"Tell me about your research work, I'm curious, are you doing research for the Football Association?" After a while of chatting and laughing, Shui Junyi led the topic to work: "The next step of the Football Association's work is the construction of football culture. ?"

"Then I don't know. After all, I'm just an external expert." Wang Ai smiled and said: "But this research is indeed entrusted by the leader."

"Is it football and culture? Interdisciplinary?"

Wang Ai nodded and shook his head for a while: "Theoretically, of course, it belongs to interdisciplinary, but we don't think that far. It's not a combination of two ends, a combination in the middle, or an extension from football. Because I'm not very cultural. Understood, maybe in the future, cultural experts will be invited to do follow-up work after certain results are achieved, but we can’t talk about it now.”

"Then what is its purpose? To enrich the football system?"

"Simply put, take root." Wang Ai said in a clear voice: "Actually, many of us used to do it in terms of culture. For example, our club would inspect the fan organizations, fan activities, and peripheral product development of European giants. This actually belongs to It is a part of football culture. The Football Association has issued many documents in this regard, and the social development department has also conducted some explorations, but it is not a very important position on the whole. For example, our society as a whole does not pay attention to this area. I don't hear much about football culture."

"Yes, this word is a bit unfamiliar."

"The reason why it is proposed this time is that some phenomena have been discovered in practice, that is, Chinese football currently mainly relies on two major forces, one small and three forces." Wang Ai paused: "The two major forces are the power of the country and the masses. The power of patriotism, a small force is a small number of fans. It is a power that really understands the ball, loves to watch it, and is purely technical. This situation is different from what is native to Europe, or what we once pursued. I just said European football is a social activity, a temple fair once a week, and a carnival. Our league also has a similar nature, but it is not strong. You can see that the main body of Chinese fans is always the national team. For professional teams, look at the Internet The search volume is known, and it is not as good as a fraction of the national team. This shows that most of our football fans place their patriotism on the national team, hoping that the national team can win glory for the country. It doesn't matter if you don't look good, you can win. Of course, this is a common phenomenon in the national team. I call national team competitions honorary events. The foundation of the team is that the professional team is too small."

"That is to say, the forces in the non-pure football field are mainly driving football growth?"

"Yes, that's what it means. When our country's strength was not good, sports was entrusted with the function of taking off the hat of the sick man of East Asia. We ordinary people could not see the country as strong as developed countries, but at least we must see that our people are not bad. And how can we directly observe whether people can do it? Sports? Face-to-face competition, we can see at a glance whether we can do it or not." Wang Ai gestured: "We are a civilization of 5,000 years, and the common people have a sense of national pride and cultural pride very simply. I feel that although the reality is a bit bad, we still think that we can make progress in reality sooner or later. We are not bad because we are not good, but because we are not on the right path for a while. I am arrogant, I know I can't do it, but I don't think it will never work. This kind of strength supports the folk foundation of sports, so of course, football, the world's largest sport, is pinned on more."

"But what does this have to do with the task of the Football Association giving you the task of studying football culture?"

"It does matter." Wang Ai smiled: "Because our country will become stronger sooner or later, and sooner or later our people will see that the gap between us and developed countries has been shortened or even leveled and surpassed in some areas. So what about football at that time? The common people no longer strongly need sports to prove their national pride, football is no longer pinned on strong patriotism, and the force that has been supporting our football will be Gradually leave, but at the same time, our football ecology based on football itself is not fully established. The result is likely to be a baby state that leaves a nutrient-rich womb without milk feeding."

Shui Junyi nodded frequently, thinking about it after a while, and then asked: "Use football culture to create a football ecology, and then in reality, take over the function of football development after the situation changes? Let Chinese football have its own driving force. ?"

"right."

"But it will take a long time for our country to catch up with developed countries, maybe decades, especially per capita? That is to say, this force supporting football will not disappear in a short time. It seems that this research has some... I'm not saying it's unnecessary, but maybe it will be solved naturally after the time is up?"

"Well..." Wang Ai thought for a while: "This will explain the development of this research."

"I didn't pay attention to football culture at the beginning. Maybe many of my colleagues thought it was relatively simple. Culture is not very important, because football is a competition. What does it have to do with culture? The main focus of culture is clubs, because clubs want to make money, there is economic pressure, and when culture is created, is there consumption? Peripheral products, such as souvenirs, etc., recognize you. At that time I think this kind of appeal to the club is simple. I consider it from a macro perspective, that is, after our per capita income reaches a certain level, and the proportion of basic subsistence needs is reduced to a certain level, the common people will improve in entertainment. Consumption, then it will naturally spread to various fields, and our football will definitely be able to eat the biggest piece by virtue of our own influence, what is there to worry about?

Seeing Shui Junyi nodding frequently, Wang Ai continued: "So at first I focused on personal aspects and personal growth. Later, when I became the captain of the national team, I paid attention to team building, such as strategy and tactics, training system, organization and cooperation. These are still focused on football competition. Later, the Football Association hired me to be an expert in the youth department, and I noticed the youth training issue. The most concerned about the professional reform is the league, but the most profound thing is actually the youth training. We This generation of players grew up in this process, it is our roots, we know it well, and of course we are worried."