With the Word Cup kicking off in Japan and Korea in May, it is time to recount the story of the greatest sensation in world cup history: the defeat in 1966 of Italy -the world's most illustrious football team -by DPRK, the first Asian team ever to qualify for the World Cup finals. In October last year Daniel Gordon, Director of Very Much So Productions, and Nick Bonner, a Beijing-based bringing people together will premiere at the beginning of the World Cup this year.
By Nicholas Bonner
Founder, Koryo Tours, and Associate Producer, VeryMuchSo Productions
The DPRK team arrived in Middles borough, England, as the underdogs of the World Cup finals. Short in stature, inexperienced and timid before the public they were "so little known they might be flying in from outer space" according to a BBC announcer. Nothing was expected of them, but on 19 July they defeated the mighty Italians and a legend was born. Humiliated, the Italian team took the first plane home and into a hail of rotten tomatoes from angry supporters at Genoa airport.
To qualify, the Korean team had beaten Australia 9-2 in a match that had to be played on neutral soil since the two countries did not have diplomatic relations. King Sihanouk of Cambodia offered the venue and divided the Phnom Penh stadium in half, giving each team the boisterous backing of 30000 Cambodians.
While the Asian players were little known, the residents of the northern industrial town of Middlesborough, whose own local team also played in red, took them to their hearts. Chants of "Korea, Korea" were heard throughout their games. When Pak Sung Jin equalized three minutes from the end of their second game, against Chile, the roars and stamps of feet were so great that a light in the press box crashed to the floor.
Such was the support of the locals for their new-found heroes that after the defeat of Italy over 3000 Middlesborough fans traveled across the country to Liverpool for DPRK's next game, the quarter final against Portugal. Again, the crowd was solidly behind the Koreans, remarkable considering that just thirteen this day, the Korean player find it incredible that they were treated with such affection center half Rim Jung Son commented that before they arrived, they were not sure how the people of Britain would treat them. "We thought we would be shunned. But the Mayor of Middlesborough and all the people went out of their way to make us feel at home", he told us.
Before the World Cup, the Korean team members had trained for two years with military discipline. They had been told by the Great Leader, Kim II Sung, to play Chollima football, fast and strong as the Korean mythical horse. After Pak Do lk scored the only goal in the match against ltaly, the ltalians desperately attempted to make a comeback, committing 'professional 'fouls every three minutes. "We did't even know what a professional foul was, but we just played on," Pak Do lk told us when we visited his home in Pyongyang. Their perseverance broke the morale of the Italian players.
Many Korean recall staying up all night glued to their radios; the time difference meant they heard the boadcast at around four o'clock in the morning. A worker we interviewed on the street in Pyongyang remembers breaking down in tears when the announcer said "Korea can you hear us: Korea has won!"
Three decades later the excitement of that game lingers on. We delivered a letter to the Korean team from retired Italian player Rivera who expressed his hope that the two sides could meet again in a World Cup to see "if the ltalians have managed to close the gap". The white-haired Koreans also hope that their country can again meet the challenge.
The game against Portugal was equally dramatic. Whiel the Koreans took the lead int eh first 24 minutes with three goals, the formidable Portuguese, with their star player Eusebio, made a victorious comeback.
For years after the Korean team left England, rum ours circulated that they had been punished for the defeat. The players, however, told us that they returned home as heroes. While four members of the 1966 team have passed away, the other seven remain involved with football. They took us to watch local games around Pyongyang where fans still seek their autographs
When asked if he wished Eusebio had never played in that match, Yang Sung Guk replied: "I do not regret one moment of that match. I would not change a thing. On the pitch we were enemies. But after the game finished we were all friends. I would like to pass on my best wishes to the ltalians and the Portuguese players, of whom I have only good memories".