Looking forward to this one, and studying the interesting dynamics of Chinese fan groups. A good friend and Blue Devil told me that, when Inter first came to Shanghai, they paid off one of the existing Shenhua fan groups to come and support Inter instead. Hence the bad feeling which exists between Inter and Shenhua today. Also, at the last Derby between Shanghai United and Shenhua in Pudong, United had a group of shirted fans called the Psiedon's who, according to their website http://www.haizhishen.com, are Inter fans who appear to have turned up to oppose Shenhua. I was at the last INter Shanghai v Shenhua game this time last year, and by all accounts a big ruck too place outside shanghai stadium but I was on the otherside of the ground at the time. Did anyone hear anything about that? Can anyone shed any light on the bizarre fan group scene in Shanghai?
yes, I did have pics and well...I was too lazy to bother uploading them (and was a bit unsure how to) so I waited until I got back to the US and then hard drive died, bye bye to the pics. They did exist though and I believe a friend has a few pics from the scene, though may have just been from outside stadium, when things kicked off it was impossible to get decent pics (furious action, no light, trying to stay out of it)...
I was at the game as I said but saw nothing - I headed off in a different direction and Shanghai Stadium is pretty huge. I did hear about it from a number of different sources though. What is it a big ruck? Roughly how many were involved? It's not common to see Shanghaiese get violent.
Okay, I'm terrible with direction in Shanghai, but it was on the side of the stadium closest to that western brand "outlet" type mall. My posts from last year were pretty detailed, but anyways, the group of Shenhua fans probably were 50-75 or so and the Inter fans were probably less than 20 (if my memory is still good, I'd have to go back and see what I wrote). The Shenhua fans were singing and lighting flares and stuff at the bottom of the steps and the Inter fans were at the lower landing of the stairs and it was a face off. I think the Inter fans sort of started it (or escalated it), by lighting a Shenhua jersey on fire (not sure where they got it from). Nothing was really happening and then the Shenhua fans charged, the Inter fans were running, but not all of them were lucky enough to get away. Those that didn't got beaten and had their scarves and jerseys taken from them...It was absolutely an insane scene...
Check it out http://www.shanghaiist.com/archives/2006/08/27/shenhua_xian_sh.php Report from the game, and pics and videos
All we can hope for is second place and pray that Shandong wins the FA cup so that Shenhua will advance to the AFC champion's League
There's no shame in coming in second when the first team cheats. Shandong has six national team players (Han Peng, Li Jinyu, Zheng Zhi, Zhou Haibin, Wang Liang, Li Leilei, and maybe even Cui Peng). Last season we were denied Li Weifeng because of that national team quota rule. Maybe that rule has been voided this year but it's still blatantly unfair.
Thanks for the report and all the extras (can't wait to check out the video tonight). I guess last year's incident really opened up the police's eyes and this year they were well prepared. Either that or, possibly, they were more cautious because of the minimal space around Hongkou and were concerned about things spilling out into the streets and neighborhoods whereas the grounds of Shanghai Stadium are so massive. Last year was shocking because I saw the typical limited police presence at the stadium, nothing showing they were prepared or felt that the match could cause trouble. It also seemed like most of the police considered their duties over once the match ended, instead of the reality that they were only just beginning. Where the incident took place there was absolutely no police, which is really shocking because it was far from an isolated area. Anyways, glad to hear things were different this time around and nothing too out of control took place while still offering an intense atmosphere.