2:30 The Game of their Lives
2:37 In 1966, these North Korean footballers traveled to England for the eighth World Cup, as one thousand to one outsiders. So little was known about them, that they might as well have been flying in from the moon. Yet they would take the World Cup by storm, and for a brief period, become the darlings of the nation. Today, North Korea remains an enigma, as alien as it was in 1966.
3:11 After four years of negotiations, a Western film crew was granted unprecedented official access to North Korea.
3:41 Korea has been split since the end of the second World War. The division between North and South is the Cold War’s final frontier. To the north of the border, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, population 22 million, has been ruled by its own unique brand of communism for over 50 years. The father of North Korea is Kim Il-sung, known as the Great Leader. He became head of state in 1948 and lead the country through Korean War. Kim Il-sung is so revered, that despite his death in 1994, he remains head of state. North Korea is now ruled by his son, Kim Jong-il, known as the Dear Leader. Every North Korean wears a lapel badge depicting either the Great Leader or the Dear Leader.
5:08 In 1966, the World Cup became the biggest sporting event ever, with record crowds and unprecedented worldwide television coverage. For such a public spectacle, at the height of the Cold War, North Korea’s involvement was to prove difficult at every turn. Sixteen years earlier, Korea had plunged into civil war. The savage and brutal conflict, which lasted for three years, was a clash between the Cold War ideologies of the communist North and the capitalist South. The North was supported by China and the Soviet Union, the South by America and the United Nations. Hostilities ended with Korea’s still split and an estimated 4 million people killed. A peace treaty has never been signed. The war left North Korea completely isolated from the West.
6:23 This is the first time that anyone has been given permission to enter North Korea to interview the football players about their experiences at the eighth World Cup.
6:37 Yanggakdo Stadium, Pyongyang - Wolmido v Mount Ryongak - Friendly Game
6:48 My name is Rim Jung Son. I was number 5, a defender, for the eighth World Cup in 1966. My father was a football player in the past. I grew up seeing him play all the time. It was natural for me to play football throughout my youth. Of course, my father wanted me to be a footballer and I played through primary and secondary school and further education. In 1957, I started training as a professional football player. That’s how I was brought up as a player.
7:46 Out of the sixteen places at the World Cup finals, only one was available to all of Africa, Asia and Oceania. Indignant of this discrimination, all African nations withdrew their teams from the qualification process. South Korea, who had competed in the 1954 World Cup, also pulled-out. Just two countries, North Korea and Australia, were left to compete for that one available place at the World Cup finals. The North Koreans had been training solidly for ten months and had many internationals in preparation, including a tour of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.They were “tidy” and disciplined units. Myong Rye Hyun was Korea’s head coach and was to see the team through their extraordinary World Cup adventure.
Myong Rye Hun - Head Coach
8:38 To compete with the West we believed we had to be mentally determined, physically fit, fast and full of energy. Our Great Leader stressed that to be an excellent footballer you must run fast and kick accurately.
8:58 Speed and energy were the dominant themes in North Korean society at the time. At the end of the Korean War, the North laid completely flattened. Reconstruction of any sort would be an immense task. The development of Kim Il-sung’s socialist utopia at lightning speed, was named Chollima after the winged horse of Korean mythology. Reflecting the energy around them, North Korea’s footballers played a fast-paced Chollima style of football.
9:44 People in North Korea were working all day and night. As sportsmen, we could only train morning and afternoon. But we did so intensively. In this way, we could follow the Chollima movement like everyone else.The football supporters said to us: “As sportsmen on the football ground, do well and we will take care of the North Korean economy.”
10:15 At the eighth World Cup, Chollima was to take North Korea’s western opponents by surprise. Having fought on opposite sides in the Korean War, North Korea and Australia did not recognise each other so the play-off was switched to a neutral venue, Cambodia. Uniquely, the home and away legs would be played three days apart in the same country. No one, especially the supremely confident Australians, gave North Korea a chance. Yet this was Australia’s first full international for seven years and their preparation had been decidedly low-key. Only one of their players was born in Australia. The majority, like Englishman Geoff Sleight, were in fact British.
11:04 We went to Cairns in Northern Queensland because it was considered to be a similar climate to that of Cambodia and we played two friendly games, one against Northern Queensland amateur select team, we managed to beat 17-0 and one against a team from Ingham that we managed to beat 26-0. So we went off to play against North Korea feeling pretty good. It was really an opportunity to get back to England to play in the World Cup finals.
We had no idea about the Australian team. We arrived in Phnom Penh on November 13th and the Australians arrived on November 15th.
At the time the Cambodians were just putting the finishing touches on a brand new stadium holding 55,000 people and we were allowed to train on that pitch every day. We were arriving when they were training each day. But we were under the impression that these were people that were in the North Korean army. They were regimented. They'd have to do what they were told to do. To us, we were liberated. We were free-thinking. And, we thought our way was the best.
12:23 I recall that we didn't train very much. We didn't determine any strategy or use any tactics. We would play full scale practice games against each other. We realized later that we had the second session after the North Koreans, and they used to sit in the stands and watch us play these practice games.
12:40 We were impressed by Australia's technical skills. Their individual skills were especially good. However, we could see they had a weakness. They lacked teamwork, and they lacked speed even though they were technically proficient. So, we could see a way to compete with the Australian team.
13:09 To ensure fairness, Cambodia's ruler ordered the stadium to be divided in two. Half would support the Australians and half the North Koreans.
They put the biggest player in their Team, marking me. Now, I'm on it. But I kicked that fullback; when the ball was there, when the ball wasn't there. I kicked him. I elbowed him. I tried everything. Couldn't hurt him, couldn't out-psych him, couldn't scare him. Couldn't do anything. And I think on reflection they were all the same. They were army guys, they were tougher than we were. I'm glad we were only playing them at football. They beat us 6-1, and the second game we lost 3-1.
