Korean Job Discussion Forums

[charlieDD]

Spent the last week of the World Cup in Thailand and found the people there truly love football. Without their own team in it, you'd excuse them for not having an interest. But, instead, the whole country was hyped about it. It was constantly on the news, in the papers, etc. and they even packed stadiums for live broadcasts of the quarter finals and finals. Competing supporters of Italy and France hired top monks to pray - a national news story. Opposing fans climbed atop some famous monument to sit opposite each other meditating for three days for their favorite team's success. In Bangkok, the area I was staying in, the lights in houses and apartments were on all night of the final and the roar of cheers and jeers filled the night air. The very next day, Coca Cola rolled out a special can with the Italy France final score on it.

Coming back to Seoul, I couldn't but notice the difference. Here, it has been all about the Korean team. People seem to have lost interest as soon as the Korean team was no longer in play. All posters and even the cola cans focused on one thing: the Korean team.

My colleague teaches in Saudi. I emailed him to find out how it was there, with Saudi having a team in the World Cup. Did people follow only the Saudi team? Nope. In fact, there are more fans of the European teams in Saudi than there are of Saudi fans, he says. They have Manchester United shops in the malls there!

I really wish they had taken a different approach in Korea and made it more an international thing, not a national thing. It would have gone some way toward that "globalization" goal the government speaks of.