The Land of Yellow Dzambhala – Paraphrasing the Lure of the Chinese Super League

Debkalpa Banerjee

10th February 2017 | 7:36 PM

FIFA credited Linzi, China as the cradle of football. Two years since, the Chinese Super League is out to reclaim its rightful place in the world.

Money, it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I’ll buy me a football team

How bad a trip Roger Waters was on back in 1973 to make such an accurate premonition of the current economic situation, is a topic of discourse for another day, but how it’s everywhere in the sport – holistically combining the fans, the media, the players and the owners. If football is to considered a religion, money ought to be Ram, Rahim, Jack in the Green, Czernobog or Moloch. So, what about the ones who are in search for their personal god?

The-yellow-jambhala-wealth-Gods-Tibetan-Tantric-Nehulay
The Yellow Jambhala is considered the most imposing of all the Wealth Gods. In Tibetan Tantric images, his left-hand holds a mongoose named Nehulay which spews forth precious jewels from its mouth.

Not drawing parallels to Martin Scorsese 28-year project Silence, but the present scenario does involve individuals going through the ordeal of the mysterious, in an unknown land to reaffirm their faith in such a higher power, money. Let’s turn our heads to China while we’re on the topic of mysterious pastures: Home to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, China has been setting off tremors in the sector of football economy with its recent takeovers of clubs in Europe and the uprising of the Chinese Super League. It’s as if this recent windfall is the personal manifestation of President Xi Jinping’s infatuation for football, an attempt to make China the next footballing “powerhouse” of the world by uncoupling the game’s administration, Chinese Football Association (CFA) from the General Administration for Sport (GAS), giving it more independence from the alleged corrupt central government institution.

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