Violent play in Super League must be curbed

Editor's note: Less than 20 minutes after scoring his first goal in China, Brazilian forward Henrique Dourado, who plays for Henan Jianye, had his right leg broken by a tackle from behind. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

It was only after an ambulance drove Dourado to hospital that people realized how serious his injury was. Although Qin Sheng, who plays for Dalian Yifang, offered his apology to Dourado in the hospital immediately after the match, and the latter accepted, his tackle was so obviously dangerous that it infuriated many people.

Qin has already won himself a reputation as a "villain on the field" with his dirty play. But he is not the only "hard man" in the Chinese Super League. Several other such enforcers have been responsible for dozens of serious injuries to other players in the game over the past few years.

A player for Shanghai Shenhua elbowed Brazilian forward Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Júnior, who plays for Shanghai SIPG, in the Shanghai derby in the first round of matches in the CSL on Friday. After Oscar was knocked down, another Shenhua player, who fell together with him, continued to punch his ribs, which somehow evaded the referee's eyes.

Both players were punished by their club later. But as usual the Chinese Football Association seems content to turn a blind eye to such violence on the field.

Even after Brazilian Fernando Karanga－who played for Henan Jianyi－had to have his spleen removed after it was ruptured when a Beijing Guoan player collided into him during a match in October last yearand French forward Demba Ba－who played for Shanghai Shenhua－broke his leg after being shoved in the back by a Shanghai SIPG player in July 2016, nothing was done to curb the dangerous play.

The worst case was Guinean forward Ousmane Bangoura who had to have his right eye removed after he was kicked in the face during a match against Qingdao Zhongneng in 2006.

Although there are also Chinese players badly injured in the game, the proportion is much lower than that of foreign players, who usually become the targets of these "kung fu" defensive players. Given the skills gap between the foreign and Chinese players, the latter often resort to rough house tactics in a bid to stop the more skillful, faster and stronger opponents, as it is regarded as a way to intimidate them.

Sadly, the CFA has failed to introduce any effective measures to rein in such dangerous play. And although the injured players can obtain some compensation from their clubs, many of them have to end their career early. No Chinese players responsible for these injuries have been severely punished.

Hopefully, the tragedy of Dourado this weekend will finally prompt the CFA to do something to reduce the violence on the pitch, which tarnishes the image of Chinese football.