The Hampden Olympics got off to a disastrous start yesterday as bungling officials mixed up the flags of North Korea and South Korea.
The two neighbours are on a permanent state of alert with diplomatic relations non existent.
North Korea were due to play Columbia until they noticed the giant scoreboards at Hampden showing the flag of South Korea next to the names of their players.
The Koreans refused to come out for their warm up with the kick-off delayed for an hour as the situation was resolved.
Television screens ran a caption saying ‘competition delayed’ but no-one informed the fans in the stadium about the later kick-off.
The match finally kicked off at 8.50pm but by then most of the 16,000 fans that had watched France v USA had gone home with only a handful left in the stadium by the time the final whistle blew.
Speaking after the match, North Korea’s coach Sin Ui Gun said: “Our team was not going to participate unless the problem was solved properly.
“Unfortunately it took some time later for the broadcast to be done again properly and we made the decision to go on with the match.”
On Saturday the North Koreans return to Hampden to face France.
This afternoon the mens event opens at Hampden with Honduras playing Morocco followed by Spain against Japan.
Unfortunately with the kick-offs at 12 noon and 2.45 the national stadium will struggle to attract 10,000 to the matches which will be televised live.
CLICK HERE for Neil Lennon’s verdict on HJK Helsinki
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“Bungling Officials”: a phrase that pretty much sums up the history of Scottish football.
Ha ha some one it hampden is defo gettin the sack and it widny suprise me if south korea are on high alert lol. HH
Can’t say I am totally surprised, although in fairness such mistakes happen at most major events. I would have liked to take in the Spain v Japan game but afternoon kick-offs are stupid if they want to attract some decent crowds.