A bad Korea move: North cries foul after South's flag is shown ahead of opening football match

By PAUL HARRIS

Gaffe: The South Korean Flag is shown next to a North Korea player before the match against Colombia which had to be delayed after the North Koreans refused to play

It wasn’t the best way to kick off the Olympics – particularly given the international tensions involved.
As North Korea’s women footballers warmed up for their match against Colombia last night, the flag of bitter rival South Korea was proudly shown on the big screens around the stadium.
That prompted a walk-off by the North Koreans, who refused to play the match at the scheduled 7.45pm start time at the Hampden Park stadium in Scotland.

Anger: North Korean official Son Kwang Ho (second right) points furiously after the flag of arch-rivals South Korea is shown next to his players' faces by mistake

Shock: Horrified North Korean supporters watch on after the flag of their bitter rivals South Korea is displayed by mistake

They were eventually persuaded to return when the sides were announced again, with each player’s face displayed next to the North Korean flag.
Games organisers Locog said: ‘The South Korean flag was shown on a big screen video package instead of the North Korean flag.

Not a good start: North Korea return to play after players walked off the pitch

'Clearly this is a mistake. We will apologise to the team and the National Olympic Committee and steps will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.’
There was a much better atmosphere down in Wales, where a crowd of 24,545 saw Team GB’s women footballers chalk up the country’s first victory of the Games yesterday with a 1-0 win over New Zealand.

Back on the pitch: The North Korean women's soccer team poses for a photograph before the group B match between Colombia and North Korea

Hasty Correction: The North Korean team did eventually take to the field after the right flag was displayed

In action: North Korea's Kim Chung-Sim controls the ball against Colombia's Carmen Rodallega, captain Natalia Gaitan and Lady Andrade

Shock result: North Korea's players celebrate after winning 2-0 against Colombia

The first Olympic action on British soil since 1948 began at 4pm with a blast of the referee’s whistle at the 74,500-capacity Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The winning goal that took Team GB one step along their way to Wembley came in the 63rd minute from a free kick from Arsenal’s Stephanie Houghton, 27.
This was the first time a women’s team has represented Britain at any Olympics, even though the fairer sex has been playing the beautiful game since 1895.
One day a future Equality Act may insist on calling it simply football, but right now the women are still the underdogs.

Hoofin it for Team GB: Great Britain's Stephanie Houghton scores the opening goal of the game during the Womens Football, First Round, Group E match against New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium

That was effectively underlined yesterday when George Lineker, whose father Gary is the face of football on the BBC, referred on Twitter to the triumphant side as ‘birds trying to play football’.
He told his followers the opening event was making him ‘lose the will to live’. Blokishly, he added that he was heading off down the pub.
But here in Cardiff it was a dramatically different atmosphere, in which patriotism overwhelmed sexism.

What a goal: Houghton celebrates with her team mates Ifeoma Dieke, Eniola Aluko, Jill Scott and Britain's Kelly Smith after scoring

Gill Hocquard-Drake, 47, who coaches youth teams at her home in Warminster, Wiltshire, and is a big fan of the women’s game, said: ‘They’re technically better than the men, probably because the pace is a bit slower.
‘They’re not such big drama queens either. If they get caught they just get back up and get back on with it.’ The crowd wasn’t the biggest women’s football has ever seen but it carried a distinct buzz.

There were plenty of seats to choose from as Great Britain and New Zealand emerged into the Millennium Stadium to get the 2012 Olympics underway

There were chants of ‘Gee Bee, Gee Bee!’ No one ate all the pies. No one questioned whether the referee knew both her parents. There were only two yellow cards and no red ones.
As far as I could detect, no one felt the need to spit, swear, or aggressively challenge decisions that went against them. So there are clearly a few things the blokes can learn from these young women.
Newcomers to the sport might be surprised to see that they are not strapping great lasses. Some are barely over 5ft tall. Nor are they big money-earners.

Fans get ready for the start of the Olympics at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, but there were plenty of empty seats at the Great Britain versus New Zealand women's football match

Top players command only around £30,000 a year – it would take Chelsea and former England captain John Terry less than 36 hours to top that.
But now there’s some glory in which to bask. Team coach Hope Powell said: ‘We wanted them just to go out there and have fun. But they made history today, and that will never change now.’
Clearly, she needs some coaching in footy-speak at this level. What she meant, of course, is that the girls done well.



source: dailymail