They Like Soccer Here

So the FIFA 2010 World Cup is here, and people around the world are coming together to root for their home nation. Maybe not as much in the states. Well, I don't really know how it is in the US since I don't live there.

Anyway, the games are an exciting national event here in Korea. It doesn't matter that the games are played in South Africa, because they are broadcast on giant screens around the country. Koreans act exactly as if they were going to the match; putting on face paint and red shirts, buying thundersticks, and then watching the game in a group on a giant screen. They root and cheer at the screen as if the players can hear them.

In Seosan, the biggest event is at city hall, where they project the game onto an approximately 20' screen in front of a giant open field. Everybody gathers, and there are even vendors selling food, beer, thundersticks, and these little devil horns that are so popular with the kids. I went to city hall this past Thursday night to watch the Korea vs. Argentina match along with most of the other foreign English teachers. Here is what it looked like:

All of the little red lights are the devil horns. The game was pretty exciting, but if Korea scored a goal things went completely bonkers. They would turn off the screen, flash lights, and spray this confetti all over the place while everybody screams. The picture below is what it looked like, but can't come even close to capture the excitement of the moment.

Half time was a spectacle, too. They had a few dance troups of 'ah jee mas' perform onstage to keep the excitement of the game going through half time. The term 'ah jee ma' is popular to refer to middle aged Korean women who wear giant visors over their faces during the day and are terrible drivers from what I hear.

My favorite part was when two of my friends, Adrian and Collins, headed to the stage during halftime to lead the crowd in chanting 'Dae han min guk'. I think the native Korean people were happy to see some foreigners chanting the official name of the Repulic of Korea. This picture is terrible but I put it in anyway.

Probably the most amazing thing about the night was the amount of trash. EVERYBODY there had wrappers, beer cans, broken thundersticks, etc., and not a SINGLE garbage can was located on the premises. Seriously. They did have a crack garbage removal team who ascended upon the field as soon as the game was over and had the place cleaned within a few hours.

So the game was a great time and its fun to feel the spirit of the people coming together for an event like that. The whole next day I was singing this cheer of 'Dae Han Min Guk, Korea' to the tune of a Beethoven song (the ninth I think?) to my students. I think they hated it.