‘In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King’ as the saying goes and to tamper with it slightly, ‘In the Middle Kingdom, Weibo is King’. Long has China’s internet control been discussed as global favorites Facebook and Twitter are blocked in order for their Chinese counterparts Ren Ren and Weibo to thrive.
Wild East Football (@wildeastfootbal) has a good presence on Twitter, chatting away about Chinese football and fighting off the several outlandish transfer rumors that come our wa. There are several contributors with individual accounts on Twitter – Chris Atkins (@Chris_Elastico), Andrew Crawford (@ShouldersGalore), Martin Kuroczik (@CoyoteShanghai) and myself (@peteydavis).
However, with the CSL in deep freeze, takes advantage of this inactivity to delve into the minds of China’s waiyuan and their recent thoughts; some interesting, some insightful and some plain brilliant!
Shanghai Shenhua coach Ian Walker (@IanWalks1) fielded the inevitable Anelka questions when asked if the Frenchman would be a good West Ham signing- “Yes he would be a good signing, still a top player” and he managed to get in some chat about hair in reference to Spurs player Tom Huddlestone- “Haha nothing wrong with having a terrible barnet!”
Anelka himself (@anelkaofficiel) has literally been putting himself in the shop window on a trip to Dubai with rapper Snoop Dogg- “New years day with Snoop, Kurupt & @BetweenAgency at Dubaï. Happy New Year.”
Another CSL alumni, former Liaoning Whowin winger Vlatko Grozdanoski (@grozdanoski_7) is now with FK Vardar Skopje. His home country side are winners of six Macedonian League titles and seems to have parted amicably- “China is very good for football, but my contract end now and I will have new club in January.”
It’s nice to know that even the foreigners of the CSL have similar strife to the rest of us as Rostyn Griffiths (@rostyn8) of Guangzhou R&F tweeted- “Sat in Chinese embassy waiting for new work visa #zzzzz meant to be Christmas shopping #onlylikebuyingpresentsformyself”
While fellow Aussie Milan Susak (@susak23) celebrated his move from Tianjin Teda to Sepahan of the Iranian Pro League with an unfortunate lack of alcohol- “I have celebrated new years in 5 different countries this year Iran #buzzn #lol #noalcohol #bedtime”
Rochemback’s Aerbin
Still with Australian tweeters, interviewee Daniel Mullen (@danielmullen7) is finding losing ‘Stano’ to Beijing Guoan a little tough after being asked by Susak- “still cant believe he left.. Now got a chinese gaffer! Should be interesting. Got the runners packed n ready!! Haha leave tomorrow!” Mullen’s Brazilian teammate Fábio Rochemback (@FabioRochemback) shared a picture of Dalian Aerbin lining up.
With the Guoan players, we find Freddie Kanoute (@FredericKanoute) enjoying some simple festive cheer- “Happy Christmas to all my family and friends that are celebrating it, and wish everyone a happy new year. And fellow Guoan forward Joffre Guerron (@7JoffreGuerron) was raring to go- Since finishing the holidays getting ready to return to the pre-season and I have really wanted to start!!”
‘Double Championship Glory Together’
Kim Young-Gwon (@kyyman4695) of Guangzhou Evergrande shared his excitement at winning the Chinese Super League and FA Cup with a simple message and a close up of his medals, translated from Korean- “Double Championship glory together.”
Guizhou Renhe’s Rafa Jorda (@RafaJorda) is an extremely active Tweeter with over 16,000 followers and uses his profile to interact with fans and plug his personal website- “Now that you are little calm on the couch, because you visit my new website!!??? http://www.rafajorda.com”
China Style!
Winning the funny picture prize is Ygor de Souza (@YgorThade), last seen in China League One with Chengdu Blades, he gave his followers a token China pose- “China style!!! #china #chengdu #style #glasses #noix #estilomarmota #noix http://instagr.am/p/TWhgT6GPtj/”
We end though with Leandro Netto (@Netto9Elaina), formerly of Henan Jianye and his class message in Chinese to his fans following the discovery that his contract would not be renewed- “Again, I would like to deeply thank the support of all my fans, even when I had injury problems and was in a poor state, you gave me strength and I fell in love with my jersey. Thanks @ Miss Yang Qingyang tell me the truth, I also respect the decision made by the technical committees and clubs. I sincerely hope Jianye are victorious, I’m very sorry that I did not have time to say goodbye!”
