Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
issue date

Local fan predicts England victory
October 22, 2003

Bob Bean from England has been living in China for five years and in Xiamen since February. He is a local rugby fan and has been following the World Cup. He speaks about is interest in the sport:

“I support the English team, of course, which means this year is very exciting because for the first time ever there is fierce competition between the northern and southern hemisphere teams. It is looking like the winners might be either England or New Zealand. The World Cup has only ever been lifted by a southern hemisphere team but this year England genuinely are the favourites. We are really in with a shot.

"In Xiamen the places to watch rugby are limited but you can find a few oases. It is a truly international atmosphere watching the rugby here, national boundaries are broken down, which adds an extra element of excitement to the game. Rugby has some historical rivalries but they are generally friendly. It makes the sport much more interesting to be watching it with people from opposing teams. At any one time in Xiamen, I could be watching a game of rugby with people from at least eight different nations.

"There is a definite future for Rugby Union in China. Some people believe it is growing at an exponential rate. They say that in a short time China will have a team as strong as Japan or Italy. But I think that it might take a little longer. There are places in China where rugby is growing both as a spectator and a participation sport like in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, where the expat population is relatively large. But smaller cities are also starting to take an interest. A team has been set up in Qingdao and they now take part in competitions which attract big sponsors like Coca-Cola and teams from all over China. There are also many foreign corporate teams playing across China. I haven’t encountered anything like this in Xiamen but hopefully, in the future, locals and expats in Xiamen will have a chance to get involved with rugby union themselves.”