By John Redmond
Thousands of foreigners throughout Korea flocked to the World Cup Stadium, west of Seoul, to be a part of a special expat festival, Saturday.
Named “The Second Annual Expat’s Festival,” the day was a celebration of Korean pop culture together with a football match between K-League teams FC Seoul and Daejeon Citizen.
The event began on a beautiful sunny afternoon at 2 p.m. with the stadium grounds resembling a street party.
With a large selection of market stalls, restaurants and official club merchandise outlets, many spent the time browsing the goods on sale and catching up with friends.
For those entering the stadium there was a special “foreign only” ticket booth (set up for the day only) that enabled patrons to enter the ground for a special price of 10,000 won that also included a free beer and hot dog.
Once inside the 66,806 seat venue, the some 10,000 foreigners, along with twice that number of local supporters, were treated to B Boy performances, cheerleader shows, a pop concert and DJs. Other highlights were tattoo airbrush and body painting and football skill demonstrations (performed as dance routines to beats put down by DJs).
For others it was just another day to cheer on their favorite team. And there were plenty there for that.
FC Seoul has gained a strong following among the expat community and those passing through Korea in need of a serious football fix. Many at the game enjoyed watching their heroes play.
“I’ve been a supporter of this team for ages. Always a good game,” said Nobber Ska, a football fan commenting on the match.
For many foreigners, Korean football matches are unique in terms of crowd discipline (special times allocated for vuvuzela playing), fans cheering on their team (orchestrated and choreographed routines) and celebrating goals (fireworks), of which the latter would never occur at a British stadium.
As for the match it was a fairly one-sided affair with FC Seoul opening the scoring less than five minutes after kick-off. The home team went on to win 4 – 1 but not without a few close calls, leading to a highly entertaining evening of stellar Korean football.