the lugubrious expat

Korean soccer fans are known for their passion. In 2002, football frenzy swept the nation as Guus Hiddink used his "magic" to lead the red devils to the semi-finals. Around the country fans were burning themselves to death, asking for the month off work, and gathering in the hundreds of thousands in the streets of Seoul. In 2006, Korean fans are just as enthusiastic, with one exception; they have hauled their street-spitting, song-chanting, red shirt-wearing asses... overseas.

On Tuesday night i got a taste of the Korean fan experience. Korea was set to play Togo at 10pm local time and the plan was to go to Sajik Soccer Stadium with my colleagues after work to watch the game "on the big screen". I had heard you needed to get there by 5pm to secure one of the 60,000+ seats. At 8:30 when we arrived via a channel of glowing red-devils horns it was indeed "sold" out. Large metal gates don't really stop Korean fans however, so we squeezed through and into the stadium on a wave of red bodies as police looked on helplessly.

It was something to behold. With an hour till kick-off the party was in full swing. Chanting and clapping inflatable sticks together, the sea of red swam all around my peripheral vision. We settled on a concrete block next to the bins and i peered toward the screen, which was in fact relatively no larger than a mobile phone. It was immediately obvious that the actual watching of the game was not a priority. As more and more people piled in, the police compromised to seat them around but not on the pitch. I expected constantly to see the teams themselves appear out of the bunkers.

Two minutes to kick off and the telecast coverage panned around the Korean fans in Germany and it was like looking into a mirror, a spooky mirror. Just when I thought it was not possible to celebrate any more, Korea scored a goal. Fireworks, huge flags, and everybody running onto the pitch. The interesting thing about the two photos below is they are ordered chronologically and taken only a few minutes apart. That is, the "wild" behaviour of the fans was followed immediately by the orderly process of going back to their designated seats. Of course it helped that Korea won, but either way, Korean fans do not disappoint for a good show.