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Journalism of Courage
You realise the significance of a tournament when its organisers forget to include two teams in the draw, less than a month from kickoff. Football at the Asian Games, much like at the Olympics, is a glorified under-23 competition. But unlike the Olympics, Asiad football comes mere months after the World Cup. And like an unremarkable dessert after a sumptuous main course, often doesn’t warrant a second take. The upcoming tournament in Jakarta, however, carries some weight and importance outside of the continent. After all, not only will a bona fide star be featuring, but battling steadfastly for gold.
After a rough initiation, South Korea’s Heung-Min Son has established himself as a vital cog in the Tottenham Hotspur machine — racking up the most appearances (100) and the second-most goals (39, along with 21 assists) for the team in the last two seasons — and has already left “idol” Park Ji-Sung behind to become the highest-scoring Asian in the Premier League. Twinkling feet, frenetic pace, clinical finishing, ability to play almost anywhere and a perennial smile make him a livewire on the field. Sponsors chase him, teammates sing his praises and fans serenade him to the tune of Here Comes The Sun. No wonder then that Son called his Tottenham stint a “dream come true” after signing a contract extension till 2023 last month. An Asiad failure, however, may come as a rude awakening.
South Korea is still technically at war, as a 1953 armistice which ended the bloody Korean war has never been converted into a formal peace treaty. The 250-km long Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) across the peninsula is the most heavily fortified border on the planet. As a result, all able-bodied South Korean men are required to spend 21 to 24 months in the military between the ages of 18 and 28.
Military draft looms large for the 26-year-old Son, and the forced career-break will rob him of his footballing prime and the position he has secured in the cut-throat world of professional sports. “It would be an understatement to say that the military service would be a ‘hindrance’ to Son’s career in Europe,” says Goal journalist Steve Han, who admits that “the interest level in the current under-23 crop isn’t great, but the situation surrounding senior players means a lot of people will be following the Asian Games.” “There are fans in Korea who believe that Son has even more room to grow — to a point at which he’d one day play for one of the top, top clubs in Europe,” Han adds.
South Korea’s ambitions to project itself as a soft diplomatic power through athletic achievements means sportsmen get ample shots at exemption. The euphoria following the unexpected run to the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup resulted in the entire squad getting a special deal. It allowed Park to walk free and amass four Premier League and a Champions League title with Manchester United. The government’s special deal for footballers meant that baseball, easily the number one sport in the country, asked for its due when the team reached the 2006 World Baseball Classic semifinals. And once the sluggers got their reprieves, other federations launched protests. As a result, the government decided to award military exemptions only for excelling at multi-sport events; any medal at the Olympics or a gold at the Asian Games.
On paper, even if the win over Germany in Russia had come in the World Cup final, Son — along with fellow over-23 players, goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo and forward Hwang Ui-jo — would have had to compete in Jakarta to save their careers. Next year’s Asian Cup doesn’t help either. In a perfect world, Son would have earned the exemption already, like Newcastle’s Ki Sung-yueng, his opponent in Saturday’s season opener, who only had to complete four weeks of service — “I learned how to shoot, go in a gas room and walk 20km with a gun” — for being part of the bronze-winning team at the 2012 Olympics. Lack of foresight and inconsiderate employers however meant Son kept drawing the short straw.
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Son. Sonny. Sonaldo. If the harmonious bevy of nicknames reminds you of a certain 80s number from a Manmohan Desai classic, know that Son’s career, filled with triumphs, twists and tragedies, would have had the great filmmaker gunning for the Korean’s life rights.
Son dropped out of Seoul’s Dongbuk High School at 16 to join Hamburg SV’s youth academy. In 2012, he was expected to be named in the squad for the London Olympics before the 19-year-old chose to skip the event. “An Olympic appearance has a special meaning, but I want to speed up for Hamburg,” Son said.
As luck would have it, Son’s compatriots beat Asian rivals Japan in the bronze-medal playoff to win South Korea’s only Olympic football medal. Son, for his part, enjoyed a breakthrough season over which he became a starter for Hamburg, and scored in double digits to prompt a £8mn transfer to Bayer Leverkusen.
Two months after an indifferent World Cup campaign in Brazil, came another shot at escaping conscription in the form of the Asian Games, on the home soil of Incheon no less. This time, however, it was his club that threw in the spanner. Under no obligation to release Son for the non-FIFA sanctioned event, Leverkusen turned down Korea Football Association’s requests and held him back for the Champions League qualifiers. Perhaps they didn’t fully comprehend or care, or perhaps Leverkusen realised that a top prospect could only be kept at the club for so long and decided to make hay while Son shone. On October 1, Son scored a goal and created another in the 3-1 Champions League win over Benfica. A day later in Incheon, South Korea defeated North Korea to win the Asian Games gold — the country’s fourth overall and first since Seoul, 1986.
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Son failed at his first and only proper go so far, at the Rio Olympics where South Korea lost the quarter-final to Honduras. He would be two weeks past 28 by the time the next Olympics roll around, and that last-gasp attempt at exemption would depend on a waiver from the government. A failure in Tokyo would seal his fate. But his misfortune wouldn’t end there.
Between their drills, enlisted footballers can turn up for Sangju Sangmu or Asan Mugunghwa—first and second-tier military clubs in the K-league. The arrangement is far from ideal, but ensures that the players remain kicking about. Son wouldn’t even have that option. Remember him dropping out of high school at 16? It means he would be qualified for civic service but not military duty.
Barring successfully taking an exam for a diploma, Asia’s best footballer could be stuck in a cubicle, 9 to 6, Monday to Friday. That rules out even the semi-professional Korean National League, as the third-tier matches are mostly played on weekdays. The only game time he would get would be on Saturdays in the K3 League, a fourth-tier set-up for amateurs.
On the flip side, while he’s under-qualified to become a soldier, Son is too educated to get an exemption. Crystal Palace winger Lee Chung-yong exploited that (recently-closed) loophole by not completing middle school and joining FC Seoul at 16, avoiding the draft.
Other scandalous tactics have been used over the years. Footballers and baseball players have been indicted for dodging draft by causing deliberate self-harm to receive medical exemptions, dislocating shoulders by swinging their arms while holding weights. Last year a total of 59 cases of illegal means for draft evasion were recorded, of which intentional weight control topped the list with 37 per cent, and feigned insanity second with 23.7 per cent. Other means involve cutting fingers, removing teeth and getting full-body tattoos.
While such ploys are unbecoming of an upright athlete, Son could theoretically apply for permanent residency for deferment. While he can’t meet the five-year criteria in the UK, having lived in Germany from 2008 to 2015 makes Son eligible for residency. But a drastic step like that would be the last throw of the dice, seeing how things turned out for the last person to have pulled it off.
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Once hailed as the future of South Korean football, Park Chu-young became a bench-warmer at Arsenal. Then, with mere months left for his enlistment, the 27-year-old obtained a 10-year residency in Monaco — where he played for two years — deferring his draft by 10 years. A public furore saw calls for his axing from the national team. Young, in fact, made the 2012 Olympics squad, scored in the bronze-medal playoff and got an outright exemption, further antagonising his countrymen. But teammate Lee Young-Pyo remained vocal in support: “There is nothing Chu-Young can do for the country if he goes to serve immediately. He can do more for his country as a footballer.”
While Young remains vilified, Lee’s sentiment is more pertinent to Son, the two-time Asian footballer of the year. He is at the forefront of the Asian revolution in Europe and is key to the larger ambitions of South Korea’s football programme. And the powers that be seem sympathetic to his cause. Han quotes KFA president Chung Mong-gyu as saying, “I’ll discuss with the government about granting more exemptions, pushing the age limit and expanding player selection for military teams,” while Minister of Manpower Association General Chansoo Ki, discussed delaying Son’s draft. But Han isn’t holding his breath.
“Football fans are generally sympathetic, but they’re a small minority if we’re to expand the demographic to the general public,” says Han. “Unless Son himself has something that could serve as a workaround for this, I highly doubt that the South Korean government would grant an individual exemption for him.”
Making an exception for Son would first irk the K-Pop stars and their massive fandoms. Top acts are not immune, as evident by the enlistment of singer-rapper Kwon Ji Yong aka G-Dragon in February, which forced his group Big Bang to split up. The 29-year-old’s military training centre is struggling with the “excessive” amount of fan mail addressed to the star, with obligatory printouts depleting the ink and paper allotted and slowing proceedings.
“I respect what Heung Min-Son has achieved,” Seo Hyun-seon, 25, who runs a fan club for the G-Dragon told The Indian Express. “But football doesn’t touch the economic relevance K-Pop industry has for the country. If the idols are ready to pay their dues, athletes shouldn’t use their status to get out of it.”
Regular citizens, who have had to press pause on their lives for service, are disenchanted by the preferential treatment for sportsmen, who can play for military or police-run teams, and celebrities, who sneak off to bars and gigs during their service. Reminded of the public sentiment and the importance of the Asian Games, Son told reporters: “We haven’t won it already. We are going there to win, and winning trophies for my country is always good.”
Before the gold, Son would have to deal with the desperate pressure and formidable opponents in Japan and Iran. If he manages to secure his future, Son would have enough time and opportunities to win over his countrymen.
To serve or not to serve
Enlisted: Korean great Cha Bum-kun spent three years with the Air Force Club before venturing on a decade-long Bundesliga career. More recently, two World Cup-veteran Lee Dong-gook moved to Middlesbrough.
* Si Woo Kim became the youngest-ever winner of golf’s Players Championship at 21 last year, but won’t be receiving any special treatment. Fellow golfer Sang-moon Bae lost a legal battle to defer military service in 2015.
Exempted: A baseball gold at the 2014 Asian Games allowed Choo Shin-Soo to stay on the Cleveland Indians’ roster. The MLB outfit was instead urging Choo to take up US citizenship. “If I said I wasn’t thinking about military service, I’d be lying,” Choo said.
* Gold in tennis’ men’s doubles at the Incheon Games earned Hyeon Chung and his partner Lim Yong-kyu exemptions.
* LA Dodgers pitcher Park Chan-ho led South Korea to gold at the 1998 Asiad. His then three-year military duty was waived off.
