It was a special event that I heard about through Facebook: foreigners got discounted tickets, and there were special performances before the game. It sounded fun and was at World Cup Stadium, which is pretty close to my neighborhood, so I figured I'd give it a go.
First of all, the area around the stadium is really nice. There are lovely little parks nearby and it's right next to a stream with a bike path (which I happen to use all the time because it leads straight to the Han River). There's also a movie theater and a grocery store on the lower levels of the stadium, so while I've never actually been to a soccer game here, I've been to the stadium a few times before.
It wasn't exactly packed, but it's October and a bit chilly in the mornings. It also didn't seem to be an important game, so that might have had more to do with it than the weather. Before the game started, I went ahead and bought an FC Seoul scarf. Why not, show some spirit for the home team, right?
The tickets were open seating, which was nice. We got pretty good seats, but also ended up behind a bunch of super fans. They were standing and cheering the whole time, which was simultaneously fun and annoying. It was cool to have such team spirit right by us, but they kinda impeded my view of the game. Maybe I'm weird, but I go to sports events more for the game than the cheering.
I was a bit surprised at how few people were there...but then I remembered that the stadium was originally built for a global event. No way would they be able to fill it on a regular basis. I also hear way more from my students about Korean baseball teams than about soccer. Not that I'm complaining - soccer is fun, but baseball is still my favorite.
Everything was going great, but then I managed to lose my phone within the first ten minutes of the game. Go me. I hit the restroom, went to grab refreshments, and realized when I got back to my seat that I had set my phone down in the bathroom and never picked it up. I went back to find it and it was gone. I used my friend's phone to call it...nobody answered. Worry worry worry, ask for a lost and found, get told there isn't one, walk around with a stadium employee who doesn't really know what to do either, start trying to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to get a new phone...and suddenly the guy I'm walking around with notices some of his coworkers huddled over something: my phone. Woo! Safe and sound.
After that, it was all about the game...ish. I was really amused by the kids behind me, who were screaming like banshees and cursing out the players for this and that. In front of me, there were some really enthusiastic people with flags who knew all the cheers. In particular, there was a drunk dude (who sounded American) and he was kind of obnoxious. His poor Korean friend kept trying to rein him in, but it was a losing battle. He and another one of his friends (who also sounded American) ended up taking their shirts off in the later part of the game and a lot of people were looking at them really awkwardly. The Koreans they were with told them to put their shirts back on multiple times, but they kept taking them off again. It wasn't even warm out - why did they think it was at all necessary to cheer half-naked? Somebody please explain. (Actually, don't.)
This was actually the first professional soccer game I've ever attended. I always meant to go to a Crew game back in Columbus, but I never ended up doing it. This would definitely be an awesome thing to do with a group of people...why did I never do this in college? WHY? It would have been fantastic!
So, yeah! Good times were had and I would definitely consider doing this again...minus the bit where I lose my phone.
No comments:
Post a Comment