Friday, August 30, 2024 - Tottenham star Son Heung-min's father, Son Woong-Jung, has reportedly been 'summarily indicted for charges relating to 'abusing young players at his South Korean football training centre'.
According to Seoul-based news agency Yonhap,
prosecutors have demanded Son Senior, and two other football coaches at his
training centre, the Son Academy, 'pay an undisclosed fine'.
The coaches are also being ordered to 'complete a training
program designed to prevent further child abuse.'
Yonhap states that one of the assistants is Son Heung-min's
brother, Heung-yun, who is three years older than the
32-year-old Tottenham forward.
Son Woong-jung, 62, is a well-known figure in South Korea,
having played football professionally for teams including Sangmu FC, Hyundai
Horang-i and Ilhwa Chunma as a forward. He was also selected to represent South
Korea's B team back in 1987.
The outlet states that the football coaches have been
accused by players and their parents of 'physically and verbally abusing young
players' at the Son Football Academy, located in Chuncheon.
In June, Mail Online reported that Son Woong-Jung was
accused of beating a student with a corner flag for 'coming last in a race'.
Son Woong-jung has acknowledged that the incident had taken
place and apologised. But he denied that the treatment of players amounted to
physical abuse.
'This incident was not corporal punishment but a mutually
agreed event as part of fitness training,' he said in a statement. The player
came last in a race, he said and was supposed to be 'hit once' on the thigh.
The player's parents reported the football coach to the
police in March following the training camp and claimed Son senior had struck
their son on the thigh with the flag on March, 9, at a training camp in
Okinawa, Japan, with the injury requiring two weeks of treatment.
'Thinking about how frightened my son must have been makes
me angry,' the father of the student said via Yonhap.
'I decided to report the case to the police because I didn't
want to see another case like this.'
Police had forwarded the matter to prosecutors in April,
with Son senior subsequently releasing a statement on the incident after
attempting to settle the matter with the player's parents.
'We are currently awaiting a fair legal judgement based on
facts,' Son Woong-Jung said in a statement, before stating his coaching methods
had failed to uphold standards relating to player welfare.
'I will self-reflect in atonement for having insisted on my
method while failing to catch up with the boundaries set by the change of times
and laws,' he said.
He added that some of the facts as told by those giving
evidence were 'not true'.
'I swear that coaches at my academy have never engaged in
any action that wasn't based on love for our young players.
'Much of what the plaintiff has said is not true, and we at
the academy are fully cooperating with the authorities during this
investigation, without distorting or covering up facts.'
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