The supporters clean up
June 19, 2006Again, last night, I sat with sweat dripping off my forhead, my heartbeat reaching the excesses of 110, watching South Korea playing against France. With my South Korea football tee on, I was as enthusiastic as the South Korean supporters themselves. I danced around when Park scored the equaliser.
Ever since 2002, I have been a great supporter of South Korea. I liked their fresh play, their inexhaustible team spirit, their unconditional love for their country. It amazed me. After two matches in 2002, I bought the shirt, and I still wear it regurlarly. With pride.
Yesterday was very exciting. 28000 South Koreans were in the stadium, and afterwards, they partied on the squares of the city. They made a huge mess. Guess who cleaned up that mess.
Exactly, those partying supporters themselves. They did that in 2002 too, when the World Cup was (partially) held in South Korea. The supporters clean up their own mess. It amazed me then, and it still amazes me now. Go South Korea!
World | 
It was pretty unfair for the French goal that didn’t count though. The camera showed that this was a real goal.
Comment by Eugenia — June 19, 2006 @ 7:11 pm
Correct, Eugenia, but you’re saying it to the wrong person. Football makes you lose any form of objectivity. With this kind of play, France doesn’t deserve to win. What a big bunch of arrogant and petty superstar players that ‘team’ is. God, it must hurt to be a French football fan at the moment.
Other than that, no offence to JBQ, but we Dutch don’t like the French :).
Comment by Administrator — June 19, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
>but we Dutch don’t like the French :).
Which is pretty stupid, because most Europeans are pretty much the same kind of people and have a very similar culture.
I am kinda ok with an Ugandan saying “I don’t Norwegians”, or with a Mexican saying “I don’t like Japanese”, because in these cases their countries are far apart enough to warrant big differences in culture. But between Europeans (or between most South Americans), it’s pretty stupid to say something like this.
And yes, the same applies for Greeks and Turks. There are more similarities than differences in the cultures of the two peoples.
Comment by Eugenia — June 19, 2006 @ 7:56 pm
The dislike is not silly. It has to do with 2 fundamental issues:
1) France has a very, very restrictive drug policy, and finds the Dutch, more liberal policy (which has been a HUGE success, as the percentage of drug abusers and drug related crimes is much lower than in any country with more restrictive laws) stupid. As such, they have repeatadly tried to force a EU-wide system of drug laws, similar to those of their own– meaning, restrictive and ineffective, which would have killed off our much more succesful policies.
2) France is a major force in the EU, and often abuses its position to get its way, at the dispense of other, smaller nations. One such thing is the fact that EACH month, the ENTIRE EU administration moves from Brussels to Strassbourg, JUST because the French want it. And I, as taxpayer, pay for that, as it costs 200 million Euros PER YEAR. And so there are more of these sorts of things.
Those are two legitimate reasons to not like France.
Comment by Administrator — June 19, 2006 @ 8:07 pm
None of these two issues have something to do with the french people. It has to do with the French Government. And no, “representative democracy” doesn’t necessarily means “democracy”.
Comment by Eugenia — June 19, 2006 @ 8:22 pm
Ah yes, of course I mean the government– my choice of words wasn’t very good, no.
Comment by Administrator — June 19, 2006 @ 8:26 pm
What I don’t like about the South Korea team is how they were (blatantly) helped by the refs, back in 2002, to reach the semis. I hate to see a team, any team, helped on purpose by the refs, even if it’s my team. Takes away all the spirit from the match.
Other than that… GO PORTUGAL! :)
Comment by DaaT — June 19, 2006 @ 9:24 pm
I’m South American (Colombian) and I really HATE argentinians.
This is of course when talking about Football, in real life I have many good argentinian friends.
I guess Tom Feels the same way about the frenchies
Comment by Diego — June 19, 2006 @ 11:59 pm