Last night’s fourth round K-league football match between Incheon United and Daejeon Citizen, things really kicked off when a member of the crowd began to attack the Incheon mascot on the pitch.
Daejeon Citizen were defeated by Incheon United after player Seol Ki-Hyeon scored two goals to Daejeon’s one. The match itself had been a particularly rowdy one, with an article from TVReport stating that nine warnings had been issued to players during the game, leading to quite a lot of tension both on and off the pitch.
One Twitter user reported:
When the match was over the Incheon mascot waved his hand to say ‘Off you go,’ but two Daejeon fans came onto the pitch and started attacking the red crane, Turumi. A Daejeon steward who they had just greeted broke things up and they stopped, but in the meantime the crowd had started fighting amongst themselves.
You can see the crane escape and the fans fight it out in the stands to the dulcet tones of Queen’s “I Was Born To Love You” in these YouTube clips:
Things got to the point where even the police and the ambulance services were deployed to deal with the aftermath. And netizens who saw the violence on the news were not impressed by the images of Turumi taking a kicking, with many questioning exactly why those two fans saw fit to clobber the crane:
Comments from Nate:
mulh:
They may want to fight back but if we all acted that way we’d be in a lawless age. Now the mascot’s taken a beating, those fucking fans, or those Inchon fans who punched the Daejeon fans or whatever will be trembling as they sleep, I’ll bet. They’ll sue’em. They’ll get like hundreds or thousands as compensation –it’d be better if they were never on the football pitch again.
162v:
You can’t justify violence…If we were like you fucking twats would we just shut up? If you can’t say it in words then you can do it with your fists, right? No violence in schools, no violence on the streets, and now no violence even on the football pitch?
prid:
(The mascot) Turumi is a souvenir of nature…! Those bastard Turumi fans…they should be locked up for good!
kimv:
Getting hammered in a stadium…why are they getting all besides themselves and throwing fists? ke ke ke Lock ‘em up!
subb:
Football? When did football start? Is football also a free-for-all? It makes no difference to me…I mean, isn’t it reasonable that there’d be fighting in Korean professional football? Ah, it’s not that fighting’s weird, but it was strange to beat up the mascot…
ykc3:
How about unconditional apology from those Daejeon guys…what the hell were they doing ke ke Even on the Daejeon team, they made Choi Eun Seong out of rubbish…please! ke ke ke Daejeon can’t play soccer for shit, even their mental 멘털 is crap. ke
hara:
Well, I can understand the violence…last year, must have been August, we red devils (fans) got on an expensive airplane and went to see Korea vs Japan at the Sapporo Dome, at that time they beat us 3-0, and on the way out, the ultra guys saw us reds and when they provoked us saying “North Koreans are twats, get back to where you came from” I really thought I wanted to go back into the stadium ㅠㅠ;;; Even if we lost, it’s not fair to do that, you’ve still got to give the bare minimum in manners, right!!! Of course, violence is a bad thing.!! Whether it’s Turumi, or a crane, they wanted to break his legs for sure…
star:
Those Daechon supporters and fans who instigated violence because the mascot waved his hand are really lower than rubbish.
chak:
They should put them away…I’m curious to see whose face it was…
vip_:
Should be different from China ke The level of Korean citizens is really low
choi:
So embarrassing.. Please, if you are adults, behave like adults! Satisfied with fighting like junior high or high school kids…
jung:
You should take this opportunity to remodel the football stadium into a baseball ground.
yoon:
It’s true that the mascot made a big mistake, but I think it’s reasonable to say that being violent is a bigger mistake
ckgm:
You can never justify violence, no matter what the reason
vamp:
This is generally how the citizens of the peninsula think
han6:
The mascot was wrong too…but the fans leaving the stadium were worse.. They couldn’t control their anger so they just lash out…if the mascot is in the wrong, telling the away team who lost the match to go…this too, in the situation at the end of the match, it would have been best if he’d just bowed and told them to have a safe journey, but because he did some gesture..to get pissed off…it’s a bit over the top to do it after the match is over, not even during the match..But those bastards who were violent as they were coming out are the worst.
# mins:
It’s ok to punch him because the mascot provoked them? What kind of football stadium is like the Jongno night markets set up by that pimp Kim Doo Hwan? I think it’s wrong to provoke people but they should complain to the club, right? They did nothing to stop them, should they not get a summary judgement? The assailants should be tried under law and punished.
rnwl:
It’s the 2102 K-league
kdyn:
That’s a typo, it’s not 2102
unfl:
It’s because that fucking crane Turumi was provoking them, he deserved a thumping – Honestly I was really satisfied ke ke ke ke ke they should punch that twat again
