Over the years， I watch my team-mates getting married and having children. Their children are about as old as my first grandson (in the meantime， my grandson even got a little sister). Our football team is invited to many a wedding. In China I have visited during the last years more weddings than during my whole life in Germany. A wedding may be a smaller party for 80 guests or a larger one for 300 or 400. It may be the actual wedding party， or (if this took place in the home-town of the young man or his wife) a “lesser” later celebration with only 50 or 80 friends and neighbours and colleagues. Every time one or two round tables are reserved for our team， every wedding is a happy uncomplicated get-together， sometimes with a programme， sometimes without. For example， our centre forward LaoZhang who is himself running a small restaurant chain likes to perform with a friend as a music duo. Each wedding is a children’s party， because all the guests take their children along if they have any， then they romp around the room. LaoWei is always an exotic exhibit， presented to parents and in-laws by the football player and his bride whom I usually know already from the pitch or dinner.
I’m the grandpa on the pitch – and at the weddings， being of the same age as the
Before a tournament， the mutual welcome is perfect in form. LaoWei in the yellow goalkeeper dress. This one and the following two photos were taken by a photographer of the opposing team (playing in white) and sent to LaoWei after a discussion among fellow sportsmen.
Now it is up to the goalie， for his own defender ... but LaoWei blocks it off successfully. (blue shirt) is too late， the ball is on the way …
parents of the marrying players， but they need me， they do so urgently. This team has had for years no real goalie， they have lost many matches because they conceded more goals than they scored， and it is well known that this is not quite sufficient to win a match， not when doing the maths properly.
By and by I notice that goalies are real short supply， so my active attempt to enter the football player market in ShenZhen has actually revealed a market niche to be exploited. After the match， money is collected， everyone will pay about 50 RMB， so about 600 to 1000 RMB will get together， depending on how much the pitch plus costs for a referee will cost per match. The groundkeeper comes along， brings water and collects the money. During the first few weeks and months I am dismissed friendly if I want to give my contribution. I agree not to pay， thinking this is just some way of kindness to the poor old lonely foreigner.
No， later I discover： in this system of football in ShenZhen， goalkeepers pay not at all， none of them. Each team wants to attract a good goalkeeper who is lured by the fact that he does not have to pay. If there is no regular goalkeeper， one of the players has to keep the goal and this is compensated by him being exempt from the fee.
For the Lao Niu a new age has dawned： At last they are winning matches， because I am – except for high balls straight under the bar or into the right or left upper corner – a rather good goalkeeper and， surprisingly， I am getting even better still.
Since only two players are able to speak English to some extent， they demand from me at dinner Sunday night： “You will have to learn Chinese！ We will teach you！” What they do teach me， of course， are words and phrases of young men that I am only getting told while the girlfriends (and wifes) are absent … I forget them again immediately， anyway. But I am now motivated to learn Chinese.
Some of the players are true experts in football， real artists at the ball， some are gifted， have good talents， some are， well， willing to play.
ShiTou inspires me to play in his second team too， they are playing on Wednesday evenings at 8：30 p. m. under lights on an artificial pitch in MeiLin (梅林， “Plum Tree Forest”)， a district in the West of ShenZhen that is remote from my apartment about 45 minutes by taxi. The artificial turf is top quality of a kind I have never seen before.
While warming up， I note： This is a different team. Their shots are so accurate and hard that it is unbelievable. When the match starts， I’m completely astonished. Passes almost always end up with the team-mate they want to pass to， those guys know how to play diagonal passes all across the pitch， and the ball arrives at the foot of the other player and does not dodge off there somewhere else.
The opponent has the same quality， here I am playing with two teams at the highest level， in Germany that would be at least fourth， maybe third division！ In such teams I have never been allowed to play before， what luck， what opportunity！ Again， I prove myself to some extent， these new friends accept me， not out of pity but because I show good reactions at the box. Keeping the penalty box under control is hard (also due to my lack of size) or “has room for improvement”， but I even do improve over time.
The centre forward of our Tian Long team gets married， LaoWei is present， too (the one with a T-shirt showing his grandson on the front and a large “1” (= goalkeeper) on the back with the name “Grandpa YeYe”). Our centre forward has found a very beautiful， very young wife.
At the wedding ceremony the children recollect gold and silver scraps of paper that were shot out of a paper cannon， and they recharge the paper cannon tubes
With this team I am playing for a few months， but they have a regular goalkeeper who is also quite good， and I have a big problem： Playing every Wednesday is stressful for me. Either my return flight from ShangHai is late， or I’m still stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway back from GuangZhou， and when I arrive at my apartment (without dinner)， I still have to drive almost one more hour to MeiLin. Often I come too late or not at all or just one minute before the opening whistle.
I tell this to the other players， and with a heavy heart I cease to play on Wednesdays. Yet， even today I am sometimes called to the phone： “Can you play by chance next Wednesday？ Our goalkeeper is absent.” Whenever possible I disengage from everything else and go playing， it is a pleasure with this great team！