The train bound for Munsan is only one station away, and I can't wait to get out of the freezing wind cutting straight through me. This is worrying because I'll spend much of the day outside, exposed to said wind.
I'm on my way to Paju to watch Paju Citizen FC. The club was founded in 2012, and although they've never been one of the semi-professional league's powerhouses, they've always been a competent mid-table team, even finishing runners-up in 2022. Like Yeoju before, I've threatened a trip to Paju many times, but the travel time has always discouraged me. Who in their right mind travels as much as two and a half hours to visit a small city bordering North Korea?
Today is Paju's last home match in the K3 League, and if that's not motivation enough, then I don't know what will be. "But, why is this their last match in the K3 League?", you may ask. It's because the city has decided to turn the team professional, and they will join the K League 2 in 2026. They still need to receive final approval in January, but all indications suggest that it's just a formality. Gimhae 2008 FC, who would be crowned K3 League Champions on the same day, also applied to join K League 2, along with a new team that had been created in Yongin, a city in the South of Gyeonggi Province.
The trip to Paju is mostly uneventful, with many passengers taking long trips and using the opportunity to get some shut-eye. One exception is a couple with a baby who insist on sitting in the centre of a row of seats despite a pink seat being available. At the next station after the couple gets on, three older women get on and argue about who should sit where. The one standing and barking out the orders is standing right next to the mother and child when the train jerks, causing her to fall onto the mother and child. The baby is quiet for a few seconds before the shock sets in, and then she starts screaming. The older woman tries to help, but quickly realises it's not helping, so she just sits there sheepishly looking at nothing. This seems to prompt an unrelated woman next to her to weigh in on the situation when the screaming did not stop immediately, but she might as well have said nothing for all the reaction she gets. Yup, it is a pretty boring 2-hour ride if this is all that I have to report.
I'd been to a part of Paju once before, and that was mostly just riding through on a bus, so I was surprised at the size of the area around Geumchon Station. Of all my trips this year, the walk to the stadium has by far the best variety of restaurants, coffee shops and assorted establishments. I had a specific restaurant in mind before the trip because I contacted the supporter I met in Yeoju, asking for a recommendation. He recommended a Sundaeguk restaurant that he'd been visiting for many years, and I can see why. I don't know how to explain the difference, but their sundae is not the same as the sundae I'm used to, but it is still very good.
With a belly full of lunch, I cover the last kilometre or so to the stadium, giving myself enough time to walk around, take photos, and get something from the food carts that the club posted about on their Instagram account. There are only three trucks, but all are useful. A Philly Cheese Steak truck, a churros and ice cream truck, and a coffee truck.
With a warm coffee and churros in hand, I made my way into the stadium. Entrance is free, and not only is there no fee, but they are "paying me". Everyone entering gets a bottle of water and two boiled eggs. The team-branded paper noise maker is a given, though, so I don't count that as something special.
Inside, I take photos as I start making my way over to where some Paju supporters are already gathered, and along the way, I pass a young man heading in the opposite direction. When he sees me, he quickly turns around, grabs a bottle of water from a pile on a seat, and hands it to me as a gift. You can never have too much water in your bag, can you? And soon after reaching the fans, I'm handed a Paju Citizen FC-branded scarf by a member of the group.
I have to talk about the scarf. Most team scarves in Korea are impractical. Often long and thick, which would be perfect if the season ran through winter, but the Korean football season runs through the hot, humid summer, and a thick scarf is just impractical. The scarf I'm handed today was custom-made for the day and is being given away for as long as the supply lasts. What makes it special is that it is essentially a long towel, and honestly, one of the most useful things I've ever received at a club. With this thing in hand, I can comfortably whisk away sweat while cheering on a team, if it were not this cold day at the end of the season, that is.
The Paju supporters group, named 술이홀, is an odd bunch. Because the group is fairly small, they all know each other to some extent, but they don't seem to have a leader. Instead, everyone kind of does their own thing and ropes the rest in with them. This is even true when they cheer. The three drummers do not seem particularly coordinated, but somehow always in sync. And as the game goes on, some random "leader" will start a chant, with everyone quickly joining in with whatever they started. Then, when that chant is done, the next random "leader" will start, and everyone will go with the new chant or song. It was fascinating to watch.
At some point, someone brings out a box with even more eggs. There must be 50 eggs in there, and they are begging everyone to take two, or three, or more.
During the first half, I notice a single supporter on the Mokpo side, so I make my way over to see if I can talk to them. They speak almost no English, and the conversation doesn't last long, but I'm able to learn that they are not actually Mokpo supporters, but supporters of a specific player who used to play for Incheon. On the way back from the Mokpo side, I notice a black man, presumably of African descent, sitting alone in the stands. This is an unusual sight, and I stop to ask if he minds a quick conversation. I learn that he's reporting on the game using an app on his phone. I don't want to bother him because he needs to concentrate, but I would have loved to find out more about this, presumably, side job.
Wow. Today I managed to contact a member of the supporters group, talk to them and other members after I arrived, as well as go up to two complete strangers to talk to them. It's not that I don't like talking, because if you come up to me, then I can talk your ears off, but I made first contact today, and I wish I could fully express how big an achievement this is for me.
During the half-time break, as people go to the bathrooms or wherever people go, I amuse myself by watching those who remain. One guy is posing for a photo. He asked someone close by to take the photo, and he looks fairly normal, even shy, until it is time to pose for the photo, when he gets this determined, hard-man expression and stance, which disappears the moment the photo is done. But my favourite part is his Paju replica shirt. It's the number 1 goalkeeper shirt, and the name above the number is 골키퍼, the Korean transliteration of the word "Goalkeeper". Now I want to see a number 9 shirt with "Striker" as the name.
The match itself was fine, but it basically summed up Mokpo's season. Paju screwed up a back pass, and a Mokpo attacker intercepted it with space to run. The keeper started rushing out, so the attacker lobbed the ball in a high arch over the keeper, just for the ball to his the crossbar and bounce back instead of in. But it did not stop there because the ball bounced back and landed at the feet of a second Mokpo attacker, who looked at all the space in front of him and slid it past the keeper, into the crossbar! On any normal day, you would expect both of those to go straight in, or at least bounce in a favourable direction, but not today with Mokpo on the field.
As this was the last home game of the season, there was a ceremony after the match. But they spend so much time faffing about with speeches, highlights of the season on the big screen and photos with the main stand in the background, that I just give up and left. It's not worth freezing in the wind for 30+ minutes just to get one more photo.
There is one more K3 League round left this season, and I'm considering going to Siheung, which will be hosting Paju, but there is also an important WK League match in Seoul. I'm leaning toward the WK League match, but we'll see what happens when I get closer to the day.
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