World Cup Diary

South Korean venues were spectacular -- for the most part.

By Andy Mead
Special to SoccerTimes

SEOUL, South Korea (Monday, June 24, 2002) -- I made it to the Spain-South Korea game in Gwangju.

I bought a "FA of the PR of China" named ticket outside the stadium. Once inside I discovered someone in my seat with an identical ticket. No bother, I just sat on the steps with about 10 other folks, near the seat. Actually, we stood for most of the match. As far as the ticket, it would be interesting to know how the ticket was duplicated. Whether one of the two was stolen, or the Chinese FA was just trying to make some extra cash, I do not think I'll ever know.

One good thing about getting into the game was that it meant that I saw at least one match in each of the 10 South Korean World Cup stadiums. Here's my review.

General Comments. Outside, and even inside, most of the venues are spectacular to look at. For the most part, the sight lines are very good. I've touched on some of the problems before, but let me recap.

Scoreboards. If you were sitting in the wrong end of about half of the stadiums, you might not have any idea what the game clock says, or even what the score might be. Besides the big video screens in each end of the stadia, there are no additional displays anywhere. While there are ample wheelchair seats at the top of the lower bowls, the stadiums themselves are just as handicapped inaccessible as the rest of the country.

Only a couple of the parks seemed to have built-in concession or merchandise facilities. For brand new facilities, the crowd flow on the concourses was atrocious. I also wonder about the size. These stadiums are way too big. It is sort of a Stade de France times 10 situation. I really hope that they get used, considering they cost $150-200 million per, and they have each been used only three or four times.

Seoul World Cup Stadium. This one is a monster. In fact, it is too big. The distance from the crowd to the field really eliminates any intimacy. The roof, however, is fantastic. Of the four parks equipped with tracks, this is probably the best one.

Being in Seoul, the city should be able to get plenty of use out of it. I have read some reports here that still question why the Olympic Stadium wasn't fixed up and used instead. I went to the opener here, and I hope to get tickets to tomorrow's South Korea\Germany semifinal It is a stone's throw from the Seoul subway system.

Incheon Munhak Sports Complex. This one is also on the Seoul\Incheon\Suwon subway system, but it is a pretty good ride. It is not as small as the soccer specific stadiums, yet not as large as the four stadiums with the big tracks. This is definitely one of my favorites. I saw Turkey\Costa Rica and France\Denmark here. It is right next to a gorgeous baseball park. At night, they light up both stadiums with an eerie green glow.

Suwon World Cup Stadium. The U.S. defeated Portugal here and the three first-round games featured 18 goals. What's not to like? This is a fantastic facility. One might wonder just how much the roof cost, especially considering the one side has wings that extend well beyond the stadium, covering nothing of importance, but I like it.

Another really nice thing is that the field is in Suwon, easily accessible by bus or cab. Besides the historic U.S. victory, I caught the Brazil\Costa Rica thriller, and the Ireland\Spain elimination game here.

Busan Asiad Main Stadium. The worst. I don't call it the worst just because my view was obstructed by the as-yet unused Asian Games cauldron and flag poles. The stadium just was not designed for soccer viewing. It is an Olympic-style stadium. Busan is South Korea's second largest city and it will be the host for this fall's Asian Games. The stadium is situated in a compact area with a baseball stadium, a natatorium and several other sports facilities. The games I saw here were Paraguay\South Africa and the dreadful France\Uruguay affair.

Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium. Ulsan, the "Soccer Mecca" of South Korea, is a nice small seaside town that is home to the Hyundai Hirogis (Tigers) of the K-League. The team is said to have the most dedicated fans in the country. Hopefully there are about 40,000 of them.

The stadium is a wonderful soccer-specific facility. stadium. The main design problems involve concourses in front of the front row of seats in the upper deck and railing that obstructs the view of the field from what are otherwise very good seats. I did get the feeling that the stadium could have been built on the cheap. I really hope that it doesn't start falling apart. I really do like this field and I wish that Major League Soccer dad 10 25,000 seat versions of it.

I caught all three games held in Ulsan -- Uruguay\Denmark, the controversial Brazil\Turkey match, and the U.S.'s last hurrah against Germany.

Daegu World Cup Stadium. Another stadium that is just too big. If South Korea had played the Americans in one of the smaller stadiums, the crowd intensity might have changed the tie into a Korean victory. A beautiful facility, it is nonetheless not a soccer stadium. The 2003 University Games are coming to Daegu, the nation’s third largest city. The roof really holds the sound in well. South Africa\Slovenia and U.S.\South Korea account for my two stops in Daegu.

Daejeon World Cup Stadium. One of the best. Like Munsu Stadium, the seats are packed up on the pitch. The best atmosphere of any game I saw was the South Korea\Italy game. If the Koreans played all of their games here, they might never lose.

The biggest problem is getting to and from the stadium. It seems to take forever. At night, the stadium is bathed in a very interesting purple glow. Daejeon and Ulsan Munsu are my two favorites. I caught all three games held here. Aside from the Italian swan song, I saw the Americans celebrate their 3-1 loss to Poland, as well as Spain\South Africa.

Jeonju World Cup Stadium. Heading south from Seodaejon Train Station, the first stadium is in Jeonju. For me, it is the most non-descript of the soccer-specific fields. A very well designed, and attractive, stadium, it happens to be very far out of town. This is odd, as Jeonju seemed to be the smallest of the nine mainland cities.

I may be wrong, but I got the impression that Jeonju was a basically a college town. I like the stadium, but I am not sure how much use it will get. It also had a built in cauldron (very stylish, I must admit), but I have no idea what for. My two trips to Jeonju were for Spain\Paraguay and the U.S. sinking Mexico.

Gwangju World Cup Stadium. This was a real hit and run. The stadium has, for me, the most remarkable of the roofs. Steven Goff, of The Washington Post, (who graciously let me share his cab), referred to the St. Louis Arch. That's a fair comparison. Of course there are two arches, one over each side. The big drawback, for me, was the fact that this was not a soccer-specific field. The room left for a track around the field really cut down on the atmosphere compared to the Italy\South Korea game in Daejeon.

I did not catch the winning penalty kick as I took off running for the taxi stand as soon as Spain missed its fourth penalty try. The crowd roar as I hit the gate told me all I needed to know about the game.

Jeju World Cup Stadium. Yikes. The albatross of the World Cup. This stadium will crumble and decay and end up being worse than Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Countless folks have told me just how beautiful the place is. Maybe, but I can't block out just how exposed three-quarters of the stands are. I saw an afternoon game there (Germany\Paraguay), so I can verify that the roof was not placed to block the setting sun from the far stand.

It is possibly the most striking of the 10 South Korea venues, but I certainly wouldn't want my team playing in it. Speaking of which, the stadium is useless. Seogwipo can not support a 40,000-seat stadium. It has been used four times and was only filled for the U.S.\South Korea stadium opener last December. The only reasonable way to get to and from a game there is to fly into Jeju airport. It takes an hour by bus or cab to the stadium. The island apparently didn't have enough buses to handle the 27,000 that saw the game I was at. I really wonder what they would do with another 13,000 fans.

Final thoughts. I suppose construction of a lot of these stadiums can be chalked up to foolish pride. The original bid intended for 64 games in to be split amongst the 10. Why world governing body FIFA did not force Japan and South Korea to reduce their city lists from 10 to six or so each once co-hosting was forced upon them, I will never understand.

Considering the economic situation in Asia over the last six years, the construction of these stadia must have been a drag on the economy. While construction jobs have been available, the billions spent might have been best utilized elsewhere. With the exception of a few of the fields, I really wonder what the future holds in store. I hope they get used, but I have a hard time seeing where the crowds are going to come from.

I hate to sound so negative. The stadiums were wonderful. I enjoyed my experience at all 20 games. For the World Cup, they were marvelous facilities. While I may have my doubts for the future, they all fulfilled their designed tasks well. Only when watching a game in Busan might I have preferred to have seen it on TV instead of in person, but then the stadium was not, despite its name, built for the World Cup.

Last chance for questions. E-mail me at footy@ibiblio.org. I’ll try to answer the questions.

Andy Mead is editor of the Emerald City Gazette. Subscription information can be found at http://www.mindspring.com/~andymead/ecg/.