Incheon United, which imposed a conditional indefinite ban on the self-reported ‘water bottle thrower,’ said it has considered both the discipline and the reasons for lifting the ban.
Incheon United held its own disciplinary committee on the 23rd and imposed an indefinite ban on 124 players who self-reported throwing water bottles during the Hana Bank K League 1 2024 Round 12 home match against FC Seoul. However, the ban can be lifted if the players complete 100 hours of volunteer work designated by the club.
An Incheon official told ‘E-Daily’ on the 24th, “We considered the reason for the ban and the reason for lifting the ban, as well as how to control the team’s behavior if they are forced to enter the 온라인카지노 stadium.”
“For example, a two- to three-year ban has a reason to be lifted after a period of time,” he said, explaining, “We decided on an indefinite period and discussed it for a long time, and the result was volunteerism, which is a way to keep them under our control.” “We saw it as a way to manage trespassing, to fulfill the 100-hour volunteer requirement, and to show a healthy fan culture for the entire K League.”
Incheon officials said that outside volunteer work, such as cleaning up after home games and inspecting goods, is also allowed, except for those listed in the statement. Some have raised concerns that the maximum number of hours of volunteer work that can be recognized per day is eight, which means that the punishment could be over in two weeks, according to the math.
The Incheon official said that while this is mathematically correct, it is difficult to realize. “First, we decided to recognize only external volunteer work registered through an official government agency,” he said, “We found that it is difficult for middle and high school students to exceed 40 hours of volunteer work per year, and when we inquired at the volunteer center, we were told that out of 40,000 people registered, only about 2,000 people exceed 100 hours per year.”
“You might think that you can do it in two weeks for eight hours a day, but you have to do it only at a designated organization, and there are few organizations that recognize eight hours a day, so we decided that it would be difficult,” he added.
“Initially, there was talk of 200 hours, but when we looked at legal disciplinary cases for things like drunk driving, it was 60 to 80 hours,” he said, adding, “There’s talk of batting practice, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Incheon will close its stands for six matches, including five league matches and one Korea Cup match, starting with its Round 14 home match against Gwangju FC at the Incheon Football Stadium on May 25. Group cheering is also prohibited during this period.
“Intermittent cheers during scoring situations or set plays cannot be stopped, but leading cheers and cheering tools such as flags and drums will be banned,” said an Incheon official.