Football Game, Corea vs Uzbekistan 2005 June 3.
Well it's about time I wrote about this one. How mom took me to Gwang-hwa-moon and we watched football (by "football" here I mean soccer). Is Gwang-hwa-moon a stadium? No! But ever since World Cup 2002 it has become the place to watch football. Gwang-hwa-moon is just an area in Seoul, but since the sidewalks are very wide and there are several monster tv's around the intersection, it was convenient for gathering a lot of people to watch football games together. Why not just watch it in your own living room? It's much more fun to do it with a lot of people, duh! (Really, going there is an experience in itself, even if the game doesn't turn out so good.)
Unfortunately, I left my "be the reds" shirt in America, and I didn't have any red shirts at all. Neither did my mom. And we didn't really want to buy a cheap shirt just for one night (there were lots of people selling Red Devils products and other necessary cheering items). Other than that, we were well prepared with two styrofoam boards, small bottled drinks, a bar of chocolate, and jackets (in case it got cold).
We got there around 8 or something (the game started at 10). June 3, 2005. The place was already filled with people, though. The ones who got the good seats must have been waiting there for hours. We settled on a spot that had a decent view of a big screen (but it was partially blocked by a tree). And there was a big bright light shining right into our eyes. Apparently, whoever put themselves in charge of the situation -- or maybe the news reporters who wanted to take good pictures of the crowd -- put up several lights here and there. How nice of them.
Images hosted by Photobucket.com
When we got there the place was already filled with excitement. Somebody was drumming somewhere, and people were cheering to its beat. It's easy to catch on, really. I got all excited, too. Mom bought me a pair of balloons, which are not like normal balloons, but are actually long inflatable plastic tubes. You blow these up and bang those together to make loud noise. Pang! Pang! This way you can wave it all around, cheer, and have fun without hurting the person in front of you, and without getting tired. Using the balloons takes a lot less effort than clapping, and it doesn't hurt your palms. In the picture you can see people using their balloons. The balloons are cheap and of low quality, so by the end of the game, there were lots of depleted, busted, or otherwise damaged in the fight to the deathcheering.
Here's a view of the big screen we were watching. I think there must have been about 3 other screen around. Sometimes, trees or other objects would get in the way of one screen...so the seating arrangement was very funny. A group of people would be facing this way, and the group right next to them would be facing other way...from where I was sitting, this is the only screen I could see. It's pretty big. The building behind it is Gwang-hwa-moon post office.
And here's a close-up of the screen. After every three or four brain-washing commercials, they'd show short clips of past games. Main the parts where someone scores. Then the crowd would gasp, boo, or cheer, even though everybody's watched it for the 100th time. Sounds silly? Yeah. But it's fun. I don't know who's doing what here, but I think someone scored.
Ah! And now, to find the source of the mysterious drum beat. There was this jeep (presumably a property of the official Red Devils club) decorated with Korean flags, football motto's, and stuff. There were two or three drummers beating some drums. In a way, they are true cheer "leaders".
Oh, here's a better view of the jeep. It is so heavily decorated, I wonder if it is even legal to drive on the road. But that's the spirit!
A small group of students (boys, probably from high school) set next to me. Ahem, I would like to take this opportunity to complement these nameless students! They had good attitude, cheered loudly, and they really liked those football players. It was nice to hear to them going for the players instead of cursing or yelling at them, like the grown-ups behind me (whom I also suspect of trying to take picture of my underwear) did. Manners, people. Manners.
Finally the game started! Everyone cheered. There were about 13,000 people there. Fireworks went up. We (and the students next to me) cheered. The grown-ups behind me talked among them, saying that those are the super-cheap fireworks. Come on, people. It's not like you see fireworks every day. And yeah, maybe those fireworks really do cost only a dollar each, but did they help pay for it? Party-poopers. They make me mad. Arrrrrgh.
The firework didn't actually look like this, but the picture turned out like this because I used increased exposure.
Forget about the people behind me, the game was exciting! I never watched a football game with so much interest and concentration. People cheered nearly non-stop. Oh and my favorite football player, ChaDooRi (oh such a cute name!), nearly scored. Nearly. He missed by a little bit. People just kept cheering, waving flags @etc.
And at one point someone lit up a strange firework that was super bright and pink. I don't know what it was...but it was kind of smoky.
Uzbekistan scored in the first half, and the game kept going on...it looked like we were losing 1:0! Oh No! Amazingly, though, people stuck together and kept watching the game.
Cheer With me!
1) Dae~Han Mink Gook! (Means "Great Republic of Corea". Stretch our your arms and wave your balloons up and down)
2) Pang-Pang Pang Pang-Pang! (Bang your balloons together. It is important that you follow the specific rhythm!)
3) Repeat as many times as desired, or until everyone around you stops. (Hahaha, pretty embarrassing if you're the last one to do it alone.)
Despite our cheering and wishing, it seemed that we really were going to lose! And with only a few minutes left to the second half...
The following happened in quick succession:
The "Football genius", ParkJooYoung, got hold of the ball,
people were screaming like crazy
(not because they felt that this is going in, but because they were that desperate. Actually, Corean football teams have a bad history of losing every single away-game with Uzbekistan.)
Everyone in front of me stood up,
I couldn't see the screen very well,
It looked like it was a goal...
It looked like it wasn't a goal...
It looked like it was a goal...
It looked like it wasn't a goal...
(excuse the confusing description. The play itself got very tricky at this point.)
Then everyone screamed even louder,
So I screamed as well,
And a few seconds later I found it was a scream of JOY!!!! Yiiiiii!
Ah, Happy day.
Shortly afterward, game was over...we tied the game. There was no need to extend the game, since it was only preliminary. It was dramatic. Everyone was so excited, you could feel the heat. Some people linked their arms together and started to run around in circles.
The excitement didn't die down for quite a bit. While cheer leaders were having a blast using up all of their fire works, a couple of drummers (who probably got off the jeep) started going around drumming back and forth. By "back and forth", I mean that it was like the first one drummed a beat, then the other one drummed a beat, and back and forth and faster and so on.
Mom and I quickly made way to a nearly bus station to get home. On the way, I saw people folding a giant flag. I didn't see it during the game, but apparently there was one that was going around. They probably saved it for the moment that the Corean team scored. The logo on the giant flag is the symbol of the Red Devils, by the way.
Here I give my thanks to policemen who had to stand guard instead of watching the football game. Poor things, they probably have to work extra hours every time the Red Devils decide to use Gwang-hwa-moon as a gathering spot.
And we got on the bus to get home! It's an hour ride, because my home is so far away from Seoul. On the bus, I saw the South Gate. Ah, the picture's too blurry.
We didn't get home until very early in the morning. June 4, 2005, Around 1:30 or so. My bum was sore because sitting on styrofoam board is pretty hard. (Though I was better off than most people. They sat on newspapers.) My back was too stretched from squatting for hours. My ears had been throughly harassed.
Whee, I wanna do it again!
Unfortunately, I left my "be the reds" shirt in America, and I didn't have any red shirts at all. Neither did my mom. And we didn't really want to buy a cheap shirt just for one night (there were lots of people selling Red Devils products and other necessary cheering items). Other than that, we were well prepared with two styrofoam boards, small bottled drinks, a bar of chocolate, and jackets (in case it got cold).
We got there around 8 or something (the game started at 10). June 3, 2005. The place was already filled with people, though. The ones who got the good seats must have been waiting there for hours. We settled on a spot that had a decent view of a big screen (but it was partially blocked by a tree). And there was a big bright light shining right into our eyes. Apparently, whoever put themselves in charge of the situation -- or maybe the news reporters who wanted to take good pictures of the crowd -- put up several lights here and there. How nice of them.
Images hosted by Photobucket.com
When we got there the place was already filled with excitement. Somebody was drumming somewhere, and people were cheering to its beat. It's easy to catch on, really. I got all excited, too. Mom bought me a pair of balloons, which are not like normal balloons, but are actually long inflatable plastic tubes. You blow these up and bang those together to make loud noise. Pang! Pang! This way you can wave it all around, cheer, and have fun without hurting the person in front of you, and without getting tired. Using the balloons takes a lot less effort than clapping, and it doesn't hurt your palms. In the picture you can see people using their balloons. The balloons are cheap and of low quality, so by the end of the game, there were lots of depleted, busted, or otherwise damaged in the fight to the deathcheering.
Here's a view of the big screen we were watching. I think there must have been about 3 other screen around. Sometimes, trees or other objects would get in the way of one screen...so the seating arrangement was very funny. A group of people would be facing this way, and the group right next to them would be facing other way...from where I was sitting, this is the only screen I could see. It's pretty big. The building behind it is Gwang-hwa-moon post office.
And here's a close-up of the screen. After every three or four brain-washing commercials, they'd show short clips of past games. Main the parts where someone scores. Then the crowd would gasp, boo, or cheer, even though everybody's watched it for the 100th time. Sounds silly? Yeah. But it's fun. I don't know who's doing what here, but I think someone scored.
Ah! And now, to find the source of the mysterious drum beat. There was this jeep (presumably a property of the official Red Devils club) decorated with Korean flags, football motto's, and stuff. There were two or three drummers beating some drums. In a way, they are true cheer "leaders".
Oh, here's a better view of the jeep. It is so heavily decorated, I wonder if it is even legal to drive on the road. But that's the spirit!
A small group of students (boys, probably from high school) set next to me. Ahem, I would like to take this opportunity to complement these nameless students! They had good attitude, cheered loudly, and they really liked those football players. It was nice to hear to them going for the players instead of cursing or yelling at them, like the grown-ups behind me (whom I also suspect of trying to take picture of my underwear) did. Manners, people. Manners.
Finally the game started! Everyone cheered. There were about 13,000 people there. Fireworks went up. We (and the students next to me) cheered. The grown-ups behind me talked among them, saying that those are the super-cheap fireworks. Come on, people. It's not like you see fireworks every day. And yeah, maybe those fireworks really do cost only a dollar each, but did they help pay for it? Party-poopers. They make me mad. Arrrrrgh.
The firework didn't actually look like this, but the picture turned out like this because I used increased exposure.
Forget about the people behind me, the game was exciting! I never watched a football game with so much interest and concentration. People cheered nearly non-stop. Oh and my favorite football player, ChaDooRi (oh such a cute name!), nearly scored. Nearly. He missed by a little bit. People just kept cheering, waving flags @etc.
And at one point someone lit up a strange firework that was super bright and pink. I don't know what it was...but it was kind of smoky.
Uzbekistan scored in the first half, and the game kept going on...it looked like we were losing 1:0! Oh No! Amazingly, though, people stuck together and kept watching the game.
Cheer With me!
1) Dae~Han Mink Gook! (Means "Great Republic of Corea". Stretch our your arms and wave your balloons up and down)
2) Pang-Pang Pang Pang-Pang! (Bang your balloons together. It is important that you follow the specific rhythm!)
3) Repeat as many times as desired, or until everyone around you stops. (Hahaha, pretty embarrassing if you're the last one to do it alone.)
Despite our cheering and wishing, it seemed that we really were going to lose! And with only a few minutes left to the second half...
The following happened in quick succession:
The "Football genius", ParkJooYoung, got hold of the ball,
people were screaming like crazy
(not because they felt that this is going in, but because they were that desperate. Actually, Corean football teams have a bad history of losing every single away-game with Uzbekistan.)
Everyone in front of me stood up,
I couldn't see the screen very well,
It looked like it was a goal...
It looked like it wasn't a goal...
It looked like it was a goal...
It looked like it wasn't a goal...
(excuse the confusing description. The play itself got very tricky at this point.)
Then everyone screamed even louder,
So I screamed as well,
And a few seconds later I found it was a scream of JOY!!!! Yiiiiii!
Ah, Happy day.
Shortly afterward, game was over...we tied the game. There was no need to extend the game, since it was only preliminary. It was dramatic. Everyone was so excited, you could feel the heat. Some people linked their arms together and started to run around in circles.
The excitement didn't die down for quite a bit. While cheer leaders were having a blast using up all of their fire works, a couple of drummers (who probably got off the jeep) started going around drumming back and forth. By "back and forth", I mean that it was like the first one drummed a beat, then the other one drummed a beat, and back and forth and faster and so on.
Mom and I quickly made way to a nearly bus station to get home. On the way, I saw people folding a giant flag. I didn't see it during the game, but apparently there was one that was going around. They probably saved it for the moment that the Corean team scored. The logo on the giant flag is the symbol of the Red Devils, by the way.
Here I give my thanks to policemen who had to stand guard instead of watching the football game. Poor things, they probably have to work extra hours every time the Red Devils decide to use Gwang-hwa-moon as a gathering spot.
And we got on the bus to get home! It's an hour ride, because my home is so far away from Seoul. On the bus, I saw the South Gate. Ah, the picture's too blurry.
We didn't get home until very early in the morning. June 4, 2005, Around 1:30 or so. My bum was sore because sitting on styrofoam board is pretty hard. (Though I was better off than most people. They sat on newspapers.) My back was too stretched from squatting for hours. My ears had been throughly harassed.
Whee, I wanna do it again!