Football Star Fined for Confronting Fan
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Ahn Jung-hwan, one of the country's most popular football players, was slapped with a 10 million won ($10,700) fine by the K-League for jumping into the seats to confront hecklers at a match in Seoul Monday.
The 31-year-old striker, currently playing for the farm team of Suwon Samsung, got his marching orders in a match against the secondary unit of FC Seoul after he left the pitch near the end of the first half in an angered pursuit of a batch of fans who were calling him names throughout the game.
Ahn, restrained by others in the stands, exchanged some heated words with his criticizers before returning to the field where he was greeted with a red card. Under league rules, Ahn, who publicly apologized for his actions Wednesday, could have faced up to an eight-game suspension.
Ahn's penalty is the heaviest fine ever issued by the K-League to a player.
``The league has made it clear that we would not tolerate Ahn's actions and had to set a standard. We decided against him missing games because he managed to control his actions in the stands and did not do anything excessive,'' said Namkung Yong, who heads the K-League's disciplinary committee.
Ahn became a national hero for his golden goal against Italy in the 2002 World Cup that helped Korea to the semifinals. He also scored the winner in last year's World Cup match against Togo to give Korea its only win of the tournament.
However, Ahn's effectiveness on the pitch has been diminishing sharply over the years, as he failed to net a single regular season goal with Suwon before his recent demotion to the farm team.