Football fever hit China over the weekend with the kick-off of
the 2006 World Cup.
Fans across the country crammed into bars and open-air venues to
watch live coverage of the opening matches, despite the six-hour
time difference between China and tournament host Germany.
In Beijing, thousands of football fans swarmed the Sanlitun and
Houhai areas, which were decked out in World Cup flags and
banners.
On Friday, fans began arriving at bars from late afternoon to
grab prime viewing positions for the opening ceremony and first
game, Germany versus Costa Rica.
For Tom Husband, 27, from England, who has been teaching in
Beijing for more than a year, the tournament was a vivid example of
how international Beijing was. He joined teaching colleagues from
Germany, Canada and the United States, to watch the game at The
Goose and Duck Pub.
"I watched some of the last World Cup in pubs back home, but it
was a very different atmosphere as everyone was supporting
England," he said. "But being here is something else.
"The atmosphere is incredible. I think it's because there are so
many people from different backgrounds and countries, and the
Chinese as well are so into football. They know so much. It makes
it a real festival atmosphere, and you can't help but enjoy it,
even if you're not a huge football fan."
John Harkness, manager at the Goose and Duck, said business
seemed to increase 10-fold compared to regular weekends.
"It was just incredible," he said.
"And, one of the things that surprised me was that we had a lot
of Chinese here too. I think they just wanted to enjoy the
international flavor of it all."
"The Goose and Duck is a real regulars place, where you normally
see the same people coming back, but a lot of the people that came
for the matches had never been here before."
On Saturday, hundreds of England supporters descended on Bar
Blu's roof terrace, where a giant projector was brought in for the
tournament.
Thirsty fans even drank the bar dry of draft Tsingtao beer.
Manager Greg Dover said: "We haven't had that before, but
luckily we had other beers on draft.
"From a business point of view, the weekend was very good for us
and everyone who came seemed to enjoy themselves."
"We had a lot of Germans here on Friday, and even one or two
Costa Ricans as well."
Meanwhile a doctor surnamed Zhou, from Changsha Xiangya
Hospital, last night warned fans not to get carried away during the
games and drink too much alcohol.
The warning came after the death of a 24-year-old Chinese
football fan in the city.
Zhou added people who repeatedly stay up to the early hours to
watch matches could also become rundown and susceptible to colds
and other illnesses.
With the late kick-off times in China, a larger police presence
than usual could be seen on the major bar streets in many big
cities after midnight over the weekend.
However, there were no reports of any disturbances.
It is not yet known how many people in China watched the opening
matches.
CCTV, which is broadcasting all the tournament's games, is
expecting huge audiences for their World Cup coverage although most
of the matches will take place late at night and the national team
failed to qualify.
Games will also be repeated during the day.
"It's difficult to tell how many people in China will watch the
World Cup," an official from CCTV sports center told the Xinhua
News Agency.
"But I would estimate the total audience for the entire
tournament will be more than 10 billion."
(China Daily June 12, 2006)