What is wrong with sports in Taiwan? One loss to China at baseball and the end of the world is nigh. The nation’s favorite sport is in crisis, top pool player Wu Chia-ching (吳珈慶) is seeking citizenship in Singapore and USPGA star Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), the world No. 2, complains that the government does not care about golf.
Meanwhile, officials are left scratching their heads, trying to think up solutions.
In taking a step back and assessing things rationally, however, the main cause of this crisis — Taiwan’s loss to China in the World Baseball Classic last week — should really come as no surprise.
For one, Taiwan’s team was made up of young and inexperienced players because some domestic teams refused to release their star players.
And while China may not have a baseball tradition — its league was only established in 2003 — it already has tie-ups with Major League Baseball and Japanese teams that give its players valuable experience. With support from a nationalism-fueled government hell-bent on world domination in every sport at any cost and a population 56 times that of Taiwan, is it any wonder that with the right help China would one day challenge Taiwan in the baseball stakes?
The problems of Taiwan’s baseball league, meanwhile, are entirely of its own making, as multiple match-fixing scandals over the years and the rise and fall of so many franchises have turned off many spectators. The lack of a tradition of hometown sports teams also contributes to fan apathy.
If the domestic competition, the Chinese Professional Baseball League, can’t sort out its problems, then it should be allowed to fold. Amateur teams and corporate leagues run by people who know how to make money and motivated by a love for the game would soon replace it.
For too long the authorities have poured millions of dollars into building bigger and better sports stadiums without investing anything into producing athletes fit to grace them. This has to change.
A government’s role should be to promote a wide range of sports as part of a healthy lifestyle, while giving interested young people the opportunity to excel. A system of well run, government-subsidized academies staffed by first-rate coaches would produce talented athletes. These athletes would then bring the nation good publicity. This should be the ultimate aim.
More money needs to be put into developing athletes, but problems arise when deciding which sports to support because the line between amateur and professional sports has become increasingly blurred over the years.
A line should be drawn. More should be done to support amateur sports, but once athletes decide to turn professional, support should be provided in exceptional cases.
Tseng, meanwhile, who won more than US$1.5 million on the USPGA tour last year alone, should, in the present economic climate, think twice before complaining about golf’s visibility in Taiwan.
There are many things wrong with sports in this country, some of which could and should be solved with government help. But taxpayers’ money should not be wasted propping up a failing professional baseball league in a knee-jerk response to an embarrassing, but ultimately inevitable, defeat.
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