Another incident of fans throwing water bottles onto the field has occurred in the K League of Professional Soccer. It was only a little over a month ago that the so-called mass throwing incident caused controversy, bringing into question the behavior of some spectators and stadium safety management.
Here’s what happened. It was the 17th round of the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 between Jeonbuk Hyundai and Incheon United at Jeonju World Cup Stadium on April 16th. After the game ended, a spectator threw a water bottle from the W section of the stadium toward the referees as they were leaving the field. Fortunately, no one was hit by the bottle, and the thrower was reportedly identified by club officials at the scene.
At the time, Jeonbuk drew 2-2 with Incheon after conceding two late goals to take a 2-0 lead. However, the referee’s poor officiating and decisions throughout the game led to criticism from both Jeonbuk and Incheon supporters. The game, which was given seven minutes of extra time, ended after more than 14 minutes of stoppage time due to a collision between players. Eventually, one spectator expressed his frustration by throwing a water bottle at the officials as they were leaving 온라인카지노 the stadium.
The problem is that throwing water bottles onto the field is not only a very dangerous behavior, but the K League has been plagued by water bottle incidents just a month ago. Incheon supporters threw water bottles in a group against FC Seoul on March 11, and were fined 20 million won by the KFA and banned from their home stands for five games. This is the second incident of water bottles being thrown onto the field by supporters of another club in just over a month.
According to the federation, the incident was also discussed at the match supervisors’ meeting on Sunday. After the game, one water bottle was thrown onto the field, and it was determined that no one was hit, the federation said. The identity of the spectator who threw the bottle was also confirmed by Jeonbuk’s security team.
However, it is undecided whether Jeonbuk will be referred to the Federation’s punishment committee. First of all, there was a precedent of a single spectator throwing a water bottle onto the field last year. It was a match between Incheon and Jeonbuk at the Incheon Football Stadium, and an Incheon fan threw a water bottle onto the field after the match ended.
However, the referee and the players had already left the field, and the supervisor didn’t see the incident. Instead, Incheon immediately reported the incident to the federation and imposed a self-disciplinary ban of an indefinite home and away ban on the spectator, which was announced on the club’s social media. The club reportedly even planned to seek compensation from the federation if it received any punishment, including a fine. In response to Incheon’s preemptive disciplinary action, the federation ended the matter by sending a warning letter to the club without any punishment, such as referral to a penalty committee.
However, the difference between this case and the previous one is that the water bottle was thrown onto the ground while both the referee and the players were out of the game, whereas this time, the water bottle was aimed at the referee. In March 2022, after a match between Daegu FC and Incheon, a spectator in Daegu threw a water bottle at the referees. The Korean Football Federation fined the Daegu club 3 million won ($3,000,000) through the Sangguk Penalty Committee. Five months later, in the Daegu-Suwon Samsung Electronics match, another water bottle was thrown by a Daegu spectator and hit the referee, resulting in another 10 million won fine.