I want to be emperor

Chapter 1155 Cuju Performance

As the Cuju sport in the Chu Empire evolved from a sporadic folk entertainment activity in the past to a team competitive event in the military, it in turn entered the civilian world and became an amateur regiment-level competitive sport.

These amateur Cuju club competitions made some people see the commercial prospects of Cuju sports, and eventually professional Cuju clubs emerged.

In order to better organize commercial competitions and attract more people to the stadium to watch the games, these professional Cuju clubs eventually formed many professional or semi-professional clubs to join forces to establish event operating companies to organize competitions in a unified manner.

In the end, professional commercial Cuju competitions appeared in the Great Chu Empire, and there were many competitions, including more than 30 large and small ones.

There is no way, the Dachu Empire is too big, and limited by traffic speed and distance, these Cuju competitions can only be held according to regions... After all, there is no way for two Cuju clubs that are thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers apart to go back and forth. The game is not.

If we really do this, we won’t be able to play a few games in a year.

In the end, various competitions were formed with multiple regions or one region as the basic unit.

Among the many competitions, the one with the best development and the greatest influence should be the Pan-Jiangnan Cuju League. The reason why it is the best is naturally not because of any other mess.

This is purely because the Pan-Jiangnan region has a good economy, a dense population, and a large enough sports market to support a large number of professional clubs.

The existence of a large number of professional clubs competes fiercely with each other in order to compete for the fan market. These fierce competitions have made the Pan-Jiangnan Cuju League more enjoyable to watch and more topical. This in turn attracts people’s attention!

In fact, there are not many daily entertainment items for contemporary people... After all, there are no mobile phones and computers in the contemporary era, and there is also a lack of other entertainment items...

In daily life, many Chu people, mainly ordinary families with middle and lower incomes, are struggling for survival all day long. After finally waiting for the 10-day holiday, there are no good entertainment projects. If they are exhausted, they just go to the city. An outing or something.

Therefore, the entertainment life of contemporary Chu people is still very boring.

At this time, the Cuju competition appeared... Many people, especially middle- and low-level office workers, found that there was a good place to go during the ten-day rest day, which was to make an appointment with a few fellow sufferers, and then bring some low-alcohol rice wine and popcorn. Mihua, eating and drinking while watching the game.

As the game progresses, cheers or curses are used to vent the boredom accumulated in daily life...

That's right, when contemporary Chu people watch Cuju competitions, they actually don't pay much attention to the Cuju competition itself, but more to relax and vent... In essence, it's no different from running to the rooftop and yelling a few times.

If you just run up to the rooftop and yell a few times, people will think you are crazy... But if you go to the stadium to cheer or curse, no one will say anything to you, because everyone around you is like that!

Contemporary Chu people... well, to be precise, the middle and lower-class citizens in the city regard watching Cuju competitions as an act of relaxation and venting.

The superiors are also happy to see this, so in the past few years, the empire has introduced many policies to support various sports and other cultural and entertainment industries, among which Cuju is one of the more important ones.

The high-ranking officials in the empire need Cuju to allow people to vent their negative emotions to a certain extent... Well, this is the main reason why the Ministry of Ethics and Education pays attention to Cuju competitions.

Of course, other departments are less concerned about these and more concerned about the economic value of Cuju events...

Even though the contemporary Cuju competition is still relatively primitive and the industry economy itself is not very good, it can also drive the development of other industries.

For example, if the Cuju competition develops well and has great influence, more people will start to like playing Cuju. This means that there will be a big market for sports equipment manufacturers... which means employment and tax revenue.

Cuju competitions are relatively frequent. Generally speaking, there will be a competition every seven or eight days. When the competition is intensive, there will even be a competition every three or four days. The specific situation depends on the local Cuju fan market, local traffic conditions, number of clubs, etc. Comprehensive situation from many aspects.

Each of these Cuju competitions will attract thousands to tens of thousands of people to watch... These people who come to watch the games need transportation, food and drinks, and some fans who come from long distances also need accommodation.

Then during the trip to watch the game, some people will choose to buy some souvenirs, such as autumn clothes, basketball balls, posters, picture albums, dolls, etc.

And these behaviors will bring a lot of consumption... This means that jobs and taxes will be provided, benefiting from the tertiary industry on the surface to the secondary industry and even the primary industry behind it.

Intensive consumption can range from thousands to tens of thousands of people, and this kind of thing can happen every four or five days to seven or eight days at most... There are not many events in this club, but there are so many Cuju in the Dachu Empire Clubs hold a huge number of commercial Cuju competitions every day, and the economic data they bring together is not a small amount.

So despite the fact that contemporary Cuju competitions are still relatively primitive, and may seem to be just an entertainment project at first glance, they are actually an industry... The industry itself is actually nothing, but the consumption power it drives has attracted people from all over the world. The government cannot ignore it.

Even in a place like Songjiang Prefecture, the commercial value of Cuju events will not be easily ignored... Why?

Because Songjiang Prefecture itself is an industrial powerhouse with various industries, including the sports equipment industry... More than 70% of the sports equipment in the Dachu Empire, such as kickballs, are produced by factories in Songjiang Prefecture. of.

Therefore, the local officials in Songjiang Prefecture are relatively supportive of the Cuju movement... Although the club does not have much money and the local fans' consumption is average, but... they can earn money from fans across the country through sports equipment.

The local support policy has also allowed Songjiang Prefecture to have the most intensive and valuable professional Cuju leagues in the Chu Empire.

There are three first-class teams participating in the Pan-Jiangnan Cuju Professional League alone, and they are all quite famous, not only locally, but also in other places.

Xicheng team, Huangpujiang team and Huating team are all regulars in the championship. They often go to the Royal Sports Center in Jinling to present wonderful championship finals to the Chinese and even the imperial dignitaries!

There are more local professional leagues, the quality of the games is high, and the market promotion is also good. Coupled with the people's daily entertainment and strong demand for emotional release, the Cuju market in Songjiang City is more popular than in other cities.

There are more people coming to watch the game on game days.

The gathering of a large number of people naturally has safety issues, so the local patrol agencies have always paid more attention to game safety on game days.

With the strong support of the patrol officers, the spectators gradually entered the Xicheng Stadium.

Xicheng Stadium, this is not the Xicheng Cuju Team’s own professional Cuju stadium... To build such a huge stadium building in a place with expensive land like Xicheng District, the entire Xicheng Team cannot afford to repair it even if it is sold...

This stadium is a public stadium built by the Songjiang City government. It is mainly used to undertake various sports activities and even large-scale activities such as performances. It is used to enrich the lives of citizens and incidentally stimulate the surrounding consumer economy.

The Xicheng Cuju team rented the stadium to host various events.

The entire Xicheng Stadium covers a very large area, with a very wide open space in the middle, more than 100 meters long, and the surrounding auditorium is not on one level, but on two levels.

In addition, in order to accommodate as many spectators as possible, the seats are relatively compact. In this case, the number of spectator seats in the entire stadium alone has reached more than 20,000. In addition, the temporary opening of standing tickets, so the actual number of spectators The number of players can reach 30,000.

This is a very huge number... 30,000 people went to watch a Cuju competition, which is enough to prove that contemporary Chu people, well, mainly the middle and low-income people in the city, love Cuju sports...

In other words, it can't be said that there is any love, it is more of an attitude of venting emotions... and many of them are just watching the excitement. A considerable number of them are actually tourists from out of town. When visiting here, they arrange time to watch a football game and experience the atmosphere of a first-class team in a big city.

So among the many spectators, many actually don’t even know the rules of the Cuju competition.

The Cuju game rules of the contemporary Da Chu Empire are somewhat similar to the rules of modern football in later generations... After all, although this game developed from the traditional Cuju game, it was introduced into later modern times by Luo Zhixue. Some rules of football.

But there are differences, that is, the physical confrontation is more intense...and scoring is more frequent...

In terms of physical confrontation, in modern football, players do not wear protective gear. At most, they only wear protective gear on their calves. For the sake of player safety, many physical confrontation movements are naturally prohibited.

However, when the Cuju competition was promoted in the army before, in order to cultivate teamwork and competitive spirit, there were frequent pitfalls. In order to avoid injuries, relatively complete protection was added, such as helmets, kneepads, gloves, chest protectors, etc.

These protective measures were originally intended to prevent soldiers from being injured when playing such fierce confrontation games. However, after being introduced to the civilian population, such games with protective gear are more intense and more enjoyable to watch while ensuring safety. To a certain extent, this is also the fierce physical confrontation in the modern Cuju competition in Chu State, and it is also an important measure to promote the commercialization of Cuju competition...

After all, no one wants to see twenty-eight people simply running around chasing a ball, and then still haven't scored a goal for a long time, no one is on their backs, there are no group fights between the players, no fights with the referee... the whole scene I’m so sleepy that I almost want to fall asleep watching the Cuju competition!

In the Cuju competitions in the Dachu Empire, there were many physical confrontations, so you could often see people falling on their backs... Regardless of whether they scored or not, just watching this scene was worth the price of admission.

Otherwise, how could so many people spend money to watch the game? What people are watching is the scene of a strong man in his twenties flipping on his back, and a more dramatic performance would be even better.

Of course, this kind of fierce physical confrontation is just to watch the lively scene, and it is actually very safe... Some risky actions that can cause injuries are also strictly prohibited. What is allowed is ordinary physical confrontation. This kind of ordinary physical confrontation Under the protection of protective gear, coupled with the players' year-round exercise, their physical fitness is excellent and they have targeted exercises for various self-protection movements and confrontation movements.

So it looks dangerous, but in fact it's far less dangerous than it seems...much safer than other games without protection.

For example, polo is still popular among the upper class in Chu State. This game is really dangerous. Every year, one or two unlucky people will be seriously injured or even die.

Physical confrontation and lively scenes are one of the main reasons why Cuju is more popular among the people than other sports. Another important factor is that Cuju scores goals more frequently, which allows people to often see the scenes of scoring goals. Stimulate the enthusiasm of the audience.

After a game, it is normal for both sides to score more than a dozen goals!

Why is this so?

In fact, at the beginning, according to some rules introduced by Luo Zhixue, the number of goals scored in Cuju games was rare, and the earliest commercialization was not successful... Again, no one wants to watch a boring game.

Later, the Pan Jiangnan Professional League was reformed. They eliminated the goalkeeper at first, but found that scoring goals had become too easy, there was no challenge, and the audience still had no interest.

Then, restrictions were placed on many details to keep the confrontation fierce and entertaining, and the number of goals scored would be higher... but the audience should not be made to think that it was a fake match and that the goals were deliberately scored to fool them...

After years of evolution, it has finally become what it is now... The fights are very lively, the confrontation is fierce, a goal is scored from time to time, and then occasionally conflicts occur, players fight each other and even hit the referee...

So much so that in the Cuju competition in the Dachu Empire, the referees had to wear protective gear when they came on stage...

Although these things are actually tacit and tacit understanding between the team and the players...but there are always risks. What if you can't control your temper and get really angry?

In this process, the operating company of the Pan-Jiangnan League will also shape some characters of star players for publicity according to various situations. The clubs will naturally cooperate and shape the characters, often doing some before, after and even during the game. Little character moves...

For example, now, when the starting players of the home team lined up to enter the field, there were only 13 people in front... and there was only one person left?

When the audience was confused, they heard the host's crazy shout from the loudspeaker: "Now, welcome Jiangnan Horse Mian back from the underworld..."

Immediately, a cloud of smoke rose from the sidelines, and then a powerful man dressed in a horse mask and holding a chain in his hand slowly rose from the elevator...and then performed various exaggerated body movements!

It attracted bursts of cheers from the audience, and people started cheering and shouting slogans of horse face and horse face!

When the visiting team's starting players entered the field, there was nothing that seemed extremely exaggerated, but there were four players carrying a sedan. Then a man dressed in Hanfu and holding a folding fan came out of the sedan. Man... This is the unique debut ceremony of the Jiangdu team nicknamed 'Jiangdu Young Master'... This Jiangdu Young Master has a super handsome figure and face, and he is always in the midfield when playing football. He always looks confident. He often uses his superb skills to tease the opposing players alone. He is considered by the fans to be a handsome young man on the court and is called Jiangdu Young Master.

If this appearance ceremony had been at the Jiangdu team's home court, it would have definitely aroused cheers... However, at the Xicheng team's home court, it only received bursts of curses from the fans... and many people shouted "Jifu Ma Mian, beat him, kill him" Things like getting down.

As for the star player of the home team, Jifu Ma Mian, as if he was encouraged by the fans, he put on a fierce look and ran forward in large strides. When he was about to arrive, he took off with a step and shot towards Mr. Jiangdu in the air. After punching him, what stood out was a fierce and invincible one!

Young Master Jiangdu was not afraid of this situation at all. He just stepped back slightly and moved away with a flick of the fan in his hand. He was just like those scholar-swordsmen, very cool!

Then... then players from both sides rushed forward and started fighting each other... which attracted various shouts and shouts from the 30,000 spectators on the field.

The official game has not yet started, but the fans have already begun to enjoy the catharsis of emotions...

Of course, a small portion of the audience didn't know that all this was staged, but most of the audience actually knew that the players from the manufacturers were practicing, but they just loved watching it... because it was originally part of the Cuju commercial competition.

In a game, if both sides don't engage in group fights, is it still a Cuju commercial game?

In order to cause trouble, even the referee was beaten countless times... According to the rules of serious competitions in later generations, the players involved who were punished early would not be able to play for eight hundred years, but in the Cuju competition of the Dachu Empire, quite a lot of Punishments are loud and clear...even the punishments are actually discussed and arranged in advance.

After all, you can't expect the players to really have any deep hatred and then fight to the death...

In fact, the two teams had rehearsed for several hours yesterday for the opening scene... and there was even a director with a professional background in stage plays to guide them.

The audience loves to watch this kind of excitement, so the league operating company specially prepares these projects. In the past ten years, the development has actually become very mature, and many corresponding detailed rules have been formed.

For example, when fighting in a group... no one will really punch hard, let alone attack any sensitive and fatal parts. They will even remind each other before fighting that some players know each other, or have a good relationship, and they will fight each other. While chatting...

Anyway, the audience can't see clearly from a distance whether they spoke or what they said... As long as the body movements and expressions are exaggerated, it will be fine.

The commercial Cuju competition in the Dachu Empire is a big show, which makes the audience happy to watch, and allows the audience outside the venue to report on the big show!

You say it's fake?

People just love to see this stuff, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or false!

In fact, almost most viewers know that these group fights are fake, but people just love to watch them!

It is precisely because the audience loves to watch that the league operating company will work with the clubs to develop various fancy performances during these games.

What, you said that competitive sports are peace and war, dignity, and all kinds of things... That's just your opinion. In the eyes of various Cuju league operating companies and clubs, Cuju events are a legitimate business!