There were quite a lot of people attending this professional league meeting, and the conference room was slowly filled up. Han Songlin sat with Wu Di and Li Wenjie.
Many of the people present could write their own autobiographies and sell them.
Han Songlin, on the other hand, doesn't know anyone here except Wang Wanda.
From his teenage years to his young adulthood, Chinese football was in a dark period. During that time, even CCTV stopped broadcasting Chinese professional football matches.
So although the people sitting here may be very famous in society, Han Songlin really doesn't know them.
They were all part of the wave of their time, but after the big wave has washed away the sand, how much is left?
At the meeting today, Wu Di had already spoken to Han Songlin yesterday, asking him to speak at the meeting.
And at the meeting, Han Songlin could also feel that everyone had high expectations for the professionalisation of football.
They really wanted to do a good job of developing Chinese football.
Han Songlin couldn't help but think deeply about his own attitude. Was it really so unbearable?
'Hello, distinguished leaders and colleagues. My name is Han Songlin, and I am the investor of Sichuan Fule Football Club. I have listened to everyone's speeches, and I feel that everyone truly loves football and wants to do a good job of developing it and the professional league.'
'Well, I would also like to say a few words, and we can discuss this together.'
'After football became professional, a lot of things started to happen. The first one is the conflict between professional teams and the national team. Professional teams support their players, so naturally they don't want their players to play for the national team because if they do, they could get injured and then miss matches for their club, which would affect the team's performance!'
'It goes without saying that the national team's matches must come first!'
Han Songlin smiled and didn't say anything, but looked at everyone in the room.
He believed that most people sitting here were intelligent people; since Han Songlin had raised the issue, everyone naturally knew that this would objectively exist.
'In fact, I personally believe that to engage in competitive sports, the country directly organising athletes to train together is the most effective. We have also won many medals at the Olympics, which is a direct reflection of the advantages of the national system.'
'So, President Han, you don't support professional football?'
Han Songlin waved his hand and laughed, 'I didn't say that. I just want to make some things clear.'
'After professional football, let me put it this way: the national team's results may become worse. In the past, we could still say that we were very competitive in Asia, but maybe not in the future. If you want to do well in professional football and you also want the national team to do well, it seems to me that it's unlikely in ten years' time.'
'I believe we all know the true strength of the current domestic players. They are worlds apart from Maradona.'
'Where do we stand in terms of our hopes for the national team?'
'One, the development of young players. How do young players develop? One is good youth training. We need to discover talented children to play football and let them grow through continuous competition in the league. Of course, if the standard of our league is too low, it is simply impossible for them to grow. We can't expect a golden child to grow from a swamp!
'Everyone knows the story of Mencius's mother moving three times. A person's growth requires a good environment. A player's growth also requires a good environment.'
'Everyone here can be said to directly determine the future of professional football in China. If we want the professional league to develop healthily, then we must first set the rules.'
'If the rules are set properly, and no one can just come along and change them at will, then we can say that we have a constitution for football. To put it bluntly, we must first formulate a constitution for football, and in the future our league will have to follow it.'
'I have read some materials on the preparation of the league, and there is no clear definition of many things. It is even overly idealistic.'
'Professional leagues involve hundreds of millions of dollars in interest, and this is just the beginning. In a couple of years, the interest will be billions, tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions. With such a huge amount of interest, can anyone not be tempted? Just scratch around a bit, and you can get more money than you can ever spend in a lifetime. Tell me, is there anyone who would do that?'
Han Songlin's words made everyone fall into deep thought. In the face of such huge interest, who can guarantee that they will never lose their initial intentions?
'Let's not talk about the competitive level of each team, let's talk about the referee first. In fact, the referee is the easiest to control if you want to control a match.'
'If the referee slightly favours one team during the match, then it will be very difficult for the other team to win.'
'Even more so, the referee can deliberately make some incorrect decisions on purpose, and directly provoke the players.'
'But the current situation is that it seems that the referee is not under the control of the Football Association. In other words, even if the Football Association wants to punish them, there is no way to do so.'
'Without supervision and punishment, the inevitable result is that referees are constantly being bribed.'
'If we can't even guarantee the fairness of the competition, then just imagine what the future of the league will be like.'
Han Songlin paused to drink some water. He had to give everyone time to follow his train of thought.
If you want to convince someone, you have to draw them into your train of thought.
'In addition, players also need to be monitored. There is currently no legal gambling in the country, but there must be a lot of it in the underground market. After the professional league starts, gambling will definitely flourish. It's fine for players to bet on themselves to win, but what if they bet on themselves to lose?'
'And what if the team's investors also engage in gambling? A single match can earn millions or tens of millions of dollars; I won't say anything about what the team owner will do. Let me just say one thing: what will happen to the team then?'
'And what about football matches?'
'There are too many interests involved in the entire professional league. How to ensure the fair, healthy and orderly development of the professional league is what we should do. We must first establish rules, a sound set of rules, and then the professional league will operate within these rules, and no one can break the rules.'
Han Songlin looked up at the time, feeling that he had gone on a bit too long.
'Sorry, I got carried away. I'll stop here for today, thank you!'
At the same time, in his heart, Han Songlin secretly regretted that he had forgotten not to be the first one to speak out.
'You have said very well, directly pointing out the areas where we have not done our job well. I think what President Han has said is very inspiring. We must do everything we can to ensure the fair, healthy, orderly and long-term development of the league.'
Han Songlin knew that the person speaking was from the General Administration.
'President Han, you have said very well, what else do you want to say, today, let's say it together! We are here to discuss and exchange ideas.'
Han Songlin faced these expectant gazes and thought for a moment: 'Then shall I say a few words?'
As he spoke, Han Songlin's gaze kept the people present in view; well, they were all foxes of a thousand years, and no one's face showed any emotion.
'What I'm going to say next is about the distribution of benefits. Throughout the world, very few football clubs can say that they are profitable, and those that can barely break even are very rare indeed.'