Incoming nat'l football head coach defends ex-player under fire for YouTube video

All News 14:11 July 11, 2024

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, July 11 (Yonhap) -- Hong Myung-bo, the incoming men's national football team head coach, has come to the defense of a former player under fire for comments made on his recent YouTube video, saying the football community has to be tolerant toward different opinions.

Hong, head coach of the K League 1 club Ulsan HD FC recently named the men's national team boss, shared his thoughts on the situation during a press conference Wednesday night, his first public appearance since the Korea Football Association (KFA) made a surprising announcement of his hiring on Sunday.

Ulsan HD FC head coach Hong Myung-bo stands in front of his club's supporters following a 1-0 loss to Gwangju FC in their K League 1 match at Munsu Football Stadium in the southeastern city of Ulsan on July 10, 2024. (Yonhap)

The KFA has been criticized for hastily poaching Hong from Ulsan midseason after failing to land a foreign-born coach following nearly five months of search. The KFA's National Teams Committee, which is designed to oversee the process, has also been panned for not doing its job.

Former national team midfielder Park Joo-ho, who served on the committee, took to YouTube to lash out at the KFA's disregard for proper procedures. In a video uploaded Monday -- with nearly 2.9 million views as of 2 p.m. Thursday -- Park also blasted fellow committee members for their lack of professionalism, while also disclosing potentially sensitive information about the inner workings of the committee.

The KFA has threatened to take legal action against Park for breaching the non-disclosure agreement he had signed when first joining the committee in February.

However, football fans have mostly rallied around Park while hammering Hong for reneging on his earlier assurances that he wasn't going to leave Ulsan for the national team.

For Ulsan's match Wednesday against Gwangju FC at Munsu Football Stadium in the southeastern city of Ulsan, fans hung dozens of banners expressing their admiration for Park's courage and their dismay and anger toward Hong.

A banner likening Ulsan HD FC head coach Hong Myung-bo to Pinocchio (R) is hung in the stands at Munsu Football Stadium in the southeastern city of Ulsan during a K League 1 match between Ulsan HD and Gwangju FC on July 10, 2024. Ulsan supporters are angry that Hong has reneged on an earlier promise not to take the South Korean men's national team head coaching job in the middle of the K League 1 season. Another banner on the left offers support for former national team player Park Joo-ho, under fire for a YouTube video criticizing the Korea Football Association. (Yonhap)

In the postmatch presser, Hong said he watched Park's controversial clip and that he didn't see anything wrong with it.

"Personally, I got the impression that Park used his connections to work really hard for the committee," Hong said, referring to Park's assertions that he had recommended several foreign-born coaches to the committee. "I think he was in a position to say the things he said because he experienced some difficulties within the committee."

Park claimed that some committee members pushed hard for Hong from the get-go without considering international candidates. Park was informed of Hong's appointment while recording this episode, and he said he had no idea Hong would be the coach.

Hong, for his part, didn't appear to take any offense. He insisted different opinions must be heard.

"We have to respect different ideas and thoughts, and we can walk toward the common goal that way," Hong said. "I think Park's words may not sit well with some people. But we have to embrace and tolerate different opinions in order for South Korean football to improve."

Hong coached Park on the national team during his first tour of duty at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, though Park didn't play any match in Brazil.