from the World Cup 2002? I remember at the time watching the first game versus Italy and seeing the fans all dressed in red and singing and chanting all throughout the game, something I admit we don't do in England anymore. It was very impressive stuff and I would say even beats my beloved Celtic vs Rangers games for atmosphere (but of the noise kind, not the sheer sectarian hate you get there) Anyway, I have a question, werent' the fans told what to sing by the Korean government? Or was it all spontaneous stuff, like it is in England? I recall reading in the paper once that they broadcasted the Korean chants on TV so people would learn the chants. However they did it, thumbs up to the lot of them. Sheer fanatics, just like in Turkey.
You remember correctly, sir. However, they were all volunteers (though some were mobilized by the daihatsu). As I recall, the government wanted to create a good atmosphere for the entire tournament, and thus volunteers were assigned to support all of the different teams at the respective venues. Good thing South Korea doesn't have too many enemies.
there is a non profit organization called the RED DEVILS and they were founded somewhere in 1994~1998. by then we knew we were going to host the games so they started to mobilize and tried to bring the spirit to the commoners. so they made a few chants and songs which is easy to relate to. and some commercials used the WC2002 oppurtunity to cash in on the RED DEVILS(still non profitable and was never paid). for example Korea Telecom used the name KTF which they used as a slogan Korea Team Fighting and showed some of the red devils chants in their commercials. and also the group recieved alot of media attention prior to the 98 games. but nothing was introduced by the government which is taken as pride. all the gatherings and viewing in large numbers were sheer spontaneous enjoyment.