Want to start a riot in China? Allow a tall guy to play in the short players' league. You'll have people taking to the streets and smashing up cars in no time. It happened this week in Guandong: "Too tall" player sparks fan violence.
The Dream Basketball League was set up to allow players of "shorter" stature to compete on a level playing field, with a height limit of 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 meters) imposed. Hey, short people like to play ball too.
However, trouble was brewing when Huizhou Qiaoxing signed Chinese Basketball Association player and three-times national 'slam dunk' champion Hu Guang, even though his official CBA profile lists him as 1.95m.
Oh hell no. On Monday, Huizhou's opponents on the Shenzhen Kuruite refused to take to the court unless Hu was measured, but league organizers refused. Shenzhen forfeited the game, but the complaints got so bad, the league finally agreed to measure Hu's height.
According to one player, when they took the tape to the 27-year-old forward, he "bowed his shoulders and bent his neck back." The first result was 186.5 cm, and the second time was 187 cm. League officials declared Hu eligible to play in the "monthly final" against Zheshang Bank.
And that's when the rioting started. Furious Shenzhen fans disrupted the match by continually changing "Unfair! Too tall!" and the game, which was being broadcast on live television was abandoned at halftime.
Outside the arena, other spectators who were upset that the game had been stopped reportedly smashed up cars with Shenzhen license plates. Don't tell me the Chinese aren't serious about their basketball. Don't mess.
*
