Recently, popular culture performances are being held at soccer stadiums more frequently. When large-scale concerts are held during the season at K-League stadiums such as Seoul World Cup Stadium, Busan Asiad Main Stadium, and Jeju World Cup Stadium, clubs become anxious. This is because the grass is damaged to the extent that it is difficult to proceed with the game normally due to the stage and audience being installed on the ground. Suwon FC, of which I am the general manager, is no exception. Last July and August, the Suwon World Cup Auxiliary Stadium, the club’s training ground, was used as a concert venue. Since it was impossible to train on the damaged grass, I had to travel two hours every day to an alternative training ground in Paju for about a month.
I remember wandering around looking for a natural grass stadium to train in ahead of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where I played as a player. We went to Jamsil Sports Complex, which was newly built at the time, but did not receive permission to use it. The environment was so poor that even the national team, which was about to participate in the World Cup, found it difficult to train on natural grass. Now, 37 years later, soccer infrastructure has developed remarkably, and many players are playing on natural grass all over the country. However, unlike the external growth, it is unfortunate that awareness of the importance of grass still seems to be stagnant.
Grass is a living thing. Once damaged, it takes a considerable amount of time to grow again. To prevent injuries and improve athletic performance, the density and root length of the grass must be precisely adjusted. Repairing only a damaged part of the entire ground actually makes it difficult to manage the entire ground. This is not a problem that can be solved in a short time based on cost alone.
Of course, I understand the reality of the popular culture industry that in a domestic reality where there is no large-scale concert hall that can accommodate tens of thousands of people, soccer stadium performances have to be chosen as an inevitable alternative. Concerts are often held at soccer stadiums overseas. However, in most cases overseas, stadiums were designed for concert use from the time they were first built, and various devices to protect the ground are in place. In the case of Wembley Stadium in England, concerts are held only from June to August, outside of the soccer season, to protect the grass. On the other hand, in Korea, installing a stage and audience seats on the ground a few days before a K-League game without laying down appropriate supplementary materials, or opening it up and even using a huge amount of water to make the audience step on the grass, causes the ground to be completely damaged. It is becoming.온라인카지노
A soccer stadium should basically be a space for soccer. The average audience per professional soccer K-League 1 game this season is about 10,300. In each game, more than 10,000 people feel joy and happiness through soccer. Providing them with more exciting and attractive games is in the public interest. To achieve this, the ground where the game is played must be maintained in the best condition.
In order to minimize the number of concerts held at soccer stadiums, I hope that the government, local governments, the soccer community, and the pop culture community will work together to create a good alternative. There is also a need to build a large-scale concert hall befitting Korea’s status as the home of K-pop. We need to actively utilize stadiums other than the K League home stadium where no games are held. Even if a concert is inevitably held at a soccer stadium, only the bleachers must be used, not the ground. I hope that a plan for the K-League and pop culture to coexist is urgently developed. <Suwon FC General Manager Choi Soon-ho>