Son Heung-min’s father among coaches accused of child abuse: Reports
Son Heung-min’s father Son Woong-jung and two other coaches have been accused of verbally and physically abusing a young football player, according to local reports Wednesday.
The elder Son, who runs the Son Football Academy in Chuncheon, Gangwon, and two coaches are accused of verbally and physically abusing a player during a training camp in Okinawa, Japan in March.
The parents of the player reported Son and the two coaches to the police in March after finding a bruise on their son’s thigh, Yonhap News Agency revealed Wednesday.
Gangwon provincial police referred the case to the prosecution in April, but the story was not broken until the Yonhap report this week.
According to that report, the parents claim that a coach struck their son in the thigh with a corner flag on March 9, requiring two weeks of treatment.
The player also reported that he and three other players were struck on the bottom after failing to run fast enough, were hit in different body parts by a coach while in the dormitory and were verbally abused by Son.
Son denied the allegations in a statement shared by Yonhap.
“I swear that coaches at my academy have never engaged in any action that wasn’t based on love for our young players,” Son said, according to Yonhap. “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.”
But Son did admit that his approach might be out of date.
“I admit that I stuck to my own ways without recognizing the standards set by the changing times,” he said. “I will seek other ways that can help young athletes concentrate on the field and stay committed to training.”
Son also claimed the parents of the player demanded “hundreds of millions of won” in a settlement, although their attorney later refuted that claim in his own statement to Yonhap.
Son Woong-jung is a high-profile figure in Korean football due to the role he played in his son’s development and career. He has been both praised and criticized for his disciplinarian approach to Son’s football education, requiring the young Son Heung-min to train for six hours a day, every day throughout his childhood.
Details on the ongoing prosecution investigation into Son Woong-jung and the two coaches had not been released as of press time Wednesday.
Details on the ongoing prosecution investigation into Son Woong-jung and the two coaches had not been released as of press time Wednesday.
He made a mistake.’
Son Heung-min has revealed that Spurs teammate Rodrigo Bentancur has apologised for making a racist remark.
Bentancur claimed that all South Koreans “look the same” during an interview with Uruguayan TV earlier this week, with Kick it Out confirming they had received a “significant number” of complaints regarding Bentancur’s comments.
Spurs have said that they have been “providing assistance” while Son himself has said the 26-year-old has issued an apology.
A statement from the club on X said:
“We fully support that our captain Sonny feels that he can draw a line under the incident and that the team can focus on the new season ahead. We are extremely proud of our diverse, global fanbase and playing squads.
“Discrimination of any kind has no place at our Club, within our game or within wider society.”
“I’ve spoken with Lolo [Bentancur]. He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised.
“Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.
“We’re past this, we’re united, and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”
Bentancur previously posted: “Sonny brother! I apologise to you for what happened, it was just a very bad joke.”
Gary Lineker has said he will apologise to Frank Lampard after a brutal joke he made about his hairline went viral.
Lineker and Lampard both presented the BBC’s coverage of Germany’s win against Hungary together.
During the coverage Lineker went on to explain that screen behind the studio blocked out interruptions to the broadcast from the public, to which Lampard joked that if it was gone, people would only see the back of his head.
“They’d see my head! They wouldn’t turn up for that,” Lampard said.
In true Lineker style he jokingly responded: “No, you’re right, nobody wants to see the back of your head these days, that’s for sure.”
Lampard turned from delight to despair with his famous Lampardian transition but when quizzed about it on his Rest of Football podcast, Lineker said he owes the Chelsea legend an apology.
He said: “Obviously Frank’s slightly thinning, I’m slightly thinning, and I actually meant it about everyone. But when it came out, it came out a bit wrong. And you know Frank does that thing where he smiles, and then he suddenly doesn’t smile?
“Frank’s great fun, he won’t mind. I must admit, when I got back to the hotel I saw it on social media and thought, ‘Oh you f*****g idiot.’
“I felt really bad, I’ll have to apologise. I will apologise because it wasn’t deliberate but I get how funny it was. Those things happen on live TV.”
