▲ Lee Da-young Ⓒ Korea Volleyball Federation
Heungkuk Life Insurance’s Pink Spiders, which raised expectations as a volleyball super team by creating new terms such as’Uh Woo-heung (Hungkuk Life)’ and’Heung Venus (Hungkuk Life + Avengers)’ are in danger of being destroyed in an instant. In a slightly different sense from what was expected, this year’s Heungkuk Life Insurance is highly likely to remain as a’unprecedented team in volleyball history’.
Heungkuk Life Insurance is currently in the worst atmosphere. The twin sisters, Lee Jae-young and Da-young, who were the team’s main fighters, broke away from their abilities by causing various narrations such as’discord’ and’abusive controversy’. They have left their accommodation and are staying at their homes, and it is difficult to guarantee when they will be able to return and play again in the future.
Heungkuk Life Insurance, who suffered a fatal blow to the team atmosphere due to the power gap and various controversies caused by the twin sisters, lost 0-3 (16-25, 12-25, 14-25) at the Korea Expressway Corporation and the game held on the 11th. The game time was only 1 hour and 17 minutes, which was the shortest loss in the season. Perhaps due to the cluttered atmosphere, the rest of Heungkuk Life Insurance players, including volleyball empress Kim Yeon-kyung, could not concentrate on the game.
Heungkuk Life Insurance, who recorded 17 wins and 6 losses (50 points), still maintains the lead thanks to the wins earned in the beginning, but fell into the first three consecutive losses in the recent season, and the red light was on to win. It is unprecedented in professional sports that a team that had been evaluated as winning before the start of the season was on the verge of collapse in such an instant.
Heungkuk Life Insurance recruited Lee Da-young, who gained a free contract (FA) status this season, and Kim Yeon-kyung, who played an active part in overseas leagues, was selected as a strong candidate for the championship as the good news that decided to return to Korea after 11 years overlapped. Since both Kim Yeon-kyung and her twin sisters are the star of the current women’s volleyball industry and were a key player in the national team, the story of’the league balance has collapsed’ was so sensational.
But to put it coldly, Heung Vengers was a team that had a problem with’procedural fairness’ from the composition stage. Heungkuk Life Insurance, who already had Lee Da-young and Lee Jae-young as free agents in professional volleyball with a salary cap system, could not even recruit Kim Yeon-kyung by normal means. Kim Yeon-kyung and Heungkuk Life Insurance resolved this with an anomalous contract method called’Paycut (deliberate annual salary reduction)’.
Kim Yeon-kyung, who was known to receive the highest annual salary of around 2 billion, the world’s highest ransom price on the overseas stage, wore Heungkuk Life’s uniform, and the amount agreed upon was surprisingly 350 million won. Kim Yeon-kyung made the cause of reducing his salary in order to minimize the situation in which fellow athletes suffer damage due to his return to Korea, and in order to stay in top shape for the Tokyo Olympics final, which was postponed a year later. Heungkuk Life’s side also expressed the high popularity of Kim Yeon-kyung, who was called the empress of volleyball, and packaged it in terms of’good pay cut’ and’superstar’s self-sacrifice’. However, it is also true that it was an unusual’trick’ that could distort the basic purpose of the salary cap system when looking only at means apart from’goodwill’.
In the end, he succeeded in building a super team by taking advantage of the loopholes of the system, but it is ironic that Heungkuk Life’s crash started from the side effects of this super team. In team sports, a great team is not created just by gathering brilliant stars. On the contrary, there are many cases of unexpected dissonance when star players, who were originally never able to gather in one team, were forced together. This year’s Heungkuk Life Insurance is a great teacher.
From the end of last year, Lee Da-young continued to post posts suggesting a conflict with his team’s senior through personal SNS, and the discord began. After the opening, Heungkuk Life Insurance, which continued the successive march of pajuk, fell into sluggish as the atmosphere shaken sharply after Lee Da-young’s social media controversy. Heungkuk Life Insurance seemed to settle the team atmosphere for a while in the fourth round, but Lee Da-young, the source of controversy, still did not improve.
▲ Kim Yeon-kyung Ⓒ Korea Volleyball Federation
In addition, the injuries of foreign player Lucia Fresco were another bad news for Heungkuk Life. Lucia was unable to participate in the game after suffering a shoulder injury against GS Caltex on December 5th, and Heungkuk Life Insurance recruited Bruna Morais from Brazil as a substitute, but showed less than expected skills and rather quickly replaced Lucia. It became a handshake.
And in recent years, a controversy over the abusive sisters Lee Da-young and Lee Jae-young, which can be called the final blow, has erupted. According to the recent disclosures to the online community from twin sisters who were continuously bullied by their twin sisters during school days, the level was high, ranging from habitual violence to violence to intimidation and extortion.
As the controversy grew, the twin sisters eventually apologized on social media and admitted to being abused, but public opinion has already become irreversible. Considering the actions the twin sisters have shown before and after the controversy, there are many views that even the authenticity of the apology is questioned. They are twin sisters who once appeared on numerous broadcasts as a popular star representing the volleyball world, but after this controversy, they are already clearing their traces by deleting the VOD replays they appeared on.
Also, among many fans, it is argued that Heungkuk Life Insurance and the Volleyball Federation should impose severe discipline against the twin sisters. Even if it is not disciplinary at the moment, given public opinion and various circumstances, it seems impossible for the twin sisters to compete in the game for the time being.
On the one hand, there is a reason that the public opinion toward Heungkuk Life Insurance Club, which may be seen as a victim, is not good. Of course, the controversy over schooling is said to be the negligence committed by each player before joining a pro, but Heungkuk Life seems inevitable in terms of player education and follow-up management.
Heungkuk Life Insurance was unable to properly control even though Lee Da-young had already blurred the team atmosphere several times with reckless social media activities and provocative words and actions. It was helpless until the infighting of the team was revealed to the outside through the mouths of the players.
In the end, Heungkuk Life has missed the’Golden Time’, which was able to settle the squad’s atmosphere and evolve the situation early, just to notice between the team’s performance and the strength of the star players. In addition, the disposition of the sisters Lee Da-young and Lee Jae-young, who are now exposed to the fact of being abusive, has been criticized for being concerned with’protecting perpetrators’ rather than victims and fans, with an ambiguous attitude.
If you are a professional club, you need to have the unique culture, discipline, and discipline of the team. That way, no matter what kind of crisis comes, it is possible to cope with the principle. It is not a prestigious club that attracts good players and wins a lot. However, Heungkuk Life was consistent with only amateur-like actions throughout the incident. It is inevitable that it seems like an empty back north until the incident worsens, and to post an apology and take measures to prevent recurrence. The current crisis that Heungkuk Life is facing is also the reason why the criticism that it is self-profit is inevitable.
Now, the most urgent task for Heungkuk Life Insurance is not an immediate escape from a losing streak or winning this season. It is also necessary to refer to precedents on how to deal with this situation when professional clubs in other sports such as baseball, soccer, basketball, etc. It is also a problem with the image and trust of the whole volleyball world, not just Heungkuk Life. The important thing that Heungkuk Life Insurance should consider right now is to’normalize’ the broken team atmosphere through a reasonable level of action that fans can understand even if it takes time.
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