larger neighborhoods in Beijing. On May 17, as 12 teams in the Huilongguan Super League played their 9th round, at least four other community championships were being played across Beijing. The Chinese Super League was also concluding its 9th round on the same day, with a 0-0 game between Chongqing city and Changsha city, played in a half-empty stadium.
回龙观超级联赛在维持了自己社区的特色，英超那样对冠军丰厚的奖励适合专业联赛，但并不适合这种业余联赛。“去年比赛时，我们专门商讨了这个问题，我主张‘踢纯粹的足球，让群众体育保持群众特色’ 。”王玉宇的观点得到了大家的支持。近几年，业余足球联赛在北京蓬勃发展。5月17日，回超12支队伍举行了第九轮比赛。同时，北京还有其他四个社区联赛正在开展。中超联赛的第九轮比赛也在同一天举行，对阵双方是重庆力帆和长沙金德，两队在空荡荡的体育场里以0比0握手言和。
Unlike many nations, where pickup games are played in town squares and neighborhood streets, football has never had a wide popular following in China. "Huilongguan Super League is still building the first stage of grassroots football, while in England, grassroots football is the base of the whole football pyramid, " says Rowan Simons, a U.K. citizen who runs China's only legally registered amateur football club in China with about 3, 500 members. According to FIFA's 2006 "big count, " a survey of all its member associations, there were only 382, 762 junior players in China. In England, there are 820, 000. "Football talent is not manufactured in sports schools. The English Football Association spends over 50% of its resources on grassroots football development, " says Rowan. "If participation among kids [in China] could be raised to the level in England, I guarantee you that among the extra 25 million young players, there are 11 who could develop into World Cup stars."
不同于其他国家，社区居民们可以随时在社区球场踢比赛，民间足球活动在中国才刚刚展开。“回龙观超级联赛只是在中国迈出了草根足球运动的第一步。在英国，类似的群众运动是整个足球运动金字塔的坚实基础。”中国唯一合法注册的业余足球俱乐部经理罗兰·西蒙斯说，这个俱乐部有3500名成员。据国际足联2006年对其成员调查，在中国只有382 762名青少年在册球员。而在英国，这个数字是820 000。“足球水平不是在学校中培养出来的。英国足球协会将其支出的50%都投入到发展草根足球运动中，”罗兰说，“如果中国青少年对足球的参与度达到英国的水平，那我敢说青少年球员的数目至少能多出2500万，然后可以从其中选出11人去参加世界杯。”
As people have an increasing amount of time and money to spend on leisure, more and more fans like Wang Yuyu are getting involved in building the game, though it is not an easy business. It took Wang almost six months to find sponsorship for this year's Huilongguan Super League. "I do worry about how far we can go, " admits Wang. "We grew up watching football and we love this game. But if Chinese football does not reform, will our children still share the same passion?"
随着人们为休闲投入更多的时间和金钱，会有越来越多像王玉宇一样的球迷投身于这项运动中，尽管这一过程不是那么容易。王玉宇花了半年时间才为本次回超联赛拉到赞助。“我承认自己十分担心这项赛事的前景，”王玉宇说，“我们是看着足球比赛长大的，我们都热爱这项运动。但如果中国足球一直不见起色，我们的孩子们还会向我们这样热爱它么？”
That kind of reform can happen quickly if the central leadership changes their approach to football and returns it "to the people, " says Rowan. "There are senior leaders now asking why Chinese football is in perpetual crisis, and they are looking for solutions. But even if the authorities don't take active steps to encourage private and community-owned networks, it will still happen. It's the people's game." And it seems that Huilongguan's future teams are already coming together. No longer an active player, Wang has started coaching about 60 young children every week. "It can be an unruly bunch, " Wang chuckles before running over to help keep excited children from running out onto the pitch to help their dads.
起色也许很快就能见到，如果当局如果的管理思路更贴近“群众”的话，罗兰说，“目前，已经有高层领导人过问江河日下的中国足球了，相比他们也在寻找解决的方法。不过，就算当局不支持个人或社区举办的赛事，比赛照样会进行。这是群众自己的运动，” 目前，回超联赛的后备力量已经初具规模。自从不当主力队员之后，王玉宇开始每周花时间训练60名小球员。“他们真是不好管教的一群啊。”王玉宇笑着说，紧接着跑过去拦住了一个激动的想要上场给他爹助阵的小球员。
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