This Leicester Life: A Blue Devil walks into Duffy’s
In 2019, Chinese student Zhang Junhao arrived in Leicester from Shanghai with a love of ultras-style support for his blue-shirted football team and in need of a new home for his passion…
DB: What are your first memories of football?
ZJ: When I was younger, the Chinese football league was full of many stars from Europe. But the first time I watched football was the 2010 World Cup, watching Cristiano Ronaldo score a brilliant goal against North Korea. During that whole time television was showing many advertisements with Cristiano Ronaldo for things like shampoo.
I started watching Real Madrid after that, and then Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba joined Shanghai Shenhua in China. That's when I realised there was actually a local football team in my city so I started watching their games on television.
I was 15 the first time I went to a football game with my schoolmates and the atmosphere in Shanghai really impressed me. There were active Shenhua fan groups behind both goals and away fans were on the other side. And the atmosphere was really, really good.
That was when I started supporting Shanghai Shenhua. There were three teams in Shanghai at that time, but maybe because of the motto 'born to be blue', I just preferred Shenhua more than the other teams. In 2015 I became a member of Shanghai Shenhua's supporter group, the Blue Devils, which is the largest supporter group in China and also the first, established in 2000.
I became one of the fans in the active support behind the goal until I moved abroad for university.
DB: Where did you apply and what was it like when you first moved to Leicester?
ZJ: I applied to many universities - Sheffield was my first choice and I thought shall I go to Sheffield Wednesday or Sheffield United or another team called Sheffield FC, who were the first football team in the world. I met the grade requirements for Leicester, and I was excited because the Leicester City team was famous at that time in China after they won the Premier League.
I came to Leicester in September 2019 and the first thing I did was walk straight to the King Power Stadium. I just wanted to know what it looked like.
The first game I went to was during the 2019/20 season, against Tottenham. I was walking around near the King Power, but I didn't realise that you had to get a ticket in advance. Luckily, there was a Spurs fan there who had a spare so I was in the away end, and we scored a late goal to beat them 2-1.
DB: What was your first impression of a Premier League game compared to what you'd been used to in China? What were the main differences?
ZJ: The football quality is not that good in China and so many people decide to support a team in the major European leagues instead of local football, but I will say the atmosphere there is better than the atmosphere here in the Premier League.
In China, we learned about how to actively support a team. We were inspired by Japanese and Korean fans, who learned from European ultras or barra bravas from South America. So I know all about the casual culture in England, the firms and hooligan culture.
In 2019, I didn't believe there would be an active support group in England because it's a different culture. But when I was walking down the street in Leicester, I saw Union FS stickers on lampposts on the way to the King Power Stadium and in the city centre. That definitely blew my mind. I thought maybe this is the English culture now? I searched for Union FS on Google and eventually found some information that they gathered in Duffy's pub before matches.
So one match day, I just walked straight to the pub and started chatting with people inside, asking: "Do you know who is Union FS? Which guys belong to Union FS?" Again, luckily, there was a young fan from Union FS with a spare ticket and he gave me that so I could join in with the section, and that was the first time.
DB: And what was that like being in that section for the first time? Did you feel at home straight away?
ZJ: Not really, actually. In 2019, there was only a small section, only a few rows, I would say 30 people, and they started creating atmosphere but the crowd didn't join them very much.
With just a small amount of people supporting the team with active support, it was very hard for me to get involved at the beginning because I didn't know the chants and I knew nothing about the players on the pitch.
But the Union FS members were very friendly. They liked to chat with me, sharing about the different cultures and they were curious about the football and the fan culture in China. So I started going to games again and again.
DB: Then the pandemic hits. What was that like for you?
ZJ: The pandemic started three months after I arrived in England, when I had started to enjoy the football here. The pandemic just cut everything off.
Actually during that time, I felt awful. As soon as we had to watch on streaming instead of going to the stadium, I couldn't feel the same spirit. I barely watched the streams during that time.
So I was in a very low mood during the pandemic, because I couldn't do anything. I had a very low mood and anxiety.
DB: What was your experience when fans started going back to games, like the FA Cup final?
ZJ: I didn't go to that game. I knew they won the cup and but I think I was still suffering with anxiety, some kind of mental illness. A member of Union FS called Baker pushed me a lot, always inviting me to the games. The next season after the FA Cup, he kept pushing me to go to the games. I was convinced by his spirit, so I really appreciate him and what he did for me.
I have no feeling about the FA Cup really - it's all about after the FA Cup, from the 2021/22 season. I went to about 15 away games that season, including two European away games in Rennes and Eindhoven.
I really enjoyed the away fans gathering around in the city centres, drinking on the streets and chanting and walking to the ground together, marching like an ultras culture. That's the form of support I like and want.
DB: What have you made of the arguments within the fanbase this season about the atmosphere in the stadium?
ZJ: I think this is a conflict between the local casual culture and the active support culture. Because the English fans don't want a drum to make the atmosphere. They don't want someone leading the chanting.
But with so many rules from the football authorities, not allowing standing, many ends in different stadiums have become soulless and useless. The atmosphere at lots of stadiums is dreadful, which doesn't help their teams.
Actually, my team in China just won the Chinese Super Cup against another local team, called Shanghai Port. Shanghai Shenhua has a large fan base in Shanghai compared to Shanghai Port. The stadium was 70% Shanghai Shenhua fans for the final and they created an incredible atmosphere. I think that's part of the reason we could win the game, because of the atmosphere created by the fans, supporting the team, helping the players.
Union FS is always promoting our strategy to all Leicester fans, to want like-minded fans to join together. I think that's a good way to gather fans around and our group is getting bigger and bigger.
DB: What do you think of the way the club have approached the growth of the Union FS section and what more could they do?
ZJ: I really appreciate the club for giving us a singing section so we can gather round singing to support the team, not only from the back few rows from SK1 but also the front near the vomitory. I appreciate the club gave us the chance to increase the size of our group as well. You can see over 100 people within the group now and hundreds behind us.
I would love if the club would set up rail seating in the future. Rail seating helps the fans and can reduce the stewarding too.
DB: How about the community initiatives that Union FS run, like this Saturday's foodbank collection? Do similar things happen among Chinese fan groups?
ZJ: We used to have some activities like that in China. We would collect food and go to nursing homes and give it to them, so something like a food bank. We would give them food and daily necessities. This is actually a good example that connects football to the locals. Union FS are doing a really good job of connecting football fans to the local community.
Back in China we will not only support the first team. We will support the women's team and the youth teams. So I keep that tradition here. I have been to Leicester women's games and even the youth team games at Seagrave. For me, football is not only for men. I will also support women's football and the youth team, because they are the future of the club. They are all representing the club.
DB: So what's your current situation and do you want to stay near to Leicester for the football?
ZJ: I'm living in Birmingham now. I graduated last December from my Masters study so currently I'm chilling and looking for a job, sending my CV to different places.
I want to be able to go to the football games very easily. Because apart from the three-year undergraduate study in Leicester, I spent one year at the University of Southampton but that time was horrible because if I wanted to make a home game I had to spend nearly four hours coming back from the south.
So I want to be close to Leicester.
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