This is how sports should be played . . .

More than one thousand blue shirts stormed onto the soccer field in the Olympic stadium which once hosted the 1988 summer Olympics. Flags waved and the multitudes of youth sang and chanted. No, this wasn’t a Democratic youth rally; it was the celebration following the two-day competition between Yonsei University and Korea University.
The two schools fought for victory in basketball, hockey, baseball, soccer and rugby during the first weekend of school, Sept. 5-6. Korean class was cancelled via my teacher’s unofficial decision so we could all go to these games.
Each school brought their cohorts into the stadium at about noon and the games kicked off with song and dance at about 1:00. Songs, cheerleaders and relatively easy dances (think YMCA) never ceased during the whole six hour rugby and soccer game that I saw; the event was just as much about cheering with friends as it was about actually caring about the action on the field.
Winning, though, was certainly worth it when the stadium’s seats were vacated within minutes of our victory and everyone was packed onto the field to celebrate together. Fireworks inaugurated our arrival on the field and for nearly an hour, everyone jumped around, danced, cheered and hollered. The constant upbeat music, the thousands of smiling faces, the collective celebration with everyone packed right against each other and the stadium’s lights illuminating the whole scene made this one of the most memorable experiences in Korea so far.

Here are several photographs I took at the event:




Above is the crowd at the games. They closed the field to the celebrating students, but there was still plenty of room for everyone to pack onto the field. This was taken an hour after the games ended and there were still hundreds of people there.





Above are several of the cheerleaders who led the songs and dances during the game. Here, they're showering in the blue school colors streaming down from the stadium's upper deck.





Above is my friend at the games. This is just after we ran down to the field.





Above are some Yonsei students doing the synchronized dances which accompany the cheering songs. The girl tied a towel around her head in the style of people visiting Korean bath-houses.