North Korea's silent football matches

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22470430

North Korea's silent football matches

Foreign visitors to North Korea are allowed to attend sports matches alongside their minders. But football in this secretive republic has little in common with the passion and glamour of the Europe's major leagues.

The game was a sell-out, though you would never have guessed it.

As we entered the 50,000-seater Kim Il-Sung Stadium below the watchful eye of the Eternal President and Great Leader, not forgetting his son, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, there was no-one to be seen.

There were no queues, no turnstiles and certainly no hotdog stands or programme sellers.

But once inside it was a different matter. Every seat was taken and row upon row of men sat silently, wearing identical dark suits and red ties, everyone sporting a tiny enamel badge on their left breast.

No, not of Pyongyang FC, but of the Great Leader himself.

The artificial pitch looked immaculate under the spring morning sun. Kick off was at half past nine.

Maybe it was the early start but there were no chants and no flags or scarves in sight, just a quiet murmur around the darkened rows of seats.

(continued, confused it with snooker?)

[pErvinalia]

What a truly bizarre place.

[FBM]

That's the way I watched my first soccer/futbol game. It was the 2004 World Cup and I didn't know the first thing about the game, so I just sat there and studied it.

I was not, however, afraid of getting sent to a gulag for cheering for the wrong team.

[pErvinalia]

This is how they do it in Poland:

[FBM]

There's very little individual cheering over here. It's all organized in advance. If you cheer out of turn, people look at you like you're retarded or something.

[JimC]

They need a huge chorus of "You'll never walk alone"...

[Coito ergo sum]

Good communists. No need for turnstyles or vendors. Those are capitalist running dog oppressor tools....