One Criticism

Maybe it's just my fear o conglomerates or my left wing history but it seems sport in Korea is dominated by big business and sponsorship.

What's great is that Korean's love their sport, maybe to watch more then play, but their is no doubt the variety and interest in sports and activities in Korea makes the UK seem like a bunch of couch potatoes who only eat one flavour of crisps. Turn on the TV an not only will you catch the latest Korean soccer league games but also the English and Spanish headlining matches. Turn over a few channels and you'll find every sport from hand ball, to ice skating , coupled with UFC and Tae kwon do matches. Even females get a look in with sports from bowling to golf. It really is surprising the variety and the multiplicity of Korean sports channels.

I only have one criticism. When ever you mention a team in the UK it is usually by its place name. Such as "Man City' 'Newcastle' or with the team name like 'Celtic', 'Villa', 'Spurs'. These names, seem to me a least, to echo a connection with the area and a history of dedication to the sport coupled with historical roots. However every team in Korea goes by a company name rather than a place or title. As I mentioned earlier 'Samsung Lions' are Daegu's team. However this is mostly boiled down to just Samsung and for every other town and city they are known by their sponsor whether it be 'Hyundae' 'Ooori' or 'LG'. It's not just baseball it's every other sport too and it's always the same companies. So in the volleyball league there is a Samsung team but this time they represent Seoul and in Basketball they will be the main title for another sports club. It's all very confusing and I wonder how much these companies get out of it. It's so ingrained, it seems to me, that Daegu would rather drop the Lion before Samsung.

Maybe it's all just a financial aid to the teams and I'm just a grumpy old lefty but it just seems unfamiliar having a powerful symbol of one's allegiance reduced to a generic brand name which is chosen through purchasing power.

My First Baseball Match

I never thought I would ever go to a baseball game, least of all in Korea, but they just love it here.

It was a blistering 32 degrees and I had already agreed to go and see the baseball with a Canadian friend. It turned out to be a pretty big game. Daegu's Samsung Lions versus LG Seoul.

My first impression was mild disappointment. Not only was the stadium pretty small for a guy used to a regular 60,000 attendance at his local football game, a mere 10,000 here, but also the size of the field was pathetic. Whenever I caught a glimpse of baseball on American or Korean TV I thought the field was huge, at least the length of a football pitch. Instead it looked like I could hit a 'Homer' given the right 'pitch'.

It was filled to the max however. The atmosphere was of festivity and it seemed like a mix between a family day out and a drinking competition. Now this I could enjoy. I stocked up on some nice cold beer and sat in the sun listening to the intricacies of baseball being explained to me by an avid fan. It was actually pretty interesting. So much so that I enjoyed watching it. It's a sport were you spend most of the time sitting, drinking and talking. Occasionally paying attention when the bases are 'loaded' or a star player is about to bat. Which for Daegu was a 39 year old playboy / fan favourite who seemed to just 'bunt' the ball and woddle off.

Between all of the 'innings', whatever they are!?! There were drinking, dancing and kissing competitions where people made a fool of themselves for a chance to be on the big screen. This is pretty unusual and you can't even bring a beer into a stadium back home never mind hosting a down-in-one competition sponsored by that teenagers' favourite boy band 'Big bang'.


I was asked about cricket and I did my best to explain the rules but politely stated that cricket was about as popular in Scotland as Thatcher. That didn't clear things up much.