Lee Dong Gook Premiership Debut

I was watching soccer this past weekend and happy to say that the Korean sports channels show quite a bit of English Premiership soccer nowadays due to the fact that four Koreans now play there. After Park Ji-Sung went to Manchester United he became something of a hero. It's quite a big deal, you know, having a Korean on one of the best teams in the world. It's hard to fathom, Park Ji-Sung running around with the likes of Van Nistelrooy (since gone), Rooney and Ronaldo. Rub your eyes but there is he is - with significant playing time to boot.

This weekend the Korean sports channel were showing Lee Dong Gook playing for Middlesbrough. During his first game he played maybe ten minutes tops but almost scored a goal. I think he is quite popular with the fans already.

The only thing I found a bit disconcerting was his jersey that had in huge letters, "DONG GOOK" on the back. I'm not sure how this is perceived in the UK but "Dong" refers to, well, you know and "Gook" is exactly how the derogatory word for Asians (particularly Koreans) is spelled. It's a great thing if he is popular and probably these guys are doing more for Korean race relations in the UK than anyone. Let's just pray that Dong Gook doesn't score an own goal in the near future.

-Pat in Seoul