Korean K-League

[TomTsportresearcher]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/01/football-k-league-disappointed-juventus-cristiano-ronaldo-friendly-absence  

This is about a week old now, but it seems Koreans and the K-league have taken this situation to a new level. The league and supporters should rightly feel disappointed at how late Juve turned up to the game and disappointed that certain media obligations were not met. However, I can’t get my head around the Ronaldo situation – the game should never have been marketed around Ronaldo, football should ultimately take precedence over Ronaldo fandom and not vise-versa.I bianconeri are a famous, historic club that should have been more than enough to draw a crowd. Moreover, the K-league should have chosen to celebrate and market the league to Korean supporters, showcasing the talent of K-league players, after all the combined 11 performed excellently and proved they have the talent. I think it is the Koreans themselves who have been disrespectful, particularly towards their own professional league and it's players. 

Bit of a rant but what do people think? (don’t worry this is not for research haha) 

[RandoEFC+]

I heard something about fans trying to sue Juventus because Ronaldo didn't play?

[Dr. Gonzo]

5 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I heard something about fans trying to sue Juventus because Ronaldo didn't play?

I read they're suing Juve + Ronaldo because he didn't play because of breach of contract. They also wanted 2m in damages due to mental suffering or some silly shite like that. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous. First off, I doubt Juve would sign a contract that mandates that a player has to play any part of a friendly - what if the player had an injury.

1 hour ago, TomTsportresearcher said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/01/football-k-league-disappointed-juventus-cristiano-ronaldo-friendly-absence  

This is about a week old now, but it seems Koreans and the K-league have taken this situation to a new level. The league and supporters should rightly feel disappointed at how late Juve turned up to the game and disappointed that certain media obligations were not met. However, I can’t get my head around the Ronaldo situation – the game should never have been marketed around Ronaldo, football should ultimately take precedence over Ronaldo fandom and not vise-versa.I bianconeri are a famous, historic club that should have been more than enough to draw a crowd. Moreover, the K-league should have chosen to celebrate and market the league to Korean supporters, showcasing the talent of K-league players, after all the combined 11 performed excellently and proved they have the talent. I think it is the Koreans themselves who have been disrespectful, particularly towards their own professional league and it's players. 

Bit of a rant but what do people think? (don’t worry this is not for research haha) 

Unfortunately, the culture of football in Korea (and in China too, tbh, from the little I learned while I was there talking to a the few people who could speak English that I met who did like football) is moreso centred around supporting individual players than the teams themselves. With China, a bloke explained to me that basketball and in particular the NBA are the most popular sport and they've adopted a culture of loving the superstars in sport because of that. In football as well. So there is very little team loyalty, but massive loyalty to the biggest players.

I think this spat though is entirely on the promoters, though. If they marketed the friendly as "COME SEE RONALDO!!!!" when it's a friendly for Juve to build up match fitness pre-season and they don't want to risk their aging super-star in a pointless match, but want to get the rest of the team fit... that's their prerogative. That's what friendlies are for. The fans are going to be disappointed because they were told they would see Ronaldo, but that's not how the match should have been marketed to them. It should have been "Come see Italy's biggest club, one of the most famous sides in European football."

If Juve did agree to a contract that obligated Ronaldo to play, then they're fucking stupid. But I highly doubt they did.

[TomTsportresearcher]

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I read they're suing Juve + Ronaldo because he didn't play because of breach of contract. They also wanted 2m in damages due to mental suffering or some silly shite like that. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous. First off, I doubt Juve would sign a contract that mandates that a player has to play any part of a friendly - what if the player had an injury.

Unfortunately, the culture of football in Korea (and in China too, tbh, from the little I learned while I was there talking to a the few people who could speak English that I met who did like football) is moreso centred around supporting individual players than the teams themselves. With China, a bloke explained to me that basketball and in particular the NBA are the most popular sport and they've adopted a culture of loving the superstars in sport because of that. In football as well. So there is very little team loyalty, but massive loyalty to the biggest players.

I think this spat though is entirely on the promoters, though. If they marketed the friendly as "COME SEE RONALDO!!!!" when it's a friendly for Juve to build up match fitness pre-season and they don't want to risk their aging super-star in a pointless match, but want to get the rest of the team fit... that's their prerogative. That's what friendlies are for. The fans are going to be disappointed because they were told they would see Ronaldo, but that's not how the match should have been marketed to them. It should have been "Come see Italy's biggest club, one of the most famous sides in European football."

If Juve did agree to a contract that obligated Ronaldo to play, then they're fucking stupid. But I highly doubt they did.

 

You're spot on, from my year in Korea watching Gyeongnam Fc supporters were only interested in there marque signing "Marcao", every time he got the ball the supporters would cheer and get excited... something I was'nt used to seeing in the prem. This was also very true of K-pop stars - who unfortunatley seem to be forgotton very quickly in Korea when a new band or artist comes along. It may stem from the fact Korea is a cultural of hierachy, normally meaning those in power or the elder members of a family must be respected. This could possibly extend to individual sport stars who supporters see as holding such power and therefore must be respected as such. 

No, I totally agree the promoters should have promoted the game differently, perhaps ensuring the promotion of the K-league itself vs "Italian and European giants Juventus". I don't think Juve would have entered into a contractual agreement if that was the case, like you said they would of been fucking stupid. Nevertheless, the situation is fucking ridiculous and serves as another example of friendly's gone wrong in Asia this summer. 

 

[TomTsportresearcher]

For those interested in the K-league, this weekends results were as follows; 

Jeju United 1 - Sangju Sangmu 4

Gyeongnam FC 2 - Seongnam 0

Suwon Bluewings 0 - Incheon 1

Ulsan 1 - Daegu 1

Pohang Steelers 1 - Jeonbuk 2

FC Seoul 0 - Gangwon 0 

Good to see Gyeongnam get back to winning ways, as the fans say with possibly the worst chant in football history "DO IT, GO UP". 

[Mpache]

My sleeping patterns are messed again, so I started watching some overnight football. No A-League at this point, so K-League was my next best bet.

I saw 3 games so far. Both the 2 big teams in my mind lost (Jeonbuk and Seoul)

Final game of the weekend: Incheon United vs Pohang Steelers. The latter have a player I like but I doubt he'll play (Hong Yun-Sang). He's a bit young still.

[Mpache]

Pohang were fantastic to watch. Wonderful first touch football mixed with clever off the ball movement on the counter.

4-1 win over Incheon. Was pretty competitive actually until the last 30 where the visitors really showed their superiority. 

This assist and finish for the 4th was glorious 

[Mpache]

Former Palace midfielder Lee Chung-Yong opens the scoring for Ulsan. Didn't know he was back in Korea! @The Palace Fan

[Mpache]

2-0!

Lee Chung-Yong again.

Pohang really need to sort themselves out, especially that left side which is getting targeted successfully by Ulsan.

[Dave]

Ahh Chungy. Every summer I said he would be like a new signing, but a part from a wonder goal against Stoke City he was absolutely useless.

[Mpache]

Ends 4-0 to Ulsan. Disappointed in Pohang Steelers after their showing last week.

Happy my boy Min-Kyu did alright though.