By John Redmond
Contributing writer
With World Cup fever hitting the peninsula, social gatherings with big screen TVs in public places are a must for watching games featuring South Korea.
However, as in the case of last Saturday’s 3.30 a.m. England versus U.S. match, the choices of large screens with equally large gatherings become significantly reduced.
Experiencing the World Cup back in 2002, all games were played at local time, and due to overwhelming support for the national team, even those unfortunate to be in the office or in a classroom during a South Korean game would soon find themselves rewarded with a much needed break.
Most pubs in the expat neighborhood of Itaewon would screen most games as a means of attracting a surge in foreign nationals to the nation’s capital.
The three main players at the time were Hollywood Bar and Grill, 3 Alley Pub and Seoul Pub. Put simply, back then they were the only big names, apart from Nashville, in town.
During the 2006 World Cup, again, big screens in public places were the order of the day, however, due to the time difference, these were limited to screening games focusing on the Korean outcome.
Even the growing number of pubs around Itaewon would be wary of screening games past midnight not catering for local talent.
What was clear among selected bar owners and clientele was the gap in the viewing habits and choices for foreigners compared to local options.
This led to a surge in satellite subscribers from establishments covering the Itaewon and Haebangchon areas, now proudly offering a greater selection of sport viewing choices for sports fans. Some more specialist than others.
For example, Hollywood Bar and Grill leads the pack in terms of the perennial favorite for soccer fans, regularly screening live English Premier League and UEFA Champions League games, even posting timetables on facebook.
Lately, however, Pub Scrooge and Sam Ryan’s are proving to be strong challengers in the race to bring “The Beautiful Game” to locals both offering games in languages other than Korean.
The Wolfhound Pub also has a long tradition of screening live games, including Gaelic football. The most recent player on the scene is Dillinger’s, situated where Reggae Pub used to be.
For the Korea-Greece game, it was the perfect place to warm up for the matches later in the evening. Seoul Pub offers a big screen TV at the front of the bar and further down the street Dolce Vita will put its open mic session on hold for the Korea-Argentina game.
This looks to be a very interesting World Cup, and now, more so than ever, the options to see the game of choice, in the language of choice has moved forward in leaps and bounds.