“The thing about football - the important thing about football - is that it is not just about football.”
British author Terry Pratchett was right about “the beautiful game” when he wrote those lines in his Discworld novel “Unseen Academicals”. And some are taking it too far.
While Germany is licking its wounds over its penalty shootout failure and some Dutch fans are facing police investigation for racially abusing their players who missed their spot kicks, the reactions to South Korea’s exit threatens to bring the culture of football into further disrepute.
In case you haven’t been keeping track of every team exiting the World Cup, South Korea crashed out after the group stage. Their campaign started with a promising 2-1 win against the Czech Republic but then spiraled downwards when they lost 1-0 to Mexico and couldn’t beat South Africa (1-0) to qualify for the knockout stage.
"I am genuinely very sorry," said former footballer and head coach Hong Myung-bo on Sunday, before resigning as coach of South Korea. "Even though I am leaving the national team, I am not abandoning Korean football altogether. I will cheer for the national team from the bottom of my heart and hope that the team will be trusted and loved by the people once again."
