Referee-Abuse Fine Lenient: Experts

Lee Chun-soo (25, Ulsan Hyundai), who was sent off during the football match against Incheon United on October 22 for swearing at the referee, attended the Disciplinary Committee of the Korean Professional Football League. At his attendance, he said, “I was too hung up to the results of the game and thus, lost my self-control. I feel terribly sorry. I promise this would never happen again.”

Besides the ban for two games that came from the red card, he was banned for four games and fined four million won by the committee.

Regarding this decision, many of those in football business claim that the punishment is too soft. A trainer who worked for more than ten years in pros argued, “Given that the players have been growing insolent recently, I feel regretful that this warning is not strong enough. It is now almost natural that once the referees blow their whistle, the players start to protest and insult them. We need to change this soon. Otherwise, professional football, which is already unpopular, might perish.” An official in the Korea Football Association commented in a similar sense that, “it is important that the referees’ call be strict, but it is of equal importance to heavily punish the players’ ungentlemanly conducts in order to prevent further misdeeds.”

However, influenced by a few regretful words by Lee, the League authorities not only mitigated the punishment, but also spoke up for the player. Nam Gung-yong, president of the Disciplinary Committee said, “We took his plea into consideration. It was accounted that the player is feeling regretful for what he has done.”

Another member of the committee added a strange explanation. “Usually, we ban players for two or three games when they are accused of swearing at the referee. Lee is somehow disadvantaged by his fame.” He talked as if insulting the referee was not a big deal.

Nowadays, there are few spectators at pro football games. Six games were held on October 25 including the match between Ulsan and Daejeon (2,433 spectators), and four of them were visited by less than 3,000 people, falling far shorter than the average number of spectators in a professional basketball game, 5,679.

Experts point out that this is a natural result that came out of three elements, namely rude players, teams blind-sighted for wins, and a league that has succumbed to the influence of the teams.

yjongk@donga.com