Yesterday I posted a little piece about an incident that occurred at Incheon airport following the arrival of the Korean national team after their early World Cup exit. Here, are just some of my personal thoughts/opinions on the incident itself and the reaction to it.
Alright first off. My definitive positions on the acts in question.
- Throwing yeot at the players – Not acceptable behavior. These ‘fans’ crossed a line by throwing things.
- Yelling “eat yeot” at the players – Unsavory and childish, but not something I’ll crucify them for.
- Displaying banner that read “Korean football is dead” and “Because of you we lost” – Over the top in its message, but within their rights to make such claims.
More details on each point
Throwing yeot
As I just said, it’s not acceptable. Initially I kind of played it down because it’s just little pieces of candy and it didn’t hit them (or maybe hit their feet or something). No harm, no foul or something like that. But, in hindsight that was the wrong way to think about it. Because with that thinking, is it okay to throw flares on the pitch as long as they don’t hit anyone? What about fire crackers or smoke bombs? The answer is obviously ‘no’. So, it shouldn’t be acceptable to throw candies or anything else either.
“Eat yeot”
Certainly a childish thing to do, and not a particularly pleasant thing for the players/rest of the world to hear. But let’s be honest here. How many of us have yelled curses (or worse) at the players during games? Either at the stadium, watching on TV, or online? This is probably where I diverge in opinion from many of you (at least judging by the comments). For me, it is the same. Cursing someone is cursing someone. Whether they hear it or not doesn’t matter. Because for me, cursing isn’t about the “receiver”, it’s about the “sender”.
Let’s say that, hypothetically, after the second goal (the set piece one) that Algeria scored I throw my hands in the air and yell, “Jung you fucking worthless piece of shit!” or I tweet it or post it on some forum. Is that more acceptable than yelling “엿 먹어라” at him in person? Again for me, it’s not. Some of you disagree on this point, and that’s fine. But I think you’re either okay with publicly cursing someone or not.
The Banner
Over the top? Yes. Class-less? Sure. Mistaken? Yep, at least the main part. Korean football is obviously not dead, but it has taken a hefty blow. The cafe name is obviously correct, of course the team lost because of the players/coach. They certainly didn’t lose because of any conspiracy theory. But, In all honesty I don’t really have any issues with the banner.
Now would I do it? No. If they asked me if I thought it was a good idea, I would probably say “no” as well. But, if they felt that strongly about it and wanted to vent in front of the team, then that’s their right. I don’t think that makes them ‘losers’ per se. Now, if they drove up from Gwangju or Busan or something like that, it might make them a little loserish. But from all indications they are from the greater-Seoul area, and so I don’t think it makes them a loser for wanting to vent their anger any more than the fans that went to express their support.
Some other random things that have been brought up
“It’s just a game” – Technically yes, but in reality no. Part of the reason why football is so popular and the World Cup in particular is because it is more than just a game. If it was just a game the World Cup would not be as big as it is. National pride is at stake. Part of the reason this World Cup is big is because it’s in Brazil, a place where it’s a “religion”. How many times in the build up did we hear about how the tournament is coming to it’s “spiritual home”? Companies don’t spend billions of dollars on just a game. They spend it because it reaches into other aspects of people’s lives. If it was just a game we wouldn’t have any of these discussions. We would just say, “Ah well too bad. Better luck next time.” and be done with it.
Passion – People want others to care about the Korean club teams. People want the KFA to invest a significant amount of money and effort into the national team. None of it happens just because of a game. It’s the stuff that surrounds it that makes it happen. And at the base of it is passion. In an ideal world, people would simply passionately love the team and players. Giving them their full support in good times and bad. But, to be a bit cliche here, there is no love without hate. And in real life, sometimes our passion makes us do crazy things, like throw candy at people (or write a time consuming blog for no money). We want people to be more passionate about football? Then we must be prepared for the occasional stupid person to do the occasional stupid thing.
Patriotism and Culture – As many of you know, image and face-saving is very important in Korean culture. Korea’s national image (at least as a footballing nation) took a hit at the World Cup. And for some, that translates into, the country’s image as a whole has taken a hit. And if you know any Koreans/have been in Korea you know that this is a very sensitive issue, and that many Koreans will go to great lengths to protect it. You may disagree with how this patriotism manifests itself, but that’s a different issue.
Perspective – It’s been brought up, in hindsight, that the expectations were too high. That other, bigger teams, also were eliminated in the group stage. These two things were used to show the pointlessness/stupidity of the protests. The former is slightly valid. The latter not so much. Yes, teams like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ghana, Croatia, England, and Japan were all knocked out. But relatively speaking their performances were better than Korea’s. Plus they faced different teams making comparisons slightly less valid. The expectations thing is a somewhat valid point. Yes, expectations were too high, but as someone reminded me on Twitter, the team, players, and staff all pushed those expectations as well. Round of 16? We can do it. Why not push on further? Even Park Ji-Sung said they should aim for the semifinals because the 2002 team already got the county there before. Fans should have expected poor showings, but the team didn’t do much to damper those hopes (at least in the press).
You guys are so soft. These guys are athletes, what the fans did was annoying, but whats all this fuss. They make a crap load of money playing a sport, they can deal with a lot more shit.
Yep, agreed; human decency is for normal people, not rich people, SPECIALLY not athletes, hail naw. And whoever told you throwing things at people is wrong, they lied.
Now excuse me while I go chuck Reese’s peanut butter cups at the Mets. “Reese’s 처먹어, you overpriced, underperforming sons of b–!”
Don’t care, the KNT sucked ass, what’s the difference between talking bad about the team and throwing crap at them? Isn’t both offensive?
Might as well stop saying anything bad about the team, for “human decency”.
Absolutely, talking shit & throwing shit r both damn rude, but 1 unequivocally crosses the line of acceptable adult behaviour, & starts creeping into the realm of assault. If u personally don’t differentiate between the 2, I don’t know what else to tell ya
Of course I can differentiate between the two.
When those guys threw candy at the athletes, were they trying to harm them? It was just a clever way of sending them a message.
And come on now, throwing sweets is creeping into the realm of assault? Did you not hear stories of referees in Brazil getting beheaded for making bad calls? Or teams coming home to thousands of angry fans?
This is nothing. Instead of talking shit behind a computer screen, these guys actually did it to their face, that’s props. Throwing yeot at them? Hilarious, because it’s not a random act of violence, it’s a message delivered in a different way.
Korean fans could have done a lot more worse, they just chose to shame them as best as they can. Intelligence takes thinking, throwing rocks and using your fists do not.
Message or no, throwing things can never b justified dude! Get ur message across sum other way; draw yeot candy on a banner telling them 2 eat it, I don’t care, but don’t make it physical.
It was juvenile & self serving; these people just wanted 2 vent, to hell w/ anything like self-control. What exactly was accomplished, constructively, by throwing stuff @ them that couldn’t have been done otherwise?
On a personal note, it’s just embarrassing as a person of Korean descent to have other Koreans act like pissed-off chimps hurling their own feces! Control ur selves, 4 Godssake!
It’s like those damn SK politicians getting into kindergarden brawls on the floor; imagine that happening at the Capitol in Washington, the morons involved would b crucified. People deserving of respect just don’t act like that!
oh cmon dude…put on your man pants. they weren’t throwin machetes and they weren’t throwing to hit anybody. If you noticed they were thrown to fall at the athletes feet.
It was a gesture. A very Korean one.
None of us would’ve done it. At least I know I wouldn’t have.
But you have to know that a performance like that was bound to bring out extremes.
Guess who knows now how pissed some were?
Its a 3 letter acronym starting with “K”
Wow, I guess u got a high tolerance 4 people throwing stuff @ u, it’s all good right? 4 the life of me, I can’t figure out how u can consider adults throwing anything @ other adults ok.
U keep talking about this “bein a man” stuff. I always thought part of being a man was growing up, figuring out whats alright & what isnt, & not just being a tuff guy who does whatever
would you rather be largely ignored or face tough love humiliation?
I feel what yr saying, but I think that’s a false choice, it’s not an either/or. Any Korean who gets perceived as hurting Korean natl kibun will know they will get raked over coals no matter what -whether it’s fair or not. It just comes with being Korean.
I gotta call out everyone of you guys who have similar sentiment to this comment (that the South Korean WC players should just accept this abuse).
And it IS a form of abuse. Albeit, it’s not a severe one, but it still fucks with the coach’s & player’s minds.
Consider this:
Does berating our players & disdaining their performances help with anything?
What the fuck did we get out of those idiots throwing symbolic insults at the South Korean WC players during a public event?
It’s proven that motivation stemming from negative experiences is far less beneficial (e.g. a child that hesitates on his actions after experiencing his/her parent’s verbal abuse or spanking… which pretty much defines “extrinsic motivation”). Even though athletic competitions are filled with extrinsic motivators, the fact is that intrinsically motivated acts are always more effective than extrinsically motivated acts – stuff that anyone would learn in their PSYCH 101 lectures
Sure professional athletes earn a boat load of money compared to us & they may live a lavish lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean that they’re happy. Money & fame are not factors to one’s own well-being.
Only thing that added to the Yeot-chucking situation was cynicism… Cynicism added to fans, coaches, & players.
Those young players developed the most cynicism over the state of South Korean football, & those players were victimized the most, as their motives to represent the entire country diminished, as they saw the embarrassment literally thrown at them. After such event, they would simply ask themselves, “what’s the point of trying to play well? They don’t even give a shit about us, even though we left everything on the field.”
Now don’t fucking tell me that our players didn’t try. They grew up knowing that the FIFA World Cup is probably the most distinguished athletic event that any football players will be involved in. If they didn’t grow up with that notion, I highly doubt that such players would have given effort to make the WC team.
We gotta remind ourselves that as fans, acting as an individual, we can do more harm than good (socially) to the psychology of professional athletes. Yeah, your positive supports may usually go unnoticed, but the negative messages stand out to both the media & the intended recipients of such messages (players & coaches).
Check out this article: (http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/03/brazil-world-cup-2014-psychologist-tears)
Brazil national football team had to be psychologically counseled after the Chile game from the immense pressure of the situation they had to deal with.
Some call them soft as some of the players (including their cpt., Thiago Silva, & handful of their star players) broke down during the round of 16 game against Chile.
You can join the crowd that thinks that Neymar & Júlio César were pussys for losing their emotions before/after/during the games, but Jesus… athletes are humans too. They’re not trained to be Navy SEALs, who literally have to take actions based on command, while revoking their human emotions to perform life & death missions.
There is never really an agreement or a contract that orders every single professional athletes to act & think like a machine (although many of us wish a “machine-like” athletes that can reliably perform their tasks with deadly efficiency).
So it’s humanely unfair to tell professional athletes to “shut the fuck up & take the criticism.”
None of them are obligated to behave & react without their innate emotion.
If you also think about it. South Korean National Football Team (SKNFT) gets more than enough shit compared to most national football teams, like U.S. or any other non-elite football countries (e.g.countries other than Germany, Argentina, France, Brazil, etc.)
SKNFT is arguably the best & the most successful football team in the entire continent of Asia. Asia may not be the warzone of football competitions, but we pretty much are the spearhead of the continent, in terms of football.
Since 2002, many gained unrealistic expectations of SKNFT & poured the same pressures onto our 2014 WC players.
I’ll just stop writing now, but basically – it’s irrational to allow any negative pressures upon the SKNFT players.
When you have a federation as stubborn and inept as ours, how else do you plan to get this point across? One strong enough to actually make a difference? Please tell me.
Because if the other part of public policy holds true, memories fade and with that the impetus to follow through with whatever you’re wanting to do to change minds will also fall through. Theres a high percentage for this.
I think the KFA got the message loud and clear with this strange gesture. Hate to say it but Im more happy about it than put off by it.
We have a better chance of accomplishing something with drastic measures like this. I know my peeps. Especiallly the ones over there. They love the blame game and they only react to drastic measures. Tell me this isn’t true.
That’s the thing – it’s misdirected anger – the KNT players aren’t going to not try – this is the World Cup. I’m with you about the creeping cynicism – ultimately it’s wasted energy.
Collateral damage Im afraid. Looking back already, the event left an indelible blot on all of our memories. It’ll be the same in 10 years time from now. Such a simple and stupid gesture.
This was a crap performance well below what we are accustomed to so of course theres going to be polarized opinions.
You guys may not be happy with it and none of us would’ve actually thrown objects at the national team but that is the color of reaction/response and all viewpoints should be respected no matter how rash. I find these events no different than those that shape our public policy. You have major accidents or catastrophes, public reacts, media reacts, and new policy is formed until memories fade…..rinse, centrifuge, repeat as necessary.
That said, I am [secretly] GLAD these people went there and voiced what they felt was necessary. Better them then me I guess. Sure it was over the top. But it also got the point across. I would say there is a good proportion of fans who share similar sentiment, whether this train wreck was forthcoming or not. The KFA must not slip back to their old ways. Reform is necessary. We shouldn’t be giving more attention to this event than how friggen poor we’ve been.
This is not a game. If the World Cup displays anything its that these are min-wars played out between countries on a playing field.
We must improve and compete with the best.
Go USA! No throwing things! I-BELIEVE-THAT-WE-WILL-WIN!! I-BELIEVE-THAT-WE-WILL-WIN!!
Gone, all gone T~T God bless the US’s grit, tho. & God bless them w/true world-class talent 4 ’18, same w/ SK. May they meet in the WC finals & tear my heart asunder. This would b a good kinda pain, I can’t win & I can’t lose xD
P.S. America HAS to hold on to Klinsmann! Hong MUST step up his game & unleash a footballing beast, or SK has 2 find sum1 who can.
America played on Canada Day. Tim lives in Canada. Tim does not approve of imperialist Americans. Tim happy that America lost.
It’s been a long day… but the US had grit, I’ll give you that.
Watching these last few games where there’s a stronger team and a team trying to stay in it and the keeper (Ochoa, Enyeama, Mbolhi, Benaglio, Howard) has to stand on his head and make so many saves.
Now, close your eyes, and imagine if that was Jung.
Now cry yourself to sleep.
And the talk about having him as a experienced third keeper/mentor and all that – why? I’m sure he can give them all a lesson on how to pick themselves up (not) after shockingly bad games because that’s all that happens when Jung puts on a KNT shirt.
Yeah, keepers need to make saves, Jung just can’t make saves… it’s like once the ball moves past a certain speed Jung just gives up on saving it and jumps aimlessly haha.
We are just not used to being attacked like that, since our 2000-2010 teams have moved to control midfield and have had the mindset and talent needed to hold the ball, whereas now we just lose the ball way too damn much and the defence isn’t used to the amount of firepower they receive.
Agreed, but LWJ was I think the best keeper we’ve ever had. I’m young, but I’m pretty confident on that. For me the two keepers I’ve ever known are LWJ and JSR. I prefer the former.
Yeah I’m the same, I’ve only ever known those two in the KNT, but my mum was telling me how before that Korean goalkeepers were renowned for their ability. The one with the mullet? Cant remember his name but he was a sub in the 2002 world cup squad. Apparently Korean keepers have been generally good until recently. Or it could just be my senile patriotic mum….
Kim Byung-Ji. Still playing. Starting keeper for Jeonnam Dragons.
Yes, Jung has underperformed at this WC. But is it just me, or do you all think that Jung would have awakened in the last game against Belgium? I’ve seen signs of it in the previous two games. The first game: one goal allowed. The second game: four goals allowed. We all know what comes after the calm. A storm. And what comes after the storm? The calm! If Hong Myung Bo had kept in Jung against Belgium we would have seen a keeper on par with the likes of Neuer, Ochoa, or Howard. Perhaps even a goal from the guy. Same with Park Chu Young. OK against Russia, fails against Tunisia. What comes next? A hattrick. Shame Hong Myung Bo couldn’t realize this and release the sleeping beasts who were on the verge of waking up. Really quite obvious for those who look beyond the appearance, although those that do are quite few. Which is why the divorce rate is so high. Best Regards – Kimchi Cocl
Ah, Canada. That almost-country/51st state that can’t even qualify 4 a WC… I KID, I KID, JK JK, Don’t kill me, I love Canada!! XDXD Your maple syrup is delicious, your women more so ;P
But yeah, wow, I was soo impressed by Howard; argument can b made he kept the US in it when really they probly had no bizness hanging around. I say agin, WOW.
& yes, I couldn’t help but think of SK’s current situation 🙁 Well, the future is hope 😉
Our beer (supposedly) is better and we’re better at hockey. (only just.)
As for the women… I’m in my mid-teens. So that’ll be a topic for another day/year. 😉
Even though Korea played horribly. I think that doesn’t justify the treatment they received on their arrival. And I think the players would’ve been overwhelmed if they were greeted by their home country with arms wide open. Just my opinion. When I mess up something big, but my parents greet me with peace and love, it usually makes me try harder to repay their unconditional support. And usually when they scold me for it I usually loose motivation and interest. I know it’s not the best example, but it was just my thought.
It’s a great example that everyone can relate to and it makes a lot of sense. On the flipside however, in this example there’s another party involved and that’s the KFA. Hopefully they get the message and make sure that the mistakes they made heading up to 2014 don’t happen again.
On a different note, that banner reading “We lost because of you” is just plain dumb. Of course KOREA lost because of them, because THEY were representing KOREA. I mean really…
Exactly. I do feel bad that the athletes had to be thrown under the bus but I do believe that gesture was more for the KFA than anybody else.
If these kids get that rattled over candy being thrown at their feet…cmon. That to me would be even more disappointing.
Take it and move on.
It’s the very public shaming that could rattle. So many in the country, & sum around the world, would’ve seen them being in effect cursed out & called dirt, & they could do nuthin about it.
1 of the things I don’t like about SK, it’s in many ways a “Shame” culture; Jae mentioned “Face”, that this made them lose it like crazy, & that’s absolutely right.
Feeling bad enuff as it is, they just got “shit on their face”, a Korean saying many here may b familiar w/, & they “suffered a dog’s fate/shame”. Disappointed as I am, I don’t know that they deserved all that.
U got a beef w/the KFA, find a way 2 settle it w/ them; don’t take it out on proxy 21-23 yr old kids who might remember this 4 a while, & not necessarily 4 the good.
Man, I’m completely on board w/ u. This kind of vitriolic behavior creates a mindset of “fear of failure/punishment”, as opposed to pursuing success/victory, & that’s a big diff: a slave w/ a master cracking a whip to make him move vs a runner who sees the finish line, people cheering him on.
Loved ur parent example, specially considering some of these guys r barely out of their teens. I guess in the rush to vent anger & disappointment (which we all felt btw), sum folks @ the airport chose to forget about that 🙁
Yeah, there are two sides to this; the players will take offence to it but ultimately it shows how much faith the Korean people had in the team to succeed, even with our pre world-cup results.
Being one of the youngest teams in the World Cup though, the players should learn how to cope with losing embarrassingly like this and move on, it’ll ultimately create a better mindset in the players. I mean, seriously, Ki Sung-Yueng had the best mindset in the team apart from Son Heungmin and we know how Ki is when it comes to controversy.
Ultimately, I’m optimistic, we were pretty damn horrible but these problems are fixable and we’ll be fine by the time Russia rolls around in 2018.
This may sound COMPLETELY STUPID, but I really don’t think its in the Korean mindset/spirit/blood to let ourselves go to shit…
Expectations were too high. lol. One of the lowest rated and youngest fifa squads with two straight friendly blowouts, three coaches in the past three years, highest number of changes to national team callups for A matches, and out of the starting 11, 6 out of forms, 1 nonexistant form, 3 average players, and a hopelessly shitty keeper. And Korea expected to reach the round of 16? lol. The country should be celebrating that the team even managed a draw against Russia not throwing yeot at the players.
wouldn’t mind knowing who your 6 out of forms are and 3 average players.
Also, I’m fed up with korean culture, aggressive korean netizens, haters and all that. And I don’t know why the the team feels the need to be apologetic to the nation. Hong’s interview apologies make me sick. Why the hell you apologizing? National representatives who tried their very best for the nation should have the backing of the nation and feel pride and hold their head high even in defeat. Unfortunately, korean society is too bipolar to allow that. It’s a cultural problem.
Publicly saying our representing that you’ll try and make everyone feel better after a tragic disaster will only add pressure someone like Hong. Im willing to bet that had something to do with his apologist shtick.
My goodness we have some wusses watching Korean soccer. In some countries, if you score an own goal, you get taken to the woodshed and shot. Am I supposed to feel sorry for these millionaire soccer players because they got candy thrown at them? Grow up people. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
red – some countries may do that – but they’re kinda fucked up countries -you know what I mean? So you have no sympathy for millionaires? hey something we have in common. but while some of them are, tell that to Lee Keun-Ho. He’s a private (Tavern stats man, help me out here, is he a private or private first class?) ok if he’s a private, he makes ₩81,500 or $76 a month. He’d been earning that since Dec 2012, part of his mandatory military conscription. If he didn’t have to serve, as Asian Player of the Year along with Shinji Kagawa, he might’ve moved to Europe to earn said millions. Maybe. And maybe he’d been able to compete at a higher level and sharpened skills. not that he didn’t contribute despite that- his goal vs Russia earned us a point.
So I have concerns about people throwing yeots at the KNT. I think they have a right to be angry but their anger is misplaced. Very misplaced. By expressing that, it makes me a wuss?
red – meet me halfway here, I’m not trying to drive you away, I just want to see a enthusiastic Korean football supporter who is not only informed but also communicating wisely. You represent. I represent. We all represent. Let’s do this right, feel me?
Lee Keun-Ho may make a pittance for playing soccer but you are forgetting about the endorsement money, if not now, later. But this is besides the point.
The larger point is that those that are condemning this candy throwing incident are blowing it out of proportion. Should they have done it in a more tactful way? Sure. But you are missing the bigger point. This coach and team was gunning for the round of 16 but they didn’t win a single game, the first time in 16 years. They played one of the worst halves of world cup soccer, giving up 3 goals to an Algerian team which we should have beaten, and they completely choked against a B-squad Belgian team with 10 men. Stop coddling this team; sometimes more pressure makes a team stronger.
Listen, by no means should the team be coddled – sure lambast the performance, the coach’s tactics, etc. Let it all loose. I could argue that other factors like Ki literally not being able to walk when arriving for start of training camp – recovering from late season injuries @Sunderland are part of the equation for why they didn’t flow as well as they could’ve -but my apologist argument will have to wait another day. People are angry and they should be. Opening the discussion on what is wrong with Korean football – let’s do that, and that’s really the point – that conversation should’ve happened in Korea well before Brazil. Think those who condemn the yeot throwers are blowing things out of proportion? with all due respect – that’s the pot calling the kettle black. I’ve argued briefly that the Yeot throwers have misplaced anger and here’s one example why. There’s quite a number of things the Tavern has brought up – one of them is the lack of attention and resources given to K-league by Koreans themselves. That negative loop accompanying that trend has consequences directly affecting many aspects of the domestic football situation. How does Korea expect to go deep in the WC with that kind of causal interest that’s surface deep? Add unrealistic expectations to that mix – I’d advocate tempered expectations – the perspective is warped. with the yeot throw, what’s done is done. Sure they’re angry, and who isn’t- but I personally think if they want to throw yeot – throw it at the tens of million of S. Koreans who forget that K-league has raw talent – not refined -but has potential to be better than they are now, but play to virtually empty stadiums. That is a damn shame. It’s a national embarrassment when expat go to the games and wonder why Koreans aren’t out there in support. I’m not going to mince words -That, my friend, is a recipe for the death of korean football as their banner hyperbolically stated. Easy to throw yeot as a publicity stunt as team rolls back from brazil. Not so easy to start advocating actual real reforms, starting cultural transformation for Korea to be a footballing nation, and starting the difficult conversations in Korean society that is more at the root of things. I’m going to nerd this up by quoting Shakespeare a la Julius Cesar: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” Dropping the mic – peace out.
Memories fade. It may have been especially traumatic but trust me, these kids will get over it. While the fans anger may have been misplaced, Im also of the opinion that there are some things in life you’ll never ever be able to change. A harsh reaction is one of them. And by their performance in this world cup, we all knew something like this was going to happen. I wasn’t surprised at all when this news 1st broke.
Just like media fanning the flames of a catastrophe (e.g., ferry disaster), I don’t think talking about this specific incident serves anyone any purpose. Ive come to grips that shit like this will always happen. Its what you do afterwards that is the make or break.
Have you guys taken a good course in public policy? know how that whole thing works in terms of catastrophe —> Public Reaction/Media response —-> policy reform ……memories fade, catastrophes hit again….rinse and repeat.
We had a shit World Cup and public sentiment has been expressed dutifully. The KFA is well aware how upset people are and how this will effect attendance in the future. Its up to the KFA make good on their word, but Im sure most are very cynical on this.
This is a crucial period in our program.
Well said. I’m with you completely, this is a crucial time, the KFA has to have reforms, etc etc. and not the same old status quo.
Slight disagreement about some things never changing. I feel that way sometimes, and we’ve all witnessed things that seem so entrenched, there seems like no solution to certain problems. But sometimes things do change, either gradually or dramatically. Sometimes better, others worse. If I can stay positive, (&veer from sports topic for a moment) civil rights in the US, with systemic law entrenched and culturally supported racism, some never would have imagined what brown v board of Ed or 1965 civil rights act would do to bring the us out of the moral stain it was in.
Far less important, but still important to Korean footy supporters, I could be wrong, but I’d like to think positive change is possible. Where problems can occur is out of reactionary anger, the KFA doesn’t actually reform but makes surface changes to appease the pitchforked masses. That’s my concern as you, me, all of us here are trying to figure out a blueprint for a way forward.
Ok Tavern Bouncer has arrived and he’s is in the room. He’s pretty pissed – don’t fuck with the bouncer man.
You can support or not support the Yeot tossers. We can have a discussion – obviously not everyone is going to agree -BUT we can agree to disagree here. Fuck the name calling – that’s rude and not part of a constructive conversation.
We can vent, we can disagree, but here in the Tavern, we will be civil.
At this point there’s comments already posted that exceed the call for a civil tone. The Tavern Bouncer will allow for that -because he was late and not on the clock. Any one else posting fucked up comments after he clocked in at 3:40 pm Wed July 2nd will have to deal with the Tavern Bouncer (really? you show to work at 3:40? you and I will have a conversation later).
Hear hear
The Tavern Bouncer has announced that I too may have contributed to a less than civil tone. What!? When, where? The last post comment section? Calling Yeot tossers crazy yokels…and more? Oh…ok but you were late to work so it’s all in the past alright? Now get back to work.
People should chill out with the candy throwing though. These players probably tried their best. But like a retarded kid, you can’t expect him to get an A on their tests. Like the retarded kid, this team is filled with crappy players who just aren’t that good.