Mei Nansheng - also known as “the iron trumpet” - was apparently a huge fan of his local team F.C. Wuhan. But Wuhan has had all kinds of frustrations recently, starting with captain Li Weifeng being suspended for eight games and culminating in the team’s expulsions from the Chinese Football Asssociation.
Enough was enough for Mei Nansheng, and so he’s decided to give up and become a Buddhist monk instead.
Here’s a further explanation of F.C Wuhan’s problems via ChinaDaily.com.cn:
Chinese Super League (CSL) club Wuhan Guanggu have been ejected from the top domestic league and fined 300,000 yuan ($44,000), the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced.
It all started at the Sept 28 CSL match between Beijing Guoan and Wuhan Guanggu, where Wuhan’s Chinese international defender Li Weifeng and Beijing’s Lu Jiang were involved in a scuffle. On Oct 1 the CFA banned both players for 8 matches and fined them 8,000 yuan ($1,170) each.
Wuhan was furious with the suspension and announced their withdrawal from the league the following day.
“We made the decision because we must maintain the club’s pride and be responsible for China’s soccer and fans,” said a statement released by Wuhan. “We hope that by pulling out of the league, people involved in soccer will become aware of the problems and help develop the sport.”
The CFA, however, chose not to compromise and canceled all of Wuhan’s remaining fixtures this season.
