Korean Soccer Players Deliberately Injuring Themselves

We love wacky football news. So here’s some very wacky football news: There are currently 92 South Korean soccer players being indicted for dislocating their own shoulders, including 15 professionals from the K-League. That wacky enough for you? The big question is: Why? What drives a footballer – especially a professional footballer who theoretically benefits from staying injury free – to forcibly remove their arm from their shoulder socket. Surely that would hurt?

Indeed it does, but apparently it doesn’t hurt as much as doing up to 24 months national service in the South Korean military. That’s a long time to be in the army when you’d rather be playing football, especially if you’ve made it as far as the K-League. Spending two years out of action is long enough for your teammates, manager and fans to forget about you altogether and move on. Just ask Harry Kewell. So dislocated shoulder and medical military exemption it is then. But this raises another question: How?

How do you deliberately dislocate your shoulder? OK kids, before reading this next bit you have to put hand on heart and promise not to try this at home. Promise?

According to Reuters:

The players, including 15 professional K-League players, dislocated their shoulders by methods such as swinging their arms while holding heavy weights or having fellow players jump on their shoulders.

Ouch! These guys either really want to stay out of the military or they really really love their football. It’s all backfired though, and if any of the 92 players are found guilty they face jail, community service or possibly the dreaded military service. But all this has probably provided Alex Ferguson with a few fresh ideas. If Fergie pulls any Man Utd players out of Fabio Capello’s first England squad with a mysteriously acquired dislocated shoulder instead of the usual “hamstring strain,” then we’ll all know where he got it from.

	Soccer Forums	Team/International Results

Category: Asia

Tags: Asia, dislocated shoulder, K-League

Subscribe   The Offside RSS Feeds

Print

Share