Star Player Ahn’s Reaction and Unruly Fans

“I feel sorry for what I did. But fans should behave better as well.”

Ahn Jung-hwan made an official apology for his wild conduct against FC Seoul fans during a minor league match held on Monday. The fans called him names, and Ahn, in response, charged toward the swearing individuals. The K-League office fined Ahn $10,000.

Appearing before a disciplinary hearing yesterday, which took place at the Football Center in Seoul, Ahn apologized. “I feel really sorry for my reaction. I should have behaved better. But Korean fans should behave better. I am a pro player, but I am a human being as well,” continued Ahn. Then, Ahn left the hearing room, saying, “I have no further comments.”

Right after the kickoff of the game at issue, several FC Seoul fans, including a couple of female fans, started cursing Ahn. They kept ridiculing Ahn, saying, for example, “Wow, talk about a World Cup star! You do not deserve your salary!” Irritated by the heckling, Ahn jumped into the stands and charged toward them. The video of the scene revealed that one of the female fans went to extremes. However it was not confirmed whether they really called Ahn’s wife ugly names. Previously, Ahn just told the committee that their remarks crossed the line.

The committee later explained, “Ahn did something wrong. He also breached the decency obligation imposed on K-League players.” Then, the committee rendered the record high fine of $10,000. The committee did not suspend Ahn, since he did not do anything else other than jumping into the stands.

The committee chairman Nam added, “In addition to the fines, we instructed the Suwon Club to post an apology on its homepage.”

As to the unruly fans, the committee kept silent. It just said, “We understand they did not act appropriately. We will do our best to make sure that this thing does not happen again.”

yjongk@donga.com