Angry fans have lashed out at FC Seoul and the club has received the largest fine in its history after the top-level South Korean K-League found organizers who unwittingly placed sex dolls in stadium seats guilty of misogyny.
Club officials claimed they did not know they were placing about 25 sex-dolls inside their vast stadium when they introduced the mannequins in an attempt to replicate the presence of fans prohibited from attending matches under public health guidelines aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
One of the dolls carried the name of an adult toy manufacturer as part of a set of banners held by the statuesque stand-in supporters, many of whom were wearing the club’s red and black colors.
Seoul issued a statement offering deep regret and promising an internal review amid initial rumors that they could have been banned from hosting games at their Seoul World Cup Stadium, which has a capacity of almost 67,000.
They have instead been fined a record 100 million won (£67,700) by the league, which found that the naughty nature of the mannequins could have been “easily recognised” through “common sense and experience.”
“The controversy over this ‘real doll’ incident has deeply humiliated and hurt women fans [and] damaged the integrity of the league,” a league statement added, handing down the largest fine in the club’s 38-year-history.
Seoul apologized for a lack of care when ordering the dummies, claiming: “We had confirmed that the mannequins were made as if they were real but had nothing to do with adult products.
“But the problem was we failed to make detailed checks, which is our fault without a doubt.”
Writing on Facebook in response to the apology, enraged supporters who had been banned from attending the 1-0 win over Gwangju FC under government guidelines accused the club of making “ridiculous excuses” and shirking responsibility for the furore.
“It is not only a fault that the banners related to adult products were exposed,” said one. “Don’t you know what the essence of the problem is? Don’t you think it’s wrong to install mannequins like that? Reading your apology, it seems that you do not know exactly what to apologize for.”
The incident is the latest example of attempts by professional clubs to improve the atmosphere at matches while teams are restricted to playing in empty stadiums during the pandemic.
Cologne, who resumed their campaign as Germany’s Bundesliga became the first major league on the continent to restart last weekend, created a motif of shirts lent by supporters at their Rhein Energie Stadion.
Seoul’s idea could have been sparked by Dynamo Brest. Despite still being allowed to play in front of crowds, the Belarusian side have installed mannequins adorned with faces and shirts sent in by fans from across the world, who have paid inflated ticket prices in exchange for being represented on seats.
