The people of Chongqing are known for loving spicy food and having spicy personalities. For the second time this year, this quick tempered spiciness led to violence when a local rival came to town. This time it was Chongqing FC facing off against Chengdu Blades, a clash with no significant meaning on any China League races beyond local pride.
It seems the police weren’t prepared for the visiting supporters leading to incidents of fighting on the streets of Chongqing. Both these “Sichuan” sides have CSL aspirations, along with the third club from the area, Chongqing Lifan, certainly leading to some very interesting clashes next season.
The scenes, from the clothes to the police reaction, look no different from what you’d expect to see in incidents of European hooliganism. If there is one thing that is definitely alive and well when it comes to football in China it is tribalism and fans fed on a steady diet of European football culture sometimes want to emulate it too much, including the bad sides.
Here are the pictures:
bcheng
Brandon Chemers aka B. Cheng aka A Modern Lei Feng – is a name which may be familiar to many in the Chinese blogosphere. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief for Wild East Football and is one of the lonely souls writing about Chinese football in English for the last 10 years. Chemers' credentials are second to none – his former blog focused not only on the fortunes of his beloved Beijing Guoan FC, but a multitude of other aspects of Beijing life. He’s deservedly built a reputation in the Chinese blogosphere as an insightful observer of not only Chinese football, but also the wider picture of life in modern China and its many layers. For WEF, beyond writing about Guoan, he often focuses on fan culture and the business of Chinese football.
Yiddo Huayi
31/10/2012 at 15:59
Two “red hot chilli peppers” teams and their firms up for a bit of GBH?
Is this the Eastern equivalent of Millwall vs West Ham?