Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Soccerstar]

So I haven't had any luck getting ahold of anyone in Busan who plays soccer, so today I thought I would travel into the city and see for myself. Hopped on the 127 from Gimhae to the Sports Park just accross the river, but the beautiful pitches were sitting empty. Only one field had a team training on it, and when I hopped on to see if I could train with them their coach came over and asked me (in great English) "What's your problem?" I told him I wanted to find a soccer game to join, but he told me this was the Busan professional team and I would have to leave the field. I kindly asked him where in Busan I might be able to find a couple of soccerplayers to kick the ball with me, and he looked at me as if I had asked for a spaceship to Mars.
He asked me "You want to play soccer TODAY?" I said yes, if there were any other soccer players in the city who wanted some practice. He told me the name of a place I could play and since I was not familiar with it I asked him if I could take the subway. His expression showed he clearly wanted me gone. "No, it's five hours away, near Seoul."

So next I hopped on the subway and headed in to Busan Sports center, figuring that's a logical place to find soccer players. After walking around the World cup/Asian games stadium I found an auxiliary field, but only runners jogging around it. I was going to do some kicking around on the field by myself, but I was told it wasn't allowed. When I asked where I could find other soccer players I just got more astonished looks that I would be practicing on a weekday, and I was clearly told that Koreans don't play on weekdays.

After wandering through neighbourhoods and climbing various mountains to look around I finally dispaired of achiving my goal and returned home. My posts on Pusan web asking for advice have resulted only in a non-existent DMZ webpage and a DMZ e-mail address that gets no response.
My posts on Daves turned up an e-mail and phone number of someone in Seoul who didn't have the Busan contacts.

It's peculiar that Busan, a city of nearly 4 million, has no pick-up games or international soccer team to join. In all my travels around the world this is the first city in which one cannot easily find a soccer team. Here is a list of cities in which I have found it easy to join teams or pick-up games.

Ippy, Central African Republic (where I spent ten years of my childhood)
Bangui, Central African Republic
Gao, Mali
Choma, Zambia
Tchipo, Togo
Tel Quatzir, Israel
Paris, France
Marsaille, France
Vienna, Austria
Ostrov, Czech Republic
Wurseburg, Germany
Hanoi, Vietnam
Hue, Vietnam
Koh Kong, Cambodia
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Des Moins, Iowa
Akron, Ohio
Lexington, Nebraska
Drumheller, Alberta
Calgary, Alberta

Of these cities, I believe only Paris may be larger than Busan, which goes to show how far behind in soccer Korea's young people must be behind young people in other countries who usually play every day.

If you have any friends who might know someone who plays soccer in Busan, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it.
I've got a dream job, I just want to play my dream sport with some tough competition.

[The evil penguin]

G'day...

I dunno if the situation has changed, but when i lived in jinju (just a skip away from busan) a few years ago there was a local soccer team with a number of waeguks in it...

I'm pretty sure (not positive- too much cruising the countryside and not enough socialising) but i think they played a busan team on a regular basis...


It has been a couple of years... maybe things have changed..

could be worth getting on a bus to jinju and asking around however....

[Soccerstar]

Thanks TEP, after considerable searching and posting on as many forums as I could find I was finally put in touch with a Busan team and have joined them. It seems soccer in that city has fallen into considerable disarray, but hopefully this fall we can build it up again.

[darkhorse_NZ]