House cleaning soccer

That 48 people involved in soccer scandals were sentenced to different prison terms last week, not only points to the achievements of the fight against corruption and crime in the field, but also to how rotten Chinese soccer was.

Among the convicted are referees, soccer club managers and officials in the government department governing soccer clubs. It obviously took time for the corruption to develop to such a serious state, with so many people involved. No wonder that the majority of Chinese soccer fans have been so disappointed at the performance of the national soccer team.

But compared with the conviction of a single referee in the aborted fight against gambling and match fixing in Chinese soccer a decade ago, there is enough reason to applaud the latest anti-corruption campaign and to have some confidence that the convictions of these bad apples will deter others who might have been tempted to follow their example.