[The Temptation of Match-Fixing]④ "Helping a Cheonhajangsa and Sharing the Prize Money"…Confession of a Former Ssireum Wrestler

Former ssireum wrestler Mr. A confessed to this newspaper on the 8th that he was involved in match-fixing seven years ago. He said, "What was wrong was wrong, so I want to tell the whole truth." It is a self-reflection on the misconduct committed in his youth and a senior's confession hoping that juniors will not make wrong choices.

Mr. A revealed that he was involved in match-fixing during the team event at the 2016 National Ssireum Championship. He engaged in so-called 'pushing favors.' The B team, to which Mr. A belonged, cooperated so that the C team could win the championship. It is said that there was prior collusion among teams B, C, and D. Accordingly, team D deliberately lost to team C in the semifinals, and in the finals, team B lost to team C, realizing the plan. Mr. A recalled, "At that time, since the position of the C team’s coach was precarious, the coach of my team told the players in advance, 'This is not an important tournament for you, so let's let the C team win once.'"

A scene from a Ssireum match, unrelated to the article content
Photo by Asia Economy DB

Afterward, Mr. A left the ssireum scene due to injuries and internal team conflicts. Then, in September 2020, the police began investigating this match-fixing case, and Mr. A was summoned as a related party and questioned. The police summoned 21 people involved in the case, including players and coaches, but only Mr. A admitted to match-fixing, while the other 20 denied or remained silent. Eventually, the police reportedly closed the case without charges. This clearly demonstrated the limitations of investigating match-fixing cases, which require clear physical evidence or decisive testimony to prove guilt.

Regarding this, Mr. A said, "At the time of the investigation, I had already quit ssireum, and I think the others were still active, so it was difficult for them to confess." He added, "Recently, there have been many ssireum-related videos on TV and YouTube. Watching those who were involved in match-fixing back then thriving made me feel this is not right," explaining his reason for coming forward.

Mr. A said, "There are quite a few suspicious scenes of match-fixing even in recent matches." According to the sports community, unfortunately, ssireum, a traditional sport unique to our nation, is particularly vulnerable to match-fixing. Because there is a lot of physical contact between players and the techniques are diverse, it is not easy to tell if someone is deliberately losing. Sometimes, matches are decided in the blink of an eye, leaving no room for suspicion.

Mr. A said, "It is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish whether it is match-fixing or not." He also said, "At some point, match-fixing such as pushing favors became a natural thing in the ssireum world." He emphasized, "When players renew contracts, they usually exchange wins, and during their student days, they lose once each for school advancement or professional debut in college." Sometimes, they manipulated matches by concentrating the Cheonhajangsa title on a specific player or team and agreed to share the prize money.

Question mark silhouette [Photo by Asia Economy DB]

Our ssireum recently grasped a thread of hope to escape a long period of stagnation. College student Cheonhajangsa Kim Min-jae (21, Ulsan University) rose as a new star by winning the Danojangsa title last June and the Seollaljangsa Ssireum Championship last January. It is the first time in 37 years since Lee Man-gi, who was attending Gyeongnam University in 1985, that a college student has won the Cheonhajangsa title. Among fans, he is called a 'monster' along with Kim Min-jae (26, Napoli), the national soccer team’s star defender. He is attracting attention as a promising player expected to revive our ssireum, which has suffered ups and downs due to the absence of major stars and the decline of technical ssireum.

In this context, if the wind of match-fixing blows again in the ssireum world, it would be a major disaster. Mr. A said, "As someone who was once a ssireum player, I am still ashamed of match-fixing," and added, "It must never happen again, and I hope it will be eradicated."