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British team lands in DPRK
Source: Agencies |
September 19, 2010, Sunday
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A BRITISH women's football team from a region with historic ties to North Korea landed yesterday in Pyongyang on a groundbreaking trip to the northeast Asia country.
Middlesbrough Ladies, the first football team from Britain to visit the nation, hails from a city in northeast England with a unique connection: Middlesbrough hosted North Korea at the World Cup as far back as 1966.
North Korean officials welcomed the group of 14 players and three coaching staff from Britain with big smiles at the airport, footage from TV news agency APTN in Pyongyang showed.
Dressed in red tracksuits, the players returned the smiles, showing off their Korean by saying "kimchi!", a traditional Korean dish, as they posed for photos. Players wore T-shirts showing two jerseys representing their countries with the words "Friendship Football" emblazoned on the front.
"Absolutely friendship in football," Middlesbrough Ladies team manager Marrie Wieczorek told APTN. "The link with Middlesbrough and North Korea from the World Cup in 1966 is pretty legendary in Middlesbrough."
Middlesbrough Ladies is scheduled to play two friendly matches against North Korean teams, and will hold training sessions with schoolchildren during its four-night stay in the capital Pyongyang.
North Korea's official state media also reported on the players' arrival, saying the matches will mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic ties between North Korea and Britain.
"It's a very exciting and historical tour because it is the first time that a UK team has come to North Korea to play friendly matches against North Korean teams," British Ambassador Peter Hughes told APTN.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was making its World Cup debut in 1966 when the team landed in northeast England and settled in Middlesbrough for the first round.
Locals embraced the Asian players and adopted North Korea as their second team. The North Koreans staged a major upset by beating Italy 1-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The man who scored that winning goal, Pak Tu Ik, will be among members of North Korea's 1966 squad to meet the team, APTN said.
Surviving members of the squad had returned to Britain to visit Middlesbrough in October 2002, and were the focus of a documentary about their impressive run to the World Cup quarterfinals in 1966 called "The Game of Their Lives."
It took another 44 years for North Korea to qualify for the World Cup. It made it to the finals of the 2010 World Cup but lost all three first-round games in South Africa to Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast.
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