By Philip Yeung
They say that sports and politics shouldn't mix. But this time, more than politics is in the mix. Kylian Mbappe, the French football superstar, got himself into hot water for making cool fun of a revered late Chinese leader.
French president Emmanuel Macron was quick to jump to his defense, saying that he is a footballer, not a diplomat, and therefore should not be pressured into kowtowing to China over his faux pas. Others even see it as a freedom of speech issue. But it boils down to a simple case of bad manners. Mbappe rakes in 22 million euros a year, or nearly 40% of his income, as a celebrity sponsor of several major Chinese and foreign brands in China. Without exception, all have instantly cut ties with him. CCTV, too, has suspended broadcasting any matches tainted by Mbappe's presence.
Initially, Real Madrid refused to apologize for its captain's "ill-judged" behavior. To the Chinese, the logic is simple: You do not pocket obscene gazillions of dollars while disrespecting the country that keeps your bank accounts ballooning. Try putting the shoe on the other foot. What if a Chinese table tennis star who breastfeeds on the French economy were to insult the late, much-worshipped Charles De Gaul. Would the athlete get off scot-free? He would be disowned and drowned by French fury. It is not about politics. It is about respect.
Mbappe's "aristocratic disdain" for a country's late leader has sparked a tidal wave of institutional and popular outrage. Suddenly awaking to his folly, he issued a public apology in three languages—Chinese, English, and French. But Chinese fans are not buying it, and neither are Chinese sportscasters in a hurry to forgive and forget. They have zero tolerance for disrespect from a superstar whose face is on millions of bottled drinks in China. Once you have lost your virginity, you can't have it back. The blind love is lost. Fans are not fickle. Sports romance is.
Real Madrid and La Liga have belatedly tried to contain the fallout as it spins fast and furious. The road to redemption is rocky. The last time an NBA player sided with traitorous Hong Kong rioters, China discontinued NBA broadcasts for a year.
Macron says he loves Mbappe like a son. If so, he did not teach his boy good manners. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. Or to borrow a Chinese proverb, you don't break the pot that feeds you food. Disrespect is Mbappe's original sin. But it is by no means his first outbreak of rudeness that has left football fans rattled. At the last World Cup, he pointedly refused to shake hands with Paraguay's goalkeeper after the final whistle. Mbappe might not be a diplomat, but his outrageous insensitivity towards China is inexcusable.
Something doesn't compute here. Why should China squander hundreds of millions of dollars for broadcasting European football matches, when Chinese football stinks? In football, China is languishing at the bottom of the table, often humiliated by minnows in regional matches. In tennis and golf, despite their short history in China, Chinese players have excelled themselves. Yet football coverage sucks up the biggest slice of China's sports budget. As entertainment, it produces countless football widows, but, alas, no football heroes.
France might treat Mbappe as a national treasure, but this hero has feet of clay. Lionel Messi, another football god, but from Argentina, has also paid a price for behaving disdainfully towards his Chinese fans, refusing to play before them in Hong Kong. He was soon pushed off the pedestal, with fans boycotting his games. Perhaps the piles of cold hard cash would be better spent on hiring coaches who can magically turn the table for China's football, rather than splashing it on broadcasting matches. Football as entertainment has not translated into football as a national sport. The Chinese are hooked on watching football but not hooked on playing it. The sweet game is not a sweat game in China.
The apologies from Mbappe, Real Madrid and La Liga have all been fathered by the profit motive. It is the fear of losing the financial windfall from the lucrative China market that bends their knees.
The object lesson from the Mbappe debacle is: If they bite the hand that feeds them, cut off the feeding. Let them beg. Let them fret. Let them cry into their cups. Let the cash go into growing home-grown talents. Deep down, the West looks down on Chinese football. That explains Mbappe's sense of entitlement.
For a nation that wows the world with its AI, high-speed trains and a cashless, low-crime society, why can't we manufacture our own Mbappes with manners. Simply bake this dream into our next five-year plan.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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