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© 2011 AFPJapan fans warned to tone down cheering for N Korea clash
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© 2011 AFP
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timeon
No, North Korea zealots should be sternly warned by FIFA that if any "unforeseen events" will affect the fans who are simply cheering their team, the NK team should be banned from any international events from the future, at least on their home ground. if they can't guarantee the safety of the game and the well being of the supporters, they can't belong to the international circuit
ratpack
Why is this game being played in North Korea? With all the 'careful where you step and careful what you say' crap everyone has to go through why don't they just play this in another country where at least you can cheer and wave your teams flags instead of being quiet and hiding your flags.
paulinusa
So what are the consequences if a Japanese fan is cheering enthusiastically? Expulsion? Firing squad?
naruhodo1
Why would anyone even go there is beyond me!! How many innocent foreigners had been held captive so far?!
BurakuminDes
PS - I hope the Japanese fans realise that being foreigners on a tour of Pyongyang, they must - as a requirement of their visit - be taken to the Kim il Sung shrine and pay their respects to the Great Leader! How embarrassing that would be - I for one would refuse to do this so I just would not travel there.
BurakuminDes
Actually, it is the Japanese side who are putting restraint on cheering and barracking too hard, not the North Koreans. Wise move IMO. If the Blue Samurai Ultras start chanting about certain historical events, taunting the home fans etc (it only takes one moron and we all know soccer fans are no strangers to idiocy), there may well be an incident.
Be prepared for this when ANY men's team plays soccer anywhere in the world! Also be prepared for broken fingernails, tears and tantrums!
WilliB
What kind of trouble? Japan now has to show deference to Kim Yon Il? Come again?
nandakandamanda
Duh, so what I watched last night was September's match??? Nuts! Hahaha....
BurakuminDes
@ tmarie - I think most of them are well-behaved fans and would do what they were told by the Japanese travel agency and their ever-present North Korean guides (which are compulsory too which sucks). However, it would just take one fool to start something. I actually think it is a wise and expected move that MOFA and the travel agency reads these 60-70 odd fans the riot act. They are going to a country with a regime that hates their own people - let alone the Japanese - and resembles a tyrannical, totalitarian monarchy. I'd imagine the list of things they cannot do there ie communicate in any way with locals, take unauthorised photos, eat at non foreigner-approved restaurants etc is as long as your arm. Gotta play by that evil Kim nutjobs rules if they wanna go!
Anyway - hope it's a decent game with a bit of "feeling" from both sides to spice things up for us viewers!
Serrano
I wonder how many of the Japanese soccer fans who go to North Korea to watch the soccer game will be abducted.
BurakuminDes
At least they don't ban all women spectators like that awful Saudi Arabia joint!
Piglet
@paulinusa
Recently, an american guy was put on labor camp for 2 weeks before being expelled because he made a joke about Kim Jong Il and was overheard.
tmarie
So is Japan now allowed to put restraints on Koreans who cheers for North or South Korean games played in Japan? If crazy Kim can't handle the cheering for Japan, he shouldn't be allowed to host the game. Poor sportsmanship. Be prepared to see dives, shirt grabs and desperation from the Koreans.
tmarie
Bura, do you honestly think any fans spending that kind of cash would behave badly? I don't. So, will Korea ban fans from chanting and cheering for North or South Korea in future games? Doubt it. This is juts silly. Kim is a crybaby but I doubt he would throw a fit over some fans.
Then again...
WilliB
Oh, I misread. They actually play in NK? Well, yes, very good advice to keep a low profile and shut up then. A different question is why would anybody want to go there?
CrazyJoe
The game will be held on Nov. 15th. TBS will carry it live from 3:50PM.
nandakandamanda
NK is putting their foot down and only allowing in 10 J journalists to cover the event, despite a repeated request to allow 50 in.
luilui
Don't go! Don't go!
Cricky
Why, why why...it's trouble waiting to happen? Send a 4th string side give them nothing to crow about If they the N-Koreans do not win we will be told they were hit by lightening If they win it's because a fat bastard deemed it so. Pathetic, please remember "it's a game"
noriyosan73
As long as there is no physical violence, make all the noise possible. FREEDOM OF SPEECH and EXPRESSION is what the NK's need to experience. By the way, does anyone know how the NK fans expressed their team support when the NK team fans traveled? That may be the dumbest question asked since if the NK fans traveled, they were "selected" for their support.
surge79uwf
@ratpack "Why is this game played in North Korea?"
There is such a thing as "home and away" in sports. This is a crucial World Cup qualification match (that's why the World Cup isn't every year!) and even though we all know NK is a hell hole, other teams need to play them in order to advance. Only if the country's a total failure with NO order (Haiti, Afghanistan, Palestine) is the venue changed.
What the Japanese should do is COUNT the fans, journalists, et al before boarding the plane/bus back to China.
surge79uwf
@Elbuda Mexicano
If there are red cards for Japan the North Koreans will cheer. If there are reds for North Korea they will riot. They did it before when they were playing Iran, who is supposedly their ally, and with a Syrian ref (also their ally).
Fadamor
Based on their past tendencies, Pyongyang would probably arrest enthusiastic supporters for "insurrection" or "sedition".
(Please turn off sarcasm meters at this time to prevent damage due to sarcasm overload.)
After all, how could people who don't live in the utopia that is North Korea POSSIBLY be enthusiastic about anything?! To imply otherwise is to incite rebellion in that happy little piece of Shangra-La.
(You may now restore your sarcasm meters to normal operation.)
YuriOtani
Japan should just forfeit, winning might be considered "insurrection" or "sedition".
tmarie
Why they are even allowed to have the game is beyond me. FIFA should ban games there until they are free with whom buys the tickets and who can go. I don't think other countries have bans on spectators unless they are known hooligans.
Gaijintoday
Cheering or no cheering they must annihilate the enemy.
surge79uwf
What would you guys rather have, Japan going to North Korea or North Korea going to Brazil?!!!!
LH10
go japan!!! always cheering for ya <3
Nessie
When's the game? Televised?
Elbuda Mexicano
All we can do is chant that Japan beats them at their own game!! I hope no red cards for Japan, but if I know those North Koreans, they will do anything to save their honor and want to go all the way no matter what to win against their arch rivals, the Japanese.
nath
Hey, I just checked something out. That stadium's capacity is 50,000, and yet NK allotted 150 seats for Japanese fans? Crazy, no? Granted, you might say that not many Japanese would want to go anyway. But those 150 are going to be surrounded by a sea of tens of thousands of angry, aggressive North Koreans. No thanks.
nandakandamanda
Watched this last night. Splendid stadium. The Japanese fans cheered their hearts out and there seemed to be a good atmosphere, despite the stadium sound system broadcasting all the interviews in Japanese or Italian.
One NK player was given a red card but I thought it was way too harsh as the two players came together legs to legs and someone's leg had to go higher than the other's.
NK goalkeepr defended brilliantly against so many J shots on goal.
some14some
creating unfounded fear but this may provide a "good" excuse in case Japan loses against NK.