Tonight was awesome. After day 3 of our conference, alot of us went out to a football match in the K-League. K-League is Korea's major football (soccer) league. Since we all live in Incheon, we support Incheon United, the local boys who play at Munhak World Cup Stadium.
So all of us, from Kiwis (New Zealanders, who are the most in our group), Aussies, Canadians, and us two Americans went out on a rainy night for football, aka soccer in our American realm, and it was...
A blast. That's how I can describe the whole experience. First of all, K-League is not as popular to Koreans as the English Premier League, Champions League football etc., so the attendance is dismal, worse in many ways to a struggling basketball team. That means though, for $10, you can sit ANYWHERE you want.
We got good seats, even when the rain started, because you can see the whole field under the cover of the stadiums oval lid above us. Half of us watched from the "50-yard line," while the other half watched with the Ultras, which I will explain later what that term means.
Football is extremely popular in Korea. Korean boys play it all the time and desire to kick the ball about when they have time (which is limited, considering boys and girls study all day and night), and the citizens of Korea itself love their national team to death. So kick-off ensued, and the game began between our boys in blue and black versus Jeju FC. Jeju is Jeju Island, the equivalent to Hawaii in the States, where honeymooners flock and have a blast; a beautiful island of Korea where my parents went after they got married. If you're in Korea, you got to go, because its just an awesome place to be. What must it be like to play soccer on a semi-tropical island, but I digress.
It rained tonight (in a surprisingly cold atmosphere), and the play was less than spectacular because its hard to move the ball on the pitch with slippery grass. However, Korean players are quite skilled and work hard on the field, and have good dribbling. The passing was not that bad, but not as accurate as the boys in the Premier League of England. (Go Arsenal!)
Yet, the best part tonight was the Ultras. In European football (soccer), you have the fans, then you have the Ultras. Every football club in England, France, Spain, Germany etc. has a set of fans called "Ultras," the ultimate fans, who follow the team more than just the typical fan. They have a special section of the stadium set aside for them, usually right behind the goal. They are all decked in the team colors, some of them don flags, scarves (especially like tonight, it was rather cold for a spring day!), and other team apparel. They also gain access seating and priority when it comes to season tickets, as well as access to club events and watching match practices. I was rocking their jersey tonight, quite cheap too, and nice colors, blue and black stripes.
With the Ultras comes the best fan participation in sports. If you ever watched a football match in Europe, the Ultras come alive with songs, chants, and ballads about their team, or making fun of the opposition, or about a certain player they love. They usually sing them in the tune of famous ballads like "Guantanmera" by Celia Cruz or "Auld Lang Syne," and others, which makes it very accessible. Since my Korean is limited, it was still fun to try to pick up what they were saying nonetheless. Two of my Kiwi friends were going bonkers because they love football, in fact, the entire section was alive with song and chant even though we lost the poor match 1-0. Tough loss, because the only stupid goal was a penalty kick, arggghhh. Well, I have a new team to support as the Washington Wizards have alot on their hands after losing Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler in the same month.
But, it was really a neat thing tonight to go out with a new group of friends, it was special. An international group of friends who speak English and enjoying the world sport. What made it more special was crowd participation that you never get back in the United States. We Americans are forced to chant or say meager things to get the team going: "Defense! Booo! Let's go Wizards!" That's it. The Redskins do a great job of crowd atmosphere, even though I never went to the game, all of my friends say the games are exciting and have good crowd participation going. NBA games, people have conversations when the game is going on, especially if the game is a blowout or if your team is getting blown out.
At Munhak Stadium however, we were yelling, singing, and chanting our hearts out for Incheon to get their butts to score, but to no avail and with a meager audience to attend. Still, we tried and it was a blast, and that's the heart of football. Everyone is a team player, even the fans, who are the 12th man on the field. Miracles in football have been made because of the fandom who support their team to the death (aka 2002 Korea's World Cup team who made it to the Semi-finals).
Alas, the orientation comes to an end tomorrow. I made some new-found friends, and I hope to continue to see them throughout our wonderful tenures as teachers in the public school system, and we'll probably hit up more games in the near future. In the meantime, "MANSAE INCHEON, MANSAE!" (Long live Incheon United!)
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