Shaolin Soccer

[jethro]

Now that is a tease. Hopefully a longer trailer comes out soon. There is no way this could be worse than Shaolin Soccer Family, I will bet on it.

[doug maverick]

can't wait to see jump the movie that he's producing

[GeneChing]

But 'football' I think they mean 'soccer'.

China bans 'kung fu football' from TV
Published Date: 19 November 2008
By STEPHEN WADE

CHINA'S top domestic football matches have been taken off national television because of on-field fighting at a recent game, with reports comparing some players to "martial arts" experts.

Jiang Heping, the head of sport for CCTV – China's government-run broadcaster – has said he would prefer to show foreign games.

He has accused some players in the China Super League of lacking "professional ethics", following a scuffle last week between clubs from Beijing and the nearby city of Tianjin.

After the match, angry local fans attacked the bus of the visiting Tianjin team.

The China News Agency has likened Super League games to "a kung fu movie" and some players to "martial arts heroes".

The Beijing Olympics were widely regarded as a sporting success.

However, the world's most popular game in the world's most populous country has been mostly a disaster.

Top Chinese soccer league bumped off TV due after onfield fighting
1 day ago

BEIJING — The top Chinese soccer games have been bumped from national TV because of on-field fighting at a recent game and reports likening some players to martial arts experts.

Jiang Heping, head of sports for CCTV - China's government-run broadcaster - said he'd prefer to show foreign games. He has accused some players in the China Super League of lacking "professional ethics" following a scuffle last week between clubs from Beijing and the neighbouring city of Tianjin.

After the game, fans attacked the bus of the visiting Tianjin team.

Dong Hua, spokesman for the Chinese Football Association, on Tuesday dismissed what happened, saying it was part of the "fierce competition" as the season nears the end.

"But we have rules and we'll deal with everything according to the rules," Dong said.

His opinion was challenged by a recent headline in the Beijing Evening News, which asked: "When will Chinese football stop bringing shame?" The China News Agency likened Super League games to "a Kungfu movie" and some players to "martial arts heroes."

The Beijing Olympics were widely regarded as a sports success. However, that is not the case with soccer.

"The state of Chinese football at the moment makes everyone feel bitter," Jiang told the Titan sports newspaper. "If it goes on like this, it's in danger of being thoroughly destroyed."

The famed state-run sports machine, which produced 51 Olympic gold medals three months ago, has failed to produce a single marquee soccer player. This nation of 1.3 billion is No. 98 in the world rankings, just ahead of Georgia (pop. 4.6 million) and Barbados (pop. 280,000).

The hallmark of the government-run Super League has been chronic mismanagement, match-fixing scandals and on-field violence.

"In football, the issue of violence is always present," said Rowan Simons, an Englishman and 20-year resident of China, who has worked as a TV analyst in Chinese. "China is not unusual in player fights. But it does seem to be more endemic here."

China's national team was knocked out of 2010 World Cup in Asian qualifying five months ago, failing to make the last 10 in continental competition. The only time China qualified for the World Cup was in 2002. It lost all three games and failed to score.

"The Chinese have tried to replicate the elite level of football they see in Europe without seeing that underneath it is a huge infrastructure of community clubs which have been there for generations," Simons said. "You can't create an elite model of football without a grass-roots model."

Still, China hopes to bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, and could be the leading contender.

[SimonM]

How about some of the sequels to Kung Fu hustle to have one (or both) of the Landlord / Landlady characters in it but no other connection.

Such as:

Kung Fu Sweetheart (martial arts romantic comedy, relatively good, no connection to Kung Fu Hustle, the actors who played Landlord and Landlady return as a hidden, married couple, martial arts team; action circulates around the simultaneous attempts of their daughter's non-martial artist coworker to woo her and of the daughter's attempt to reconcile her estranged parents all while repelling the attacks of evil martial artists under the command of a very evil bad guy who finally managed to decipher a terrible volume of dark martial arts that was written in the arcane language... of ENGLISH!!!!!)
Kung Fu Mahjong (Basically exactly what you would expect, mediochre production values)
Kung Fu Mahjong 2 & 3 (Nearly simul-released)
Karmic Mahjong (No connection to Kung Fu Hustle by cast or plot or theme, some thematic connections to the Kung Fu Mahjong franchise... released after the success of Kung Fu Mahjong to cash into romantic comedies with a Mahjong gimmick - may have cast overlap (unsure).

[TaichiMantis]

"The Chinese have tried to replicate the elite level of football they see in Europe without seeing that underneath it is a huge infrastructure of community clubs which have been there for generations," Simons said. "You can't create an elite model of football without a grass-roots model."

It's like thinking you are a kung fu master when you don't have a solid base of knowledge, history and massive amounts of training.

Football (the game that is actually played with a ball at your foot) is my first passion. I played for over 35 years, mainly as a keeper but also a striker. At age 43 I found kung fu, and at age 48 tai chi...and wish I had found them earlier, the training would have really helped my game!

[GeneChing]

nice flying kick. click for vid.

Footballer launches kung-fu style flying kick to player's head in revenge attack
By Mirror.co.uk 26/08/2009

This is the moment a Bolivian football match turned ugly when a player launched a ferocious kung-fu style flying kick to a rival's head, knocking him unconscious.

Young starlet Sergio Jauregi attacked rival player Leonardo Medina in revenge for an earlier incident in the match when Medina elbowed him.

Following the fight a brawl broke out between the two teams Oriente Petrolero and Blooming and both players were sent off.

[TaichiMantis]

Studs up baby!

[GeneChing]

I'm thinking the soccer soccer redundancy is intentional chinglish....

Shaolin Soccer Soccer fans in China
Shaolin Soccer Soccer fans in China have merged their love of the sport with the nation's love of martial arts. Shaolin Kung Fu soccer, a combination of the two sports, is the brainchild of superfan Kong Debao, 38, who wanted to form a new version of the game to save the image of Chinese soccer. All players receive training in martial arts and soccer. Beijing, China - 22.12.09

[GeneChing]

SMK Kungfu Soccer Club.

Kungfu could save soccer, says club boss
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-05 10:22

A former businessman with a passion for soccer is hoping the principles of kungfu can save soccer in China, where the game has been dented recently by gambling scandals involving senior officials, club managers and players.

Kong Debao, a soccer enthusiast and executive director of the SMK Kungfu Soccer Club, told METRO on Wednesday that by bringing the merits of kungfu onto the soccer pitch, he hopes players will become more agile and develop stronger minds, improving weaknesses among Chinese soccer players.

"I was very anxious about the fate of the Chinese soccer and that's why I wanted to restart this club," he said.

Kong gave up his clothing business in Heilongjiang province to start the soccer club in 2007. However, due to financial difficulties, it was closed at the end of 2008.

With new financial investment from a property developer "enough for the operation of a soccer team for 10 to 20 years", Kong re-launched the club on Tuesday.

"The ultimate purpose of the club is to train top players capable of competing with their foreign counterparts and expanding the talent pool for Chinese soccer," he said.

Kong said the club hopes to recruit 200 players in half a year. So far, six people have applied.

The top 20 prospects will not need to pay for tuition and accommodation with the club.

Kong is among a growing number of people who have expressed concern about soccer in China.

On Jan 21, two Chinese Soccer Association vice-chairmen were arrested for their alleged roles in soccer gambling. Previously, a former Chinese national team coach, several club managers and players were also arrested. Chinese fans have been disappointed by the scandals and hefty salaries paid to players, while the international ranking of China has kept declining.

"The motivation of this grassroots soccer club is an incentive to reform the Chinese soccer industry," Guo Ruilong, former coach of Beijing Guo'an soccer team told METRO.

However, a lack of participation among teens is one of the challenges Chinese soccer faces, he said.

Last year, the emergence of a super soccer league consisting of the neighborhoods in Huilongguan, northwest of Beijing, was evidence of a major grassroots soccer revival, as reported by the Beijing Times.

[GeneChing]

Some one needs to tell Kong Debao it's only a movie...

China looks at kungfu to revive football hopes
By Francois Bougon (AFP) – 1 day ago

BEIJING — China has once again failed to qualify for the World Cup, but 40-something businessman Kong Debao thinks he has a way to revitalise the "beautiful game" -- he has created kungfu football.

By infusing the sport with graceful martial arts moves, Kong believes he can help the national team improve their speed and agility.

"The standard of football in China is really low. When we watch it, we worry," Kong, a native of northeast China, told AFP.

"I asked myself how I could find a way to remedy this sad state of affairs, and so I created kungfu football. I'm committed to it body and soul."

After two years of setbacks, Kong finally found a martial arts school in the suburbs of Beijing that agreed to start a kungfu football class this year.

In China, such schools are highly respected, and offer students both traditional academic courses and martial arts training from a very early age.

The 30 young people training at the school say they are proud to be part of creating a new sport.

"I've always played football and I recently started to do kungfu. With this, the two are combined," explains 17-year-old student Xu Jiawei, adding he was distraught at the national team's repeated poor showings.

"Kungfu is a national treasure in China, but football is not really our strong point."

During a recent training session, students performed all sorts of acrobatic moves with the ball -- some kind of a cross between David Beckham and Jackie Chan.

For the time being, the class mainly struts its stuff in shows -- not on a real pitch -- to build interest in the sport.

"We do moves that professional footballers cannot do," Xu said.

"We're adding moves that are more beautiful to watch, which suggests that they are also more difficult," he added, noting he plans to watch the World Cup broadcasts from South Africa -- if he can find the time between his classes.

Kong's goal is to one day see a full-on kungfu football match, with well-trained players putting on quite a show.

"We'll pay lots of attention to those who are physically and mentally strong, and ready for this training," he said.

"In the future, we hope to make this a more international phenomenon. One day, we could even play against strong foreign teams," he said, noting all regular rules of the game are respected by the kungfu players.

The sport's governing body has so far remained silent on the new sport, but it has much bigger issues at stake.

Chinese football is mired in a massive corruption scandal that has seen the former association chief and vice chief charged with bribe-taking and match-fixing, and scores of officials questioned by police.

Two top Chinese football clubs have been fined and relegated for paying bribes, while a second-tier club has been stripped of its right to field a team.

China made their only appearance in the World Cup finals in 2002, when the tournament was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea.

[GeneChing]

Taguo is the biggest school in the world, located near Shaolin Temple. I've even written a few articles on it. See 13,000 Warriors of Taguo: Grandmaster Liu Baoshan & the World's Largest Martial Arts School in our 2003 November/December SHAOLIN SPECIAL for starters.

Shaolin Kung fu get in on World Cup action
14:08, July 09, 2010

Kungfu soccer Students from Shaolin Tagou Martial Arts School practice soccer in Dengfeng, Henan province, July 7, 2010. They set up the team to explore a new way to integrate Chinese kungfu with soccer skills.

China is caught in the grip of World Cup fever and Shaolin Kung fu monks cannot help but fall in love with soccer, too. So a group of monks formed a special soccer team.

The ages of the soccer team members are from 15 to 19, and they chose their positions on the playground due to their own specialties.

The Shaolin Kung fu soccer team organized a match at the football field in Physical Culture Institute of Zhengzhou University on the morning of July 7. The bright yellow frocks made them absolute the focus of attention.

I'm changing MK's thread title from "Shaolin Family Soccer????" to "Shaolin Soccer" as this thread has evolved (and I'm in a thread title changing mood today).

[GeneChing]

Kung fu football takes a whole new turn in China as ref is floored by a flying kick
Posted: July 26th, 2010 | By Abdul Milazi

An enraged Chinese fan registered his annoyance by launching a karate kick at the referee and shoving a linesman after his club received two quick red cards in a Qingdao Chinese Super League game at the weekend.
It was announced during the world cup that the Shaolin temple have invented what they called kung fu football, where the ball is kicked around using elaborate martial arts kicks. But I don’t think this particular fan was from a shaolin school.
So when you are in charge of a soccer match in China, watch out for flying objects, which might be people.

I launched a Shaolin specific thread "Shaolin Soccer for real" on the Shaolin forum as Taguo's attempt to garner some publicity during the World Cup was fairly successful.

[GeneChing]

He's still trying to milk Shaolin Soccer? srsly? That came out nearly a decade and a half ago.

Lam Chi Chung lost money with "Funny Soccer"
Heidi Hsia
From Cinema Online Exclusively for Yahoo Newsroom 12 January 2018



13 Jan – Hong Kong actor-turned-director Lam Chi Chung recently admitted that his big directorial effort "Funny Score" was a disaster at the box office and a disaster for him and his investor, financially.

As reported on Oriental Daily, the actor, known to many as Stephen Chow's sidekick in "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle", shared that a lot of bad things happened throughout the movie's production - from poor promotions to the getting conned by a supposed intermediary for international distribution.

"The movie was poorly promoted in mainland China and didn't get a lot of shows when it was released. After only a few days, its run was abruptly ended and was regarded as a box office bomb," he said.

He also stated that the movie was supposed to get an international release, but that the intermediary turned out to be a conman who disappeared with the money.

Lam said that he and his investor ended up losing over HKD 20 million.

The actor said that it disappointed him vehemently as it was a pet project that started ten years ago.

"I really liked the script and spent a year preparing it for production. The actors also gave the project their all. Benny Chan didn't take a cent in order to support the project," he said.

Lam said that he previously thought about sharing some of the movie's profit with Benny, but ended up losing his own money instead.

"I am very sorry for that," he added.

thread: Shaolin Soccer
thread: Shaolin Soccer for real

[GeneChing]

Stephen Chow is looking to cast global actresses for "Shaolin Women Soccer"
Heidi Hsia
Thu, 22 June 2023, 11:47 PM GMT-7·1-min read


23 Jun – Hear ye! Hear ye!

All you talented female out there, Stephen Chow is looking for you. Yes, you.

In celebration of him turning 61 on 22 June, the comedy auteur took to his Instagram account to share the first draft of his new project, which he called, "Shaolin Women's Soccer".

He wrote, "Here is my birthday wish. To spend a good time with so many pretty girls (young, beautiful, smart, curvy, ATHLETIC). All countries are welcomed. The more the better! For those who are qualified, please send recent photos and detail info to mediacvinfo@gmail.com."

He then added, "Photoshopped photo will never work. It will be condemned by us and by the United Nations."

Many actors and social media influencers alike took to the comments to express their interest, from Malaysia's Jenn Chia, Hong Kong's Myolie Wu and Sharon Chan, to even actor Edison Chen, who jokingly posted, "CAN I BE ONE OF THE GIRLS???"

It is noted that "Shaolin Soccer", which was released in 2001, was one of Stephen's last acting projects before he went on to focus on directing (his last starring movie was 2008's "CJ7".) The movie stars Stephen himself as a master of Shaolin kungfu, who reunites with his five brothers to use their abilities to play soccer as a way to bring the arts to the masses.

Shaolin-Soccer
Shaolin Women Soccer