The displacement of sport: media spectacles of street support in the 2002 World Cup

Abstract

For South Korea, the 2002 World Cup came to be largely defined by the ‘street supporters’ – millions of Koreans who took to the streets to support their team and celebrate its achievements. Proclaimed as a cathartic experience that would revitalize Korean society and mentality, such interpretations obscured the actual operation of street support as primarily a scheme of media consumption. This article examines the Korean media's coverage of street support, and their production of the practice as a commoditized spectacle. The media used this coverage to develop a pervasive rhythm of media consumption, wherein the relationship between sport and nationalism was leveraged for a generalized and carnivalesque spectacle. This treatment of street support was a particularly explicit indicator of a more general trend, wherein the practice of sport spectatorship is increasingly displaced by the practice of general media consumption with regard to sport.

Notes

¹ See Seoul Metropolitan Council, 1509irŭi taejangjo˘ng [The long journey of 1509 days]: A report on the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan in Seoul, 369.

² See Chu, Redŭ sindŭrom kwa Hidingk'ŭ sinhwa [The Red Syndrome and the Legend of Hiddink], 182. For instance, official installations for street support were largely ignored both by the media and public; similarly, the official World Cup mascot and song, ‘Atmo’ and ‘Boom’, were abandoned in favour of street supporters’ t'aegukki fashion and ‘o- p'ilsŭng K'oria’, a theme song for an advertisement.

³ This was perhaps one key difference between the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 World Cup; the government remained significant, but less as a top-down producer of discourse and more as a provider of resources and infrastructure. See Chung, ‘Government Involvement in Football in Korea’, 118–9, 123; Larson and Park, Global Television and the Politics of the Seoul Olympics, 152.

⁴ Schirato, ‘From Connoisseur to Laymen’, 5. Also see Schirato, ‘Fantasy Sport and Media Interactivity’, 78.

⁵ Schirato, ‘From Connoisseur to Laymen’, 5. Also see Schirato, ‘Fantasy Sport and Media Interactivity’, 6. Also see Schirato, Understanding Sport Culture, 108.

⁶ Dayan and Katz, Media Events, 7–8, 79; Roche, Mega-events and Modernity, 12, 164.

⁷ See Boyle and Haynes, Power Play, 143, 145; Wilson, ‘Leisure and Nationalism’, 136–7.

⁸ Roche, Mega-events and Modernity, 180, 182.

⁹ Kang, Chukku nŭn Han'guk ida [Korea is Soccer], 247.

¹⁰ Debord, Society of the Spectacle, 35–7, 46; Debord, Comments on Society of Spectacle, 9.

¹¹ See Whannel, Fields in Vision, 20.

¹² Whannel, Media Sport Stars, 206.

¹³ Crawford, Consuming Sport, 85–6; Horne, Sport in Consumer Culture, 58. Horne describes how the production and legitimization of sport as consumable spectacle are conflated in practice: that is, sports journalism is oriented around maintaining ‘the illusion that the result of a game matters’.

¹⁴ Newspaper articles were sourced from Chosun Ilbo and Donga Ilbo, two of the country's largest and most influential newspapers, while the broadcast programmes include a significant portion of relevant programmes aired by KBS and MBC, two of Korea's main television channels. All texts were published between 9 May and 15 July 2002.

¹⁵ See Bourdieu, ‘Language and Symbolic Power’, 485–6; Fairclough, Language and Power, 19, 24–5; Foucault, Will to Knowledge, 101.

¹⁶ Foucault, Power/Knowledge, 119, 131, 133; Foucault, Society Must be Defended, 24–5.

¹⁷ Yi, Red Devil and Worldcup, 5–7, 11–13.

¹⁸ Yi, Red Devil and Worldcup, 25.

¹⁹ Ch'ulbal 2002 wo˘ldŭk'o˘p – 12po˘ntchae taep'yoso˘nsu pulgŭnangma [Start! World Cup 2002 – The ‘12th Player’, the Red Devils], KBS WORLD, KBS 1TV January 11, 2002.

²⁰ See van Dijk, News Analysis, 13–14.

²¹ ‘Wo˘ldŭk'o˘p ŭngwone “mich'in’ yo˘rhyo˘llamnyo˘”’ [Fanatical about cheering for the World Cup], Chosun Ilbo, May 17, 2002.

²² MBC sŭpesho˘l – pulgŭnangma, hanbandorŭl ch'ukcheŭi jangŭro [MBC special – The Red Devils, and Korea a land of festival], MBC Tv, July 21, 2002.

²³ MBC sŭpesho˘l – pulgŭnangma, hanbandorŭl ch'ukcheŭi jangŭro [MBC special – The Red Devils, and Korea a land of festival], MBC Tv, July 21, 2002, 2.

²⁴ Bourdieu, Sport and Social Class, 364–5.

²⁵ Whang, ‘Korea and Japan 2002: Public Space and Popular Celebration’, 221–2. Whang notes that the same move did not occur in the Japanese media, which continued to depict overexcited supporters as ‘deviants’. Combined with tighter policing of street supporters, this prevented street support from growing into a national phenomenon as it did in Korea.

²⁶ ‘Han'guk- p'olandŭjo˘n: 6wo˘l 4il sinhwarŭl mandŭrutda’ [Korea vs Poland: On the 4th of June, we created a legend], Donga Ilbo, June 5, 2002.

²⁷ Examples of this pattern include: ‘4700mani kamgyo˘k… kwanghwamun dŭng sushipman inpa ‘hŭngbunŭi togani’ [The joy of 4.7 million… hundreds of thousands at kwanghwamun and other locations, a ‘cauldron of excitement’], Chosun Ilbo, June 5, 2002; ‘Mungch'yo˘tda igyo˘tda “tae-hanmin'guk”’ [We were one, we were victorious, ‘tae-han-min-guk’], Donga Ilbo, June 23, 2002.

²⁸ Bell, Language of News Media, 163, 172.

²⁹ Aju tŭkpyo˘l han ach'im [A very special breakfast], MBC Tv, June 28, 2002.

³⁰ Bourdieu, Sport and Social Class, 364.

³¹ Korea's three major broadcasters, for instance, voluntarily used their resources to actively promote Korea for both foreign and domestic audiences. This included KBS's voluntary production and distribution of promotional material and MBC's specially created production team for internally targeted, televised promos of Korea. See Ha, Hanil World Cup Bangsong, 63–4. The newspapers were also remarkably uniform in their celebratory and positive coverage – something unusual in a nation where the political biases of each paper are explicitly declared. See Kang, Chukku nŭn Han'guk ida [Korea is Soccer], 247.

³² Ha, Hanil World Cup Bangsong, 75, 89, 90.

³³ Yi, Red Devil and Worldcup, 148.

³⁴ See ‘Wo˘ldŭk'o˘p sindŭrom yo˘lp'ung… pulgŭnangma sho˘ch'ŭ upso˘so˘ motp'ara’ [‘World Cup Syndrome’ takes the country by storm… Red Devils shirts sold out], Donga Ilbo, May 30, 2002.

³⁵ Aju tŭkpyo˘l han ach'im [A very special breakfast], MBC, Tv, June 28, 2002.

³⁶ Aju tŭkpyo˘l han ach'im [A very special breakfast], MBC, Tv, June 28, 2002

³⁷ Seksyo˘n TV yo˘nyet'ongsin [Section TV Celebrity Correspondence], MBC, Tv, June 19, 2002.

³⁸ Seksyo˘n TV yo˘nyet'ongsin [Section TV Celebrity Correspondence], MBC, Tv, June 19, 2002

³⁹ See A report on the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan in Seoul, 369; Joo, Red syndromegwa Hiddink shinhwa [The Red Syndrome and the Legend of Hiddink], 175.

⁴⁰ Appadurai, Social Life of Things, 13.

⁴¹ Appadurai, Social Life of Things, 14–15.

⁴² See Dayan and Katz, Media Events, 89, 103–4; Roche, Mega-events and Modernity, 7. Mega-events and media events themselves are such removed fields, discursively set apart from ‘everyday life’.

⁴³ See Hetherington, Capitalism's Eye, 11, 23.

⁴⁴ This rhythm can be understood as a microcosm of a larger structure of sport competitions and schedules, as identified by Whannel, Fields in Vision, 15–17.

⁴⁵ See Brookes, Representing Sport, 91, 95; Smart, Sport Star, 192–3.

⁴⁶ ‘Inch'o˘n sinhwa mandŭnda’ hangukchukku p'orŭt'ugalgwa unmyo˘ngŭi taegyo˘l’ [Making the myth of Incheon: Korean Football's fateful clash against Portugal], Donga Ilbo, June 14, 2002.

⁴⁷ ‘Han-p'olandŭjo˘n D-1 p'yojo˘ng’ [Korea-Poland D-1], Donga Ilbo, June 4, 2002.

⁴⁸ ‘Wo˘ldŭk'o˘ p 2002, urinŭn haenaetda’ [World Cup 2002, we have done it], Chosun Ilbo, June 5, 2002.

⁴⁹ ‘Igyutda, t'ae∼hanmin'guk!’ [We've done it, Republic of Korea!], Donga Ilbo, June 5, 2002.

⁵⁰ ‘Nampyo˘ni jun saeng'ae ch'oegoŭi so˘nmul [The best gift my husband gave me all my life], Chosun Ilbo, June 5, 2002.

⁵¹ ‘Hwang so˘n-hong ‘pungdaet'uhon’… mimunjo˘n nubyo˘’ [Hwang Sun-Hong's wounded heroics… probing the American goal], Chosun Ilbo, June 11, 2002.

⁵² Kellner, Media Spectacle, 1.

⁵³ Zizek, Plague of Fantasies, 130.

⁵⁴ Zizek, Plague of Fantasies, 136–7. This dynamic is replicated in the ‘sporting ethos’ itself. See Schirato, Understanding Sport Culture, 135.

⁵⁵ See Butler, Psychic Life of Power, 7–9.

⁵⁶ See Lee and Cho, ‘Performing Nation-ness in South Korea’, 12.

⁵⁷ Yi, Red Devil and Worldcup, 53, 146.

⁵⁸ Yi, Red Devil and Worldcup, 53.

⁵⁹ ‘Sŭpochŭ mak'et'in sarye yo˘ngu – KTFwa SKTŭi wo˘ldŭko˘p mak'et'ingŭl jungsimŭro’ [‘Sports Marketing Study – KTF and SKT's World Cup Marketing’]. DC Korea, http://dckorea.co.kr/tt/171 (accessed June 22 2010). This dynamic is replicated in the ‘sporting ethos’ itself. See Schirato, Understanding Sport Culture, 135. This piece is a professional research report produced by the author, DC Korea being his industry blog.

⁶⁰ ‘“Sŭponso˘ ŭngwo˘ndan” pulgunangma, twoejang bak'ŭinŭn dabi upda’ [A ‘Sponsor Supporters’ Group’ – the only solution is to send off the Red Devils]. Pressian, https://member.pressian.com/article/article.asp?article_num = 40100609090032&Section = 08 (accessed September 1 2010)

⁶¹ These ‘educational’ programmes for the Korean public included the ‘Bright Smile’ festivals, which offered free lessons on ‘international manners’. See Choi, ‘ Panoptic Gaze of Globalization’, 24–5.

⁶² See Schirato, ‘Fantasy Sport and Media Interactivity’.