African Nationhood

Chapter 193 Sports Meeting ()

December 1885, 12, 18 days before the first Southern African Friendship Games.

The countdown sign in the Anhai Town Sports Village is very eye-catching. The number that decreases every day is an incentive for the athletes in the sports village.

The Athletes Village of Nanhua Company was established on October 10. This special sports apartment is located behind the military family home. The daily routine is the same as that of the military family home.

There are 75 athletes in the first batch selected to enter the village, participating in ball games (football, badminton, table tennis), strength (tug of war, shot put, javelin), long and short running (1500 meters, 800 meters, 100 meters), shooting (fixed target) , target shooting immediately), equipment competitions (horse racing, bicycle racing) and other major events.

Each event has regular players and substitute players. These players, plus logistics and equipment maintenance personnel, add up to more than 150 people.

This time the games were proposed by Commissioner Ouyang Geng at the internal affairs meeting in May. Boss Shi personally visited and decided after discussions with the Cape Colony Government, the Natal Colony Government and the upper levels of the two Boer Republics.

All parties then jointly established an organizing committee for the "First Southern African Games" and established corresponding committees within their respective governments.

The organizing committee agreed that the first Games would be held on January 1886, 1. Representatives of athletes from the five forces entered the venue and held an opening ceremony.

The first Games will be held in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, and teams from all parties will be able to enter the Orange Free State without inspection.

The competition items of the sports games are basically proposed by each participating party and then decided after voting by all parties.

The representative of Nanhua Company proposed that each participating party add a special project as a guaranteed project. This proposal was unanimously approved by all participating parties.

Naturally, the South China Company proposed table tennis, the Cape Colony Government proposed football, the Natal Colonial Government proposed badminton, the Transvaal Republic proposed fixed target shooting, and the Orange Free State proposed horse racing.

The participating parties unanimously decided not to allow black indigenous people to participate in this sports meeting, and to select white athletes to participate in the competition events as much as possible.

As for other projects, most of them have a relatively broad mass base.

For example, bicycles, this form of transportation gained popularity among the public as soon as it was launched on the market.

Although many old-school Boers dislike bicycles, they cannot resist the love of bicycles among young people.

The British in the two colonies of Cape and Natal also liked bicycles very much. After all, bicycles did not require feeding or long-term training. They only needed to master the sense of balance and they could ride them easily.

There is also a women's version of the bicycle, which is lighter and more user-friendly. It eliminates the cross beam and uses a curved beam instead, which is very suitable for the riding experience of women wearing loose skirts.

……

After all parties have reached an agreement, all that remains is to select the contestants.

As Ouyang Geng is the commissioner of culture and sports, he naturally takes charge of this matter.

They started selection in August and it was not until mid-September that they finally finalized the 8-person roster, including 9 white people and 75 Chinese people.

42个白人中，有20个是英国人，10个德国人、8个鲸湾土著白人、4个布尔人。

White people participate in almost all events, while Chinese people mainly focus on tug of war, badminton, table tennis, shooting, javelin and bicycles.

There is nothing we can do about it. The nutritional conditions of white people are too good, and their physical fitness is generally better than that of Chinese people.

During the selection process, Ouyang Geng tried his best to favor Chinese people, but he still couldn't select more Chinese people.

Participating in the sports meeting is not the first priority for Nanhua Company. It is mainly to strengthen the integration among immigrants.

Therefore, the selected contestants must avoid antagonism between whites and Chinese.

During the running-in stage of the athletes' village, Ouyang Geng has always adhered to the concept of "living in harmony".

As long as white people disobey, they will be kicked out immediately. If white people engage in discriminatory behavior, they will be kicked out.

He and his management team adhere to the principle of "I would rather have no results than get used to it".

Each project has management personnel, all of whom are Chinese. As long as the white people under their control show any signs of resistance, they have the right to kick them out.

Therefore, these Chinese stewards receive the greatest respect from the white athletes. In addition, these Chinese stewards will not favor the Chinese.

When Ouyang Geng lectured them, he sternly emphasized that a bowl of water should be balanced, and anyone who failed to do so would not only be punished, but also be kicked out of the civil service.

Therefore, after more than two months of training, the entire athletes' village is harmonious.

The white people who can stay are all sober-minded guys. They can at least treat the Chinese with courtesy on the surface.

……

Ouyang Geng was dressed freshly today and led his team from the Athletes Village to greet him at the gate of the Athletes Village early.

When Shi Jintang and Ye Rong appeared in the athletes' village in a carriage, Ouyang Geng immediately led the team to greet them.

“Welcome, welcome, Mr. Shi is here to make our Athletes Village shine!

After Shi Jintang got out of the car, he shook hands with Ouyang Geng, and then joked: "Ouyang is dressed very energetic today. It seems that your business is doing well."

Ouyang Geng smiled and waved his hand, "No, you are happy to see Mr. Shi."

After speaking, Ouyang Geng turned to Ye Rong: "Commissioner Ye also welcomes you!"

Ye Rong smiled and said, "Hello, Commissioner Ouyang."

The future mistress was dressed very plainly today without any makeup, but she looked very elegant.

Ye Rong has been publicly appearing around Boss Shi since the beginning of this year, and this symbolic meaning is very obvious.

Everyone in Nanhua Company realized that Boss Shi’s wife was a woman of immigrant origin.

The status of the two women around Boss Shi can also be distinguished from their positions. Ye Rong acted as the specialist of the medical department, while Jin Xiyue only acted as the principal of the secondary school.

He also has a date, and he will announce it when the time is right.

……

"Mr. Shi, Commissioner Ye, please come with me. Let's go to express our condolences to the company's athletes."

The Athletes Village was well prepared. When Shi Jintang and Ye Rong appeared, the athletes applauded and welcomed them.
  Then Shi Jintang cordially shook hands with the athlete representatives and expressed condolences.

On behalf of Nanhua Company, he asked the athletes whether they had any difficulties, whether they had any difficulties during the training process, and what their expectations were for the competition results.

Most of the athletes expressed their gratitude to Mr. Shi for his condolences very cooperatively, and said that they had no difficulties. As for the competition results, the more the better, the better.

After offering condolences, Shi Jintang and Ye Rong took photos with the athletes.

Boss Shi and Ye Rong watched a red and blue football match in the athletes' village, and had lunch with the players in the athletes' village before leaving.

Boss Shi's inspection activities were published in a special issue of "Nanhua News". In addition to putting a photo of Boss Shi and Commissioner Ye with the athletes on the front page, the special issue also reported extensively on the preparations for various sports events and the conditions of the athletes. .

The special issue also includes exclusive interviews with some high-level athletes.

At the end of the exclusive interview, the athletes' thoughts on Mr. Shi's personal inspection were included at the end of the article. At the end of the article, he also wished the Nanhua Company team good results in the sports games in the near future, and so on.

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  (End of this chapter)