Baseball cheering culture in South Korea

Korea's Baseball Cheering Culture

The Korean baseball cheering culture started in the early 2000s and continues to the present. There are 10 professional clubs and each club has its own way of cheering. The Korean cheering culture generally shares similar characteristics: collective, enthusiastic and empathic. This seems to be the result of a development process of Korean society. Especially, in the case of baseball cheering, it is even popular among women because of the easy melody of fight songs, break-time events, and a variety of foods. Moreover, baseball cheering is performed in most places of a ballpark.

Cheering Methods

Fight Songs

Korean baseball fight songs consist of the song for each club and the song for individual players. The fight song is a key element of the exciting and dynamic Korea's cheering culture. Because cheering is done when attacking, only the batter has a personal fight song, and the fight song is sung when the batter enters the batter's box. It is easy for the crowd to sing along because the melody of the fight song is based on the famous pop song or the K-pop song with only lyrics rewritten. There is also an application that allows baseball fans to listen to the fight song of clubs and players in advance.

Cheering Tools

In the early days of baseball professional league, the cheering tools were usually Korean traditional musical instruments, such as Buk, Jing, and Kkwaenggwari. But nowadays, a typical example of a cheering tool is a cylindrical Balloon Stick. The loud sound made by one pair of balloon stick gives the impression of one united form of cheering.

The first club to introduce balloon stick was LG. In the early 1990s, they made the balloon stick out of polyethylene, and it soon gained popularity. It is meaningful in that they were the first in the world to use balloon stick as a cheering tool. It is made to be recyclable, so it can be blown with straw while cheering, and air can be taken out for storing.

There is a typical color for the cheering tool for each club. SK is red, Samsung is blue, Doosan is white, Kia is yellow, LG is red, Nexen is pink, and Hanhwa is orange.

Another interesting characteristic of Korean baseball cheering is "wearing uniform." There are uniforms of each player, so supporters choose their favorite uniform and wear it while cheering. Many people have multiple uniforms and wearing those gives them the sense of belonging, solidarity, and proud. Symbolic accessories and cheering tools play the similar role. There is a pop-up store in each stadium, so it has a high accessibility, and the percentage of purchase is also quite high.

Cheer Leaders

Since the foundation of the Korea Baseball Organization(KBO) there wasn't a standardized cheering method for a while. It was the audiences who became the subject of the cheering, and all were just the clapping and instant singing. But as the 1990s are passing by, with the appearance of the official cheerleaders, the standard professional baseball cheerleading was made. Cheer leaders and cheer leading captain are the ones who take the lead in Korean baseball cheering nowadays. Each club has 1 captain and 4~5 cheering leaders. Cheer leaders dance to the chant the captain is making. Basically, they prepare cheering with the club's fight songs, but sometimes they lead the cheering using the latest K-pop songs.

Cheering Features of Each Stadium

Cheering Foods

A typical example of a baseball stadium food is a "Chimaek". Fried chicken and beer make watching baseball even more enjoyable. There are a variety of cheering foodstuffs by each ballpark, which is often the representative food of the region. In Daegu Samsung Lions Park, there are Napjak Mandu(flat grilled dumpling), Samgyeopsal(Korean-style bacon) and kebab in Busan Sajik Stadium, Buljokbal(spicy Jokbal), Bulgopchang(spicy Gopchang), and fast food such as hamburger and fried chicken in Seoul Jamsil Stadium, Jokbal(Pigs' Trotters) in Gwangju Kia Champions Field, Garak Guksu(boiled thin noodles in dried anchovy broth) in Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park in Daejeon and Jinmi Tongdak(Chicken) in Suwon KT wiz Park.

As portable beer sales are allowed again, you can see a "Beer Boy" at the baseball stadium, who carries a barrel of beer which weighs about 15kg. However, you can not bring canned beer into the ballpark, which is to foster a pleasant game and prevent garbage.

Cheering Zones

Each baseball stadium has its unique themed seats.

Incheon Munhak Baseball Stadium has a "T Green Zone", "Happiness Zone", "Skybox Zone", and “Barbecue Zone.” "T green Zone" is located on the grassy hillside which is available to set up a tent or lay a mat. This zone is recommended to family audiences because this zone is not too crowded and there is an kid's park near by. "Happiness Zone" is located at the backstop and the seat is equipped with the table. "Barbecue Zone" can accommodate up to 200 people at once. It is Korea’s first stadium to cook meat while watching baseball. At the store inside the stadium, they sell meat and lend grills. "Skybox Zone" is located inside the room, so watching baseball game isn't restricted by the weather in this zone. Lastly, there is a “Homerun Couple Zone” in the outfield bleachers. Many couples enjoy dating there.

Jamsil stadium's "Exciting Zone" has a merit in that audiences can see the player in the short distance. But as this zone is close to the stadium, audiences have to be cautious about safety and borrow a helmet. Moreover, table seat at this stadium has a table to put their belongings and foods.

Suwon KT Wiz park has a "Hite Pub" and "Playstation Lounge." "Hite Pub" is Korea's first sports pub and the cost of one glass of beer and food is included in the ticket price. In the "Playstation Lounge" audiences can enjoy the match in the assigned room in which Playstation equipped.

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Busan Sajik Stadium and Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park have “Exciting Zone.” This zone is closest to the ground so you can enjoy the players’ dynamic game there. It can be interesting to watch the game at the ground eye level, but as many foul balls fly toward the seat, children are not allowed to enter. It could be somewhat dangerous, but you can enjoy the endless charm of the baseball.

Cheering Cultures of Each Club

There are clubs which has a unique cheering culture. Lotte Giants uses newspapers and orange plastic bags as cheering tools. Newspapers are folded in half, then torn, finally rolled up and used to sway in the air. Plastic bags are wrapped after blown and then put on the head. Women make a plastic bag look like Mickey Mouse ears and wear it. In the case of plastic bags, it was initially distributed from the cheering squad to handle garbage, but the supporters started to use it as a cheering tool. It soon became a representative cheering culture of Lotte Giants. Lotte Giants also has unique chants, such as 'Azura' and 'Ma'. 'Azura' is a dialect, implying 'yield a foul ball/home run ball to children', and 'Ma' is a dialect for calling youngers which implies 'throw the ball forward' (used when the pitcher throws the check). In order to respond to 'Ma', supporters of other clubs also made a chant such as 'Wa' (a dialect of 'why').

Hanhwa eagles uses "Fanbot". It is a cheering robot made as part of the social cheering campaign for fans who want to support the team at the ballpark but cannot go in person. Anytime, anywhere, if you upload a cheering message via web or mobile, the message will be sent to the Fanbot in real time and be displayed on the board Fanbot is holding. Fanbot was introduced in Hanwha Eagles for the first time in the world.

https://youtu.be/BBiRLYu8Wjo

Globalization

Korea’s baseball cheering culture is stretching around the globe. The fight song for Eric Thames can be one example. Eric Thames who had been the member of Changwon NC Dinos returned to MLB Milwaukee in 2017. And with him followed his theme song which was used to cheer him up in Korea’s stadium. The fight song resounded through the Milwaukee stadium. This can be said as the globalization of the Korean baseball cheering culture.

Problems

Crisis

세월호문제 발생

구단 응원가를 둘러싼 저작권 문제는 여전히 해결되지 않은 채 법적 진통을 겪고 있다.[1] 팬들에게 친숙한 응원가를 계속 사용하기 위해 구단들이 원저작권자와 협상하고 있지만, 합의가 이뤄지지 않아 응원가를 교체하거나 무단으로 계속 사용하고 있다. 이에 원곡 작곡가들은 집단소송까지 준비하고 있어 사태가 커지고 있다.

각 구단 응원가는 지금까지 통상 저작권자의 동의없이 원곡을 편곡하거나 개사하는 방식으로 만들어졌다. 하지만 이는 저작권법이 보호하고 있는 '저작인격권' 침해라는 문제가 제기됐다. 저작권법은 크게 저작재산권과 저작인격권을 보호하고 있는데, 그 동안 각 구단들은 저작재산권에 대해서만 3000여만원의 저작권료를 지불해왔다. 저작재산권은 저작자가 자신의 저작물에 대해 갖는 재산적인 권리를 뜻하는 말로, 보통 남에게 저작물을 이용하도록 허락하고 그 대가를 받는 경우가 대부분이다. 현재 문제가 되고 있는 저작인격권은 저작자가 자신의 저작물에 대해 갖는 정신적·인격적 이익을 법률로써 보호받는 권리로, 여기에는 공표권·성명표시권·동일성유지권 등이 포함된다. 이 가운데 응원가와 관련해 이슈가 되고 있는 것은 동일성유지권이다. 동일성유지권은 저작자가 자신이 작성한 저작물이 어떠한 형태로 이용되더라도 처음에 작성한 대로 유지되도록 할 수 있는 권리를 말한다.

하지만 야구장에서 울려퍼지고 있는 응원가는 대부분 원곡을 편곡·개사한 방식이기 때문에 원곡의 동일성을 훼손하고 저작인격권의 동일성유지권을 침해한다는 것이다. 이 같은 법적 논란이 일자 각 구단들은 올 시즌 시작 전 문제가 된 응원가의 저작권자와 사용에 관한 협의를 통해 저작권료를 부담하거나, 협의가 어려운 경우 응원가를 교체했다. 예컨대 스웨덴 그룹 '아바(ABBA)'의 'honey honey'를 개사해 많은 팬들의 사랑을 받은 두산 베어스 민병헌 선수의 응원가는 창작곡으로 교체됐다. 영화 '인디아나 존스'의 메인 테마곡 리듬을 따온 한화 이글스 정근우 선수의 응원가 역시 저작권료를 둘러싼 협상이 난항을 겪으면서 교체됐다. 넥센 히어로즈는 기존에 사용하던 응원가 27곡 가운데 1곡을 제외한 26곡 모두를 교체해 팬들이 거부 운동을 벌이기도 했다. 각 구단의 노력에도 논란은 이어지고 있다. 가수 박현빈의 노래 '앗 뜨거'의 작곡가인 김모씨는 최근 두산이 자신의 동의 없이 3년 간 노래를 개사해 응원가로 사용한 사실을 알게 됐다. 김씨의 항의로 두산은 응원가 사용을 중단했지만 그 동안 이용에 대한 보상을 두고 양측은 입장차를 보이고 있다. 삼성 라이온즈 역시 락밴드 '더크로스'의 노래를 무단으로 사용한 것으로 알려져 문제가 되고 있다.이에 원곡 작곡가와 작사가 등 30여명은 현재 8개 구단을 상대로 집단소송까지 준비중이어서 이 문제가 법정 공방으로까지 이어질 가능성도 높아지고 있다.

Criticisms

Korea's baseball cheering culture has many good aspects, but recently few problems arose. First is the "Azura Culture", cheering culture of Lotte Giants. This culture is semi-coercive rather than voluntary. Initially, this culture began with the expectation that if they pass the foul or home run ball to the child, the conflicts between the adults to get the ball might decrease. This culture also has the purpose of presenting a child with a good memory of watching a baseball game.

However, in the coercive atmosphere, there are few audiences with bad manners who take the ball away by force or even take it away from the young student. As a result, there is a growing criticism about whether "Azura Culture" is truly a good one. There is an endless ongoing debate online.

Recently, another matter has brought up. It is a noise problem. Boisterous cheering culture makes watching the baseball game more joyful, but for some audiences who want to watch the game quietly, it would be a drag. Not only some audiences but also neighbors are suffering because of the noise. Residents inhabiting in the apartment near Kia Championship Field Ball Park sued Gwangju city and Kia Tigers club in a claim for damages.

As Korea's Ball Park is located near very populated region, it seems to be necessary to resolve the conflict between local residents and the baseball field.