[wyliepoon]

The really good thing about living in Toronto is being able to see and do things from the perspective from different ethnic groups, all in one city. Watching World Cup soccer is no different. In previous threads I've shown how people in Toronto's Portuguese and Italian neighbourhoods watch soccer... now it's time to show how Koreans watch soccer, a whole different experience.

Koreans are arguably some of the most vocal sports fans in the world, for a number of reasons. They seem to do really well in sports: they beat the Canadians in the Olympic speed skating relay in Torino earlier this year, then they were two wins away from winning the inaugural World Baseball Classic, and four years ago they were also two wins away from winning the World Cup. They also have strong cultural identity and cultural pride. These make watching sports with Koreans exciting.

Toronto's Little Korea (or Koreantown) is located on Bloor Street West between Bathurst and Christie streets. Most sccer fans congregate between Manning and Clinton. Even though the final score of Sunday's game between France and Korea was a 1-1 draw, fans still had reason to celebrate: the Koreans were still at the top of their group, and France was heavily penalized.

"Chodae 325" at Bloor and Manning had a big patio facing the street, with two big screen TVs. The seats on the patio were snapped up long before the game started. At the height of the match, half the width of Manning Ave. was filled with people watching the game.

An Omni News cameraman taping the fan reaction on the patio

After the game... fans flocked to Manning and Bloor for a loud after-party. While I was there there were no police officers to shut down Bloor Street, but the fans managed to shut down the street anyway. Drivers that passed through the Korean party regularly honked their car horns four times (the four honks represent the Korean fan chant of "dae han min guk", or Korean Republic).

Fans streaming out of restaurants on Bloor

Jumping on the bandwagon... literally!

Some black fans of the Korean "Red Devils"

*****

Videos (added June 20th)

Korean fans celebrating the tying goal

Fans watching the game on the patio

The tense last few minutes of the match

Postgame celebrations at Bloor and Manning

More postgame celebrations

Some more postgame celebration

 

[Christopher DeWolf]

great photos once again, wylie. it's interesting to see how similarly the games are watched here and in toronto. in both cities people crowd around cafes and bars that have set up TVs outside on the terrace. i wonder if this sort of thing is going on in the rest of canada or if world cup fever is limited to toronto and montreal. there are undoubtedly a lot of fans in vancouver but that city doesn't have nearly as well-developed a public sphere; people stay home for these sorts of things.

 

[Observer Walt]

Good pictures Wylie. Thanks for posting them.

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

I was at Clinton's watching the game. Great atmosphere and many non-Koreans watching the game because frankly koreatown was the best place in the city to watch that match.

 

[wyliepoon]

there are undoubtedly a lot of fans in vancouver but that city doesn't have nearly as well-developed a public sphere; people stay home for these sorts of things.

Perhaps it has something to do with Vancouver's large Asian population. I assume the Koreans in Vancouver celebrate there like they do here in Toronto. Other Asian ethnic groups are much less passionate. Even though Japan is in the World Cup, the Japanese aren't as passionate about their team as the Koreans. The Chinese, including people from Hong Kong, are extremely Cup Crazy (even though China did not make it to the World Cup this year), but we prefer to watch games at home, or in an air-conditioned environment like a restaurant or a mall, not on a patio.

 

[dagger12]

5,000 people also paid $5 each to watch the game at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

 

[Jarrek]

Holy Crap, that's insane.

It would be interesting if Ukraine played South Korea during the round of 16.

 

[Canuck 36]

I was in the checkout line at the Dominion (near Bloor and Spadina) when I saw a huge crowd of Korean fans walking west on Bloor. Knowing there was a huge party at the MTCC now explains that.

 

[ganjavih]

Nothing matches the World Cup... the Olympics got nothin' on it. So nice to live in a city that gets right into it... a reminder that TO is truly a world city.

Footie... the beautiful game.

 

[WhistlerinToronto]

I love the fact it's getting no respect in the U.S. CNN had a panal on last week discussing why that was, and the one guy said " Soccers just a boring game to watch" "We Americans have FootBall and BaseBall"

What a loser.

 

[budboopriest]

^lol, what an ignorant statement. Just because the american team sucks doesn't make FOOTBALL a boring sport. I love how CNN invites loser ignorant fools to all their panels, even if its about sports...

i hope someone knocks off brazil this year...

 

[ganjavih]

Soccer's boring compared to baseball?!?