Opinion | Crowd concerns take shine off Chinese Super League glory for Shanghai SIPG as football fans get another raw deal
- Only season ticket holders reportedly inside Shanghai Stadium for Beijing Renhe game in week city holds trade expo
- Shandong Luneng and Beijing Guoan fans face similar farce for impeding Chinese FA Cup Final
Does winning the Chinese Super League count if no one is there to see it? That was the farcical situation facing Shanghai SIPG as they beat Beijing Renhe 2-1 at Shanghai Stadium on Wednesday night. Needing a point to claim their first championship and end the seven-year dominance of Guangzhou Evergrande in one fell swoop, it had been reported that only season ticket holders would be allowed in.
The situation was not quite that bad. Despite a huge police presence, with officers photographing car number plates and recording fans on handheld cameras, there were still touts selling tickets. Some of those tickets got people in, even if they paid 1,100 yuan (US$160) for the privilege.
Security was also heightened. The man who checked my bag wore a suit and spoke English, which has never happened before at this ground. Many of the fans inside also appeared to be members of organised fan groups, identifiable by matching coats.
There were perhaps 25,000 fans in a nearly 60,000 capacity stadium for the biggest game in the club’s history. The official reason for the reduced crowd was safety concerns related to construction work taking place around the stadium. This construction has been going on for some time but the measure has not been enforced for other games this season.
Entirely coincidentally, Shanghai this week is hosting the inaugural China International Import Expo, an event that has attracted thousands of exhibitors and vendors as the country pushes its commercial power. The expo was opened by President Xi Jinping on Monday, a move that also meant road closures, a noticeably increased police presence and delays at immigration at the city’s airports.
