One of the most successful Asian footballers in history, Park made his first steps into professional football in Japan rather than Korea, signing for Kyoto Sanga.
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Former Manchester United midfielder Ji-sung Park opened up about his footballing journey, especially when he was a kid. Interestingly though, Park informed that he had to go on a mini-hunger strike to persuade his parents to let him play football as a kid. In an appearance on the UTD Podcast, the South Korean – who played 100 times for his country – explained how he got into the sport. One of the most successful Asian footballers in history, Park made his first steps into professional football in Japan rather than Korea, signing for Kyoto Sanga after playing for school teams in his teenage years.
“I didn’t play at all, nothing at all,” Park said of his early childhood. “When they built the football team [at school], then I just joined it. I started to learn the football from that time. I’m not sure if I was good at the beginning; not bad, probably average or something like that. I was too skinny and small but I enjoyed it. I liked school because of the football team. But after one year, they just got rid of the football team. It was a new town and the parents didn’t like their kids playing football, they wanted more studying.
“Then the football coach tried to bring five players from that school to another school, where he moved. One of them was me. I was the only one who was at that age, the other three [one rejected the chance] were older than me. It was a good sign for me to keep continuing playing football.”
Ji-sung Park also informed how his father wanted him to stop playing the sport. “My father wanted me to stop. He didn’t like it because I was coming back quite late every day. I said no, I want to keep doing my football and my father promised me that if you won’t give up, I will let you play football. And I said, I won’t give up, so please let me keep playing. That was the deal.
“Even my grandad didn’t want me to play football because many people said if you’re playing some sports, you can’t go to university, some of the bad things they hear. They pushed me to stop but I loved it. The one thing I did, I just didn’t eat. I don’t want to eat if you don’t let me play football. When I was young, I did that. Kind of a hunger strike.”
Former Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez revealed that he struggled to understand Sir Alex Ferguson’s Scottish accent the first time they spoke on a phone. The Mexican striker, who currently plays for LA Galaxy, appeared at UTD Podcast where he divulged these details.
“The coach Sir Alex Ferguson came and it was one of the most complicated calls!” Hernandez, now 33 years of age, started. “His Scottish accent, man… and in that moment I wasn’t aware of that language, so it was so complicated to understand, so you could see me pushing the phone. You have to imagine, he was speaking from Manchester and I was in Guadalajara. It was the first time we’d spoke. Imagine the connection, too, so I was never in my life so focused on a phonecall!”
“It was great, it was amazing and then when I arrived to the presentation he wanted to have dinner with myself and my family,” Chicharito added. “The way he presented himself and the way he treated you like a human. The way he treated my family, for me it was like, yeah I will kill myself for this manager inside the pitch, for sure. For sure!
“If he treats my family that way, man, I will vomit after every game if it helps him to achieve in games and championships. He was an amazing man. It’s hard to believe.”
