So what is soccer in Korea like? Well, while Taekwon-Do is officially the national sport in Korea, the sports with the greatest fan bases are baseball and soccer. If I remember correctly, I was told that the Seoul World Cup Stadium can seat
Chanyang was actually the reason for my soccer outing. He is leaving for the United States tomorrow (Tuesday) to continue his graduate studies. As a last farewell he invited his friends to enjoy with him one of his other (non-martial arts) passions, namely soccer.
An alarming thing about Saturday night’s soccer outing was the number of vuvuzellas! These South African blow horns were practically given away and now even I own one. Of all the cultural assets to have come out of South Africa and permeate the world, how regrettable that it should be vuvuzellas. It was nonetheless ironically satisfying to see something South African so widely accepted in my host country. Before the World Cup very few Koreans knew anything about South Africa apart from Nelson Mandela; some didn’t even know who Mandela is. The World Cup has changed that and even exported some cultural heritage – unfortunately vuvuzellas are not the most culturally rich of an export item, nor does South Africa benefit much from it apart from its iconic association. The real – financial – beneficiary is China, whom is the main producer of these plastic instruments of cacophonic pollution.
2 comments:
Little correction for the capacity of stadium is 67000, nearly 70000.
As I checked the number of spectators on K-League official Website, about 21000 people were attending this match. However, since the stadium is uselessly big enough, even with those people we can see many empty seats.
Miss ya!
Wow, that many people!
It was a great experience. Thank you again for inviting me!
Indeed, you are already missed.
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