The coronavirus pandemic is a huge challenge for sports leagues around the world. While they can resume sports matches, is it possible to uplift the atmosphere when playing on an empty stadium?
Despite this fact, it seems that there are no clubs that will try to follow what FC Seoul has done.
FC Seoul, a top-flight Korean football club apologized after they were accused by fans of putting sex dolls in the stands.
According to them, the dolls in question were premium mannequins and not sex dolls. However, they admitted that those dolls were acquired from a sex toy maker.
Pornography is strictly banned in South Korea. Yet, some of the said dolls were holding up signs where advertisements for x-rated websites were written.
In an interview with BBC, a news organization, the manufacturer of the dolls said that they already apologized to FC Seoul for the issue that the dolls and the pornography website advertisements caused. Similar to the football club, the doll manufacturer also emphasized that those dolls were nothing but premium mannequins.
What Happened At the Football Match
On May 17, Sunday, FC Seoul had their first home match for this year’s K League season. Since the government implemented lockdown orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, the stadium was empty. This was done in order to prevent any possible COVID-29 contact among audiences.
However, before the football match happened, a company under the name Dalcom offered FC League to fill some of the empty seats in the stadium. To which the club agreed.
But when the match was starting and was aired on television and online, fans noticed something odd. The mannequins, placed in the stands to in order to fill up the empty spaces, looked more like sex dolls. What even bothered the audience more is the fact that some of the dolls were even wearing hairbands. This is where advertisements for porn websites were written.
Social media users complained regarding the look of the dolls as well as the fact that some of them were dressed in the club’s shirt. Several dolls, who were dressed in shirts were holding placards where advertisements for a sex toy seller were written. Some of the dolls also seem to be advertising a famous online streamer who inspired their design.
This issue prompted the club to apologize on its Facebook and Instagram pages. FC Seoul also apologized for the deep concers that the issue caused the viewers. However, they emphasized that the dolls were wrongly delivered due to a mix up with their supplier. They also added that the dolls’ supplier assured them that they were not intended for sexual use.
According to Dalcom, a sex toy manufacturing company that supplied the doll, the advertisements that come with the dolls were from a sex toy company that ordered from them. They added that this sex toy company wanted to take some pictures of the dolls before the football game started.
Cho Young-june, the director of Dalcom told BBC that all the logos and advertisements were supposed to be taken down before the match started. However, they were not able to remove some of the logos and hairbands, causing it to get caught by the eyes of the audience.
Lee Ji-hoon, an official from FC Seoul admitted that they did not do any background check on Dalcom. So, they were not aware that the supplier they are dealing with is working on the sex industry.
In addition, Lee also said that he thought that the dolls looked very human. However, it never entered his mind that those dolls could be sex toys.
The incident prompted the K League to fine FC Seoul with a record 100 million won ($81,000). According to the league, the club deeply humiliated the female fans of football, which damaged the league’s reputation that they took care of for 38 years.
After it reviewed the case, K League’s officials accepted the club’s claim that it was unaware that the dolls were sex toys. Still, the league emphasized that FC Seoul could have easily recognized what the dolls really were using their experience and common sense.
FC Seoul, who was the league champions in 2016, accepted the league’s decision.
The Resume of Football in South Korea
This year’s K League season was set to start in February. But because of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown regulations implemented in the country, the beginning of the football season was delayed.
But since South Korea was successful in combatting the fatal virus, the football league was able to resume earlier than almost everywhere else.
The 2020 K League season began on May 8. And because this league started earlier than elsewhere, an increased global attention was directed to it. In fact, BBC even streamed its opening match live. The said opening match was a game between Suwon Bluewings and Jeonbuk Motors.
Since the game had to be done with so much precautionary measures, stands were empty, handshakes were prohibited, and coaches had to wear facemasks.
Before the first match began, an official from K League told both teams that they must refrain from excessive blowing of nose and spitting. Close conversations are also not allowed in order to minimize contact and any possible infection in case there is anyone who has already contacted the virus.
Other Football Leagues Across the World Also Resumed
On May 16, Saturday, the Bundesliga in Germany also resumed its matches. Similar to the football league that happened in South Korea, stands in the Bundesliga league were also empty and fans cannot watch the game physically.
In addition, the Premier League of England was supposed to resume its matches on June 12. However, there is a growing feeling that this resume date has to be rescheduled.
On the other hand, there are also a number of leagues that decided to entirely cancel this year’s season. One of them is France’s Ligue 1.
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