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Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors had their “La Decima” banners ready on the second weekend of November to celebrate a 10th South Korean title won in style by the head coach, Gus Poyet. Their game with Daejeon Hana, however, turned out to be the most controversial and divisive of the season. Jeonbuk were leading 2-1 when, in injury time, the referee, Kim Woo-seong, did not award a penalty for handball, much to the displeasure of Mauricio Taricco, Poyet’s No 2.
Even when VAR intervened and Kim pointed to the spot, the former Tottenham full-back kept complaining, to the extent that he was shown a second yellow card minutes after the first. The Argentinian put his index fingers next to the outer corner of each eye. Kim interpreted the gesture as racist and reported the 52-year-old to the K League’s disciplinary committee.
It agreed with the official. “In the video footage of the incident, coach Mauricio Taricco was seen placing his index finger in the centre of his eye and then pulling it toward the edge, narrowing his eyes,” the committee said. “The coach’s action was identical with the so-called slanted-eye gesture that derides people of Asian descent, and it was enough to insult the other person.
“Such a gesture is universally regarded as something that mocks the appearance of a certain ethnic group. It matches the gesture that has been penalised on many occasions by Fifa.”
In 2017, Edwin Cardona was playing for Colombia in a friendly just outside Seoul and made a gesture in the direction of South Korea players. “I want to say I am not an aggressive person,” he said. “I am sorry that something that happened during the game has been misinterpreted.”
Cardona’s actions were condemned by the Korean media and the team’s captain, Ki Sung-yueng. “The Colombians were really physical, which can happen in football,’’ said Ki. “Racist behaviour is unacceptable, however.”
Cardona was hit with a five-match ban. It followed an incident in the same year at the Under-20 World Cup in South Korea. Federico Valverde scored for Uruguay against the host nation and put his fingers to his eyes.
Fifa requested an explanation and the player insisted it was a private thing. “I’ve been told that it has upset many people, and I apologise if they considered it as such … I would have never done it with that intention.” He escaped punishment.
Taricco, who also played for Ipswich, West Ham and Brighton before following Poyet on a globe-trotting coaching journey, has not. There was a five-match ban and a fine of 20 million Korean won (£10,300).
He has denied any racist intent, saying that his gesture was a football one. “I merely covered my eyes to emphasise that the referee should have directly seen the handball foul,” he said. “The context of the situation, and the cultural expression and meaning that I’ve continuously tried to explain have been disregarded. With one moment of misunderstanding, I’ve been labelled a racist by the so-called authorities.”
Jeonbuk have said Taricco has experienced mental anguish since the ruling to the extent that he is to leave at the end of the season, which for Jeonbuk is Saturday’s FA Cup final. “It would be unreasonable to view [Taricco’s behaviour] as an intention of racial discrimination,” the club said.
“The club expects a more objective and balanced judgment to be made through the appeal process and will do its best until the end so that coach Tano [Taricco] can quickly get out of this dishonourable situation and his memory of the K League and Korean football does not remain as a bitter pain.”
On Monday, the K League rejected the appeal and upheld the punishment, saying it could find no issues in how the disciplinary committee acted and no new facts to support Taricco’s case.
There is sympathy for Taricco, especially as the image seen publicly does not seem definitive. The Jeonbuk attacker Lee Seung-woo, a former Barcelona academy prospect who also played in Italy, Belgium and Portugal before returning home, supported Taricco. “The coach respects Korea more than anyone else,” Lee said. “The judgment that ignores intent and context is far from the truth. This punishment is even more shocking because I know the sincerity of the coach I’ve been with for a year.”
There isn’t much sympathy for officials. The newspaper Sports Donga noted that many felt the actions of the Referees’ Association, swiftly demanding punishment as well as an apology, were hypocritical given the lack of accountability of the men in the middle, especially when there is widespread criticism over their standards. One politician calculated that mistakes had increased threefold since 2023.
It has also been pointed out that it has been quite some time since there was a South Korean referee at the World Cup. In 2002, Kim Young-joo became the first and last, sending off Turkey’s Hakan Unsal after play-acting by Brazil’s Rivaldo.
This is the second punishment for alleged racial discrimination issued in the Korean league’s 42-year history. Taricco’s time in the country is all but over, yet the debate is poised to rumble on.
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