In England football, there was a forgotten Chinese star

Xinhua News Agency, London, April 10th New Media Special News Title: The Forgotten Chinese Superstar's Enlightenment to Chinese Football

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Zijiang

British writer Susan Gardiner recently published a biography of a former England player called "Frank Sue the Wanderer", which unearthed many stories about the Chinese player Frank Soo. Soo is the first non-white player in history to play for the England team. However, because of racial discrimination and other reasons, his achievements have been drowned in history. Gardiner's book not only made the world understand the brilliant achievements of a star, but also made people sigh the hard work of the Chinese in the UK.

Gartinaer was entrusted by the Football Association of England to write many biographies of players and books on football history. For more than 10 years, Nelson Cheng, the director of the Sino-UK School Football Project and the director general of the Dr Sun Yi Xian's Youth Foundation, has been working closely with the FA. Therefore, the FA asked him to interview a reporter from Xinhua News Agency to interview Gatinaer. At the same time, Soo His grandnephew Ian Soo and Nelson Cheng's assistant, former England Football Association board member Mr John Read, Read also served as the chief executive of the English School Football Association for 10 years, is also very interested in the history of Frank Soo.

Soo was born in 1914 and grew up in Liverpool. His father, Soo Quan, was a sailor from East Lake in Chishui, Kaiping County, Guangdong. Later he ran a laundry shop in Liverpool. Sue played for Stoke City from 1933 to 1945 and served as captain. He played a total of 173 times. He also played for Everton, Chelsea, Reading and Millwall during the war. In February 1945, at the home of Aston Villa, he represented the England team against the Scotland team. He was also on the field with the legendary England star Matthews, who later became the first football player to win the jazz title , Played until the age of 50 before retiring, and Soo Qiang played 9 games for England.

Soo is not as lucky as Matthews. In an interview, his grand-nephew Ian expressed the anger of the whole family: "Frank Sue became a forgotten player, but in that era he was worshipped by all Stoke fans. The hero of China. He looks like Zhang Hua’s face. He is often attacked by racism on the court. We are proud of him so far. He is the first non-white player to be selected for the England team."

　　 The picture comes from the Internet

Gardiner said in the book that early in his career, Soo received widespread media attention because he was a Chinese, but he also received a lot of criticism. These criticisms seem to be extremely racial discrimination today. For example, in a 1936 In the comic version of The Sun published on the 19th, describing the match between Stoke City and the Sunderland team, one picture depicts Soo as a Qing dynasty, with a braid behind his head. This is used in the comic. Caption: "Don't pull my pig tail!"

After retiring, Soo became a coach and coached the Italian Padua team. Later he went to Northern Europe and stayed there for 30 years. In 1952, he led the Norwegian team to the Helsinki Olympics as the head coach. He also led the Yurgaden team. Won the Swedish League Championship in 1955. Soo later returned to England and was hired by a second-tier team in the northeast of England. Because his long-separated wife had died of illness and he had no children. In 1991, he died of illness in loneliness.

Gardiner said that although Soo died only 26 years ago, there is very little information about him in the UK. In fact, no one knew about him many years before his death. She could only search for scattered materials from old newspapers in places where he lived, such as Britain, Italy, and Northern Europe. She also discovered that Soo at that time was the most prominent figure in English football.

"I have always wondered why he suddenly disappeared." Gatiner said, "His Chinese identity may be one of the reasons. Of course, it also has a lot to do with him coaching in Northern Europe. But why did he coach in Northern Europe instead of in England, is it also due to the discrimination he suffered in British football? This is also possible."

In the process of writing this book, Gardiner came into contact with a lot of Chinese players, and they all suddenly shined. It turns out that Chinese players have reached such a high level in history. She also said that this book is also of great enlightenment for Chinese people, because Frank Sue has the humble, motivated, and hard-working character of Chinese people. "He never drinks and pays attention to maintaining his health, so he rarely gets injured in his career. These lifestyles have been widely accepted by professional players today. In this sense, he is a pioneer of professional football.

Mr Nelson Cheng has been running between China and UK for more than 10 years. His Sino-UK School Football Project is a 15-year school football promotion agreement signed by the Dr Sun Yi Xian's Youth Foundation and the Football Association of England. The agreement covers the Greater China region. Experts with senior football teaching experience who are included in the list of the Football Association and the English School Football Association are selected to introduce the new concept of English campus football education to Greater China and promote football education. The project has trained nearly 300 teachers for China. Now, the Sino-UK School Football Project has compiled its own patented teaching materials, and has its own team of football teaching experts and management talents. The next step is to seek to establish a football cultural education park in China.

Gardiner authorized the Dr Sun Yi Xian's Youth Foundation to distribute this new biography to the Greater China region. Ned, who served as the Minister of Sports and Education at the foundation, hopes that this book will become an essential book for the future Sino-UK School Football Project teaching.

Mr Nelson Cheng said: "Frank Soo is not a miracle. China is such a big country. As long as we take every step steadily, we can have many, many such outstanding players. China is no longer the China of Frank Soo's father. Once a star appears, he will be a superstar in the world and will never grow old in obscurity like Frank Soo."

图片：王子江