Friday, June 18, 2010

North Korea at the World Cup #3

And returning to our favourite segment here on Brenton writes, it's time for Round 3 of "North Korea at the World Cup". (See numbers one and two.)

Over at the World Cup Blog, they have a page for each team at the World Cup, including North Korea. I assume the other teams have actual fans writing, while they probably had to find someone willing to have a bit of fun with the North Korean page, including posting this supposed photo of the Great Leader (or whatever he's called):

That's nice. Could that really be him? Is this really the guy whose birth was foretold by the appearance of a swallow and marked by a double rainbow?


Jerseys, uniforms, kit, shirts, whatever you want to call them

Interested in showing your support for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? Unfortunately for you, there's been some trouble in getting ahold of the current North Korean kit. This store's link, which looks promising (but doesn't even have the right shirt), leads only to a store offering retro shirts from 1966. And that's it. Here's a shot of the shirt, just to tantalize your senses:


The website of the Italian company Legea that has produced the shirts* acknowledges their sponsorship but doesn't include any links or information. I've emailed as many addresses as I could find in hopes of a response; I'll keep you updated.


* This might be interesting for you Canadian footie fans: Legea also produces the uniforms of the Montreal Impact (but they're not listed on the Legea website... too small?), rivals of our Vancouver Whitecaps. Interesting company they keep.

2 comments:

Jelinas said...

Hey, Brenton, I'm just poking my head in to thank you for your specific perspective on North Korea at the World Cup. My parents are actually originally from North Korea (although they both escaped when they were kids, so they don't remember it at all, and it was before communism took hold, so it wouldn't matter if they did), so any news about the area interests me.

But I will take some of that thanks back because you posted that picture of Kim Jong-Il.

And, now, I must go scrub my brain.

Brenton said...

Indeed, that is a horrible, horrible picture.

Glad to be of interest. It's such a fascinating country, and it's pretty wild that NK are in the World Cup, considering how insular they are.