Qin bears the brunt for a league getting used to the spotlightpotlight

It’s fair to say that the Chinese Super League ( CSL) is feeling its age. This current iteration of Chinese soccer’s top flight began in 2004 and now it appears just as self- conscious but demanding to be noticed as any other 13- year- old.

Thanks to the big spending of the last season or so, the CSL now has to grow up in the gaze of the world’s media. That means Chinese soccer is now making headlines for good and bad, on and off the pitch. This is making the Chinese Football Association ( CFA) nervous.

Qin Sheng’s recent ban is a prime example. The Shanghai Shenhua defensive midfielder was sent off after he stamped on Tianjin Quanjian midfielder Axel Witsel’s foot when the sides met last month. The matter was dealt with by the referee – the red card – and then his club meted out their own punishment – fining him 300,000 yuan ($ 43,500) and confining him to the reserves for the rest of the season.

That was not enough for the powers that be. The game was a big deal – with star imports on both sides and big- name foreigners in the dugouts – so it was broadcast around the world and Qin’s reaction to Witsel’s deliberate provocation made headlines. The CFA has now decided to ban Qin from soccer for six months, prevent him from transferring to another club for four years and hit him with a further 120,000 yuan fine.

If they intended to save face they have done the opposite. The stamp would have been forgotten but Shenhua’s at- tempts to preempt the CFA garnered more column inches, and the CFA’s subsequent overreaction has had the foreign press rubbing their hands with glee. It’s done little to change the view overseas that the CSL is ridiculous.

This week the CFA faces another test. Their reaction to the tabloid tawdriness of China fullback Jiang Zhipeng’s soonto- be ex- wife saying his extramarital affairs are to blame for his performance in the nation’s 1- 0 loss to Iran this week will be interesting now it has gone viral around the world. The CFA would be best to ignore it. They need to realize what every other association does: It’s only the soccer that matters.

Imagine what David Beckham, a man who remains emi- nently marketable in China, would have got for letting down the national side if it was a China shirt he was wearing when he kicked out at Diego Simeone in the 1998 World Cup. What of serial winner Luis Suarez and his antics? The list is endless because there are not many players that are blameless on or off the pitch.

It’s time for the CFA to grow up and not worry about what everyone else thinks. Otherwise they’re going to be red- faced with a mixture of embarrassment and fury.