SOUTH KOREA: The popularity of South Korea's traditional wrestling, called ssirum, is seriously declining

Record ID: 334977

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA: The popularity of South Korea's traditional wrestling, called ssirum, is seriously declining
  • Date: 2nd April 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SPORTS COMMENTATOR OF K-1 LEE DONG-KI SAYING: "Professional ultimate sports like K-1 need big and heavy guys. Some ssirum players want to join the K-1 league and some others are invited by the league."
  • Embargoed: 17th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAEF02O56282JA3YNDILMZTDSRY
  • Story Text: Sumo is hot. Ssirum is not.
    South Korea's traditional brand of wrestling, called ssirum, has a lot in common with Japan's national sport Sumo. Both are centuries old, steeped in tradition and feature jumbo-sized wrestlers battling in a small circle.
    However, while sumo is flush with cash, fans and name recognition, ssirum is facing a financial crisis, an organisational crisis, an identity crisis; in short, a whole lot of trouble.
    Under authoritarian President Chun Doo-hwan, who wanted to divert public attention from repressive conditions in his 1980 to 1988 government, professional sports were heavily promoted. ssirum and baseball thrived.
    Ssirum tournaments around major holidays were family events, with more than half of the population tuning in to see the biggest matches on television.
    But in the 1990s, the sport failed to attract young TV viewers and market itself.
    "Ssirum was very popular after launching a professional ssirum league in 1983, but it started declining when the league was divided in 1991," said Choi Chang-sik, chairman of Korean Ssirum Association (KSA).
    Ssirum experts say the sport's origin is ancient, part of Korea's village festivals, military training and court ceremonies for centuries.
    A ssirum match starts with two wrestlers facing each other while on their knees in an eight-metre sandpit ring. The wrestlers secure their grips on a cloth sash tied around the waist and thigh of their opponent, called a "satba".
    They rise to their feet, wait for a signal from the referee and then use strength, leverage and technique to force the other wrestler to the sand.
    Unlike sumo, a wrestler does not win by pushing his opponent out of the circle. That results in a restart in ssirum.
    Unlike sumo, which has fighters from Hawaii, Mongolia and Bulgaria, ssirum officials have shut its doors to outsiders, believing they would overpower local talent and taint the sport's link to Korean culture.
    The sport also lost its star appeal.
    Joo Hyun-sub, who has been training ssirum since he was 13, became a wrestler because he admired ssirum stars with fame and money. However, now Shin is worried that there are no star wrestler to boost the sport and no inspiration for kids who would be future players.
    "When I started ssirum, it was very popular, so called "elite" sport. Being a ssirum player guarantees admissions for colleges and many other benefits. Frankly, the reason I'm still doing ssirum is that's the only thing I can do," said Joo.
    Ssirum's greatest wrestler over the past few year, Choi Hong-man, has left for the far more lucrative K-1, a type of kickboxing that has been gaining in popularity.
    "Professional ultimate sports like K-1 need big and heavy guys. Some ssirum players want to join the K-1 league and some others are invited by the league," said Seoul's K-1 sports commentator Lee Dong-ki.
    Some ssirum enthusiasts asked former stars to come back to where they started.
    "I hope ssirum would be revitalised, then former ssirum players at the K-1 league could go back to this world," said Lee Chang-hoon, winner of Lunar New Year Day's ssirum championship.
    Taekwondo, Korea's more popular national sport, has become an Olympic event but ssirum seems to have lost its way.
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