Heung-Min Son (손흥민)

  • The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

Must say one of the things that I feel relieved about in the midst of our another injury crisis is that Son has been remarkably durable over the last few seasons. I actually can’t remember him being off injured for quite a long time, in fact I can’t remember any injuries other than his first season when he was off for plantar fasciitis.

Ever since then he’s pretty much been available every time when Harry has been injured to fill the centre forward spot, Son and Eriksen pretty much seems to play almost every game every season. And this is considering he played way more games with tighter schedules than everyone else with his Asian games and whatnot.

This Does not comment on his performance issues but I must say it is comforting that he’s available whether he’s playing well or not.

Another reason to why it's important we keep hold of Eriksen and Son. Continuity is underrated, which is why we need to take Kane's recent issues very seriously, and let him fully heal, regardless of if Kane himeself wants to play or not.
 
That's true, but it's also completely understandable. After all, Asia may be the largest and most populated (by far) continent on Earth, but in the West, Asians remain a rather severe minority. The entirety of Asians, of all kinds, in the UK comprises only 6.9% of the country's population, and the bulk of that are people whose ancestry comes from India or Pakistan. Similarly, in the US the percentage is actually only 5.2% (+0.6% if you're including mixed race Asians), heavily skewed in favor of Chinese.


In other words Asians, collectively, only make up roughly 1 in 20 people in the US, so if you're ever watching American media which portrays Asians at higher rates than this, they're technically being over-represented. Sounds strange to say, but a fact it nonetheless remains. The reason I bring it up, is because often the whole discussion of 'representation' in media tends to forget these facts, and it's frequently chalked up to racism, when it's actually just a reflection of demographic reality.

And as for football, well, that's solely down to whether or not certain regions of the world produce fine footballers. Notice how the PL is not swarming with players from the US, for instance, and no-one could accuse the US of being underprivileged. Indeed, if clubs were to start deliberately purchasing American players just for the sake of increasing their 'representation' to attract fans in the US, then I would call that horrendously cynical, not to mention commercial, and unlikely to build the best team.

I say all of this not to argue against your point regarding Korean fans. I agree with you about that, and I am very happy to see such fans supporting THFC, even if it's down to a favorite player. I'm glad Asians have a footballing hero to look up to and admire, and as has been noted by someone else, this is actually how most people become fans anyway. But once you have become a fan of a team, it's pretty bad form to then just ditch that team in favour of a new one just because the player you liked got transferred.



That's going a bit too far, and in fact I'd argue it's really the opposite of that. It's simply holding the Korean fans to the same standards as all the other fans, actually. See, you mention Ronaldo and Messi, but neither of them are supported so greatly around the world because of their ethnicity. Also, I'd like you to consider Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid from Manchester United. Do you believe that a ton of people who had become United fans suddenly became Madrid fans just because their favorite player had moved? If they did, then to be perfectly honest with you I reckon most football fans would write them off as plastic, and yes, to a certain degree disloyal. How about if Dele Alli gets poached by City; is it reasonable to expect fans to switch allegiances, or would the very thought of this cause most of our fans to have a heart attack? I don't imagine too many kind words would be showered upon the 'fans' who switched...

So while I do agree with you about how great it is to have this Korean support, you have to appreciate that football culture is essentially built upon loyalty, and so it remains a highly valued currency among the fans. It's not taking something for granted to expect the same from Asians, regardless of how undersold you think they are in media. Instead, it's welcoming them into the fold, and saying: "here's the rules". :)

Just some food for thought.

what pisses me off is not the amount of representation, its the type.

East asian men are alway geeky or oddballs on films/tv shows.

You will never see a macho lead character played by one.
 
what pisses me off is not the amount of representation, its the type.

East asian men are alway geeky or oddballs on films/tv shows.

You will never see a macho lead character played by one.
Jackie Chan might disagree...but then he usually plays geeky macho lead characters...

Edit: I take you've never seen Oldboy either...
 
what pisses me off is not the amount of representation, its the type.

East asian men are alway geeky or oddballs on films/tv shows.

You will never see a macho lead character played by one.
Hiro in Heroes is the one I can remember in western TV fairly recently. But he also started as a goof but grew into a more serious character.

Otherwise serious Asian characters in western media are usually sidekicks or side characters rather than main focus.
 
Hiro in Heroes is the one I can remember in western TV fairly recently. But he also started as a goof but grew into a more serious character.

Otherwise serious Asian characters in western media are usually sidekicks or side characters rather than main focus.

Are western actors used a lot in Asian media? (serious question, not loaded)
 
Last edited:
Son knows the meaning and appreciation of playing for the shirt!
Its called loyalty and a love of your club and teammates !
Superjan and Son club Best and Fairest this season by miles!

Someone else has been "making the childrens happy" too.
 
He did break his arm on national duty just as the 17-18 season started. But he only missed a week or two before he was back playing with a cast.

But yeah, dude is durable. It's important that we look after him and probably bring in some back up so we do not run Sonny into the ground if Kane will end up being injured each season now which might be the case.

Defo need that 3rd primary goal scorer now.

Be that Dele then fine, but equally his deeper MF duties will need supplementing accordingly on a squad-depth level.
 
I disagree. Vast majority of "nationwide" fans of Chicago Bulls faded as soon as Michael Jordan retired.

Then why are they still the 9th most supported team in the NBA, despite having been (relatively) crap for 20 years? They've led the attendance record for the NBA for 8 years straight, and that takes into account both home and away support. This article also suggests that they've never been lower than 2nd in attendance in any year since 2004.

Seems like Jordan's retirement didn't damage them too much, at least off-court.


Anyway, I'm aware that this is a derailing of the thread, so I'm going to stop talking about it. Peace.
 
Last edited:
giphy.webp
 
I disagree. Vast majority of "nationwide" fans of Chicago Bulls faded as soon as Michael Jordan retired. As with Wayne Gretzky. Joe Montana...

United example was to ask what international fan's loyalty should be based on. It was extreme example of everything anyone loved about the team being changed. Not just the manager and star player. But "ENTIRE" player roster and their style.

And when a man all United fans hated, Mourinho became manager of United, all of sudden fans support him. And then criticize him as soon as he got sacked...

AKA hard times for their club..... Take the rough with the smooth.... Fan to fan, how they rationalise cheering on a Jose managed United will differ greatly, but the very fact that they were prepared to 'bend' in such as way; That's the quirks of SUPPORT for the deeper good of one's club.

Much like buying a match-ticket doesn't guarantee a win and a rosey afternoon's entertainment; one's pledge of fandom doesn't come with equivalent guarantees of 'good times only'.

Loyalty can be interpreted many ways. Just have to acknowledge there are different type of fans and loyalty.

As per footballing culture; what you describe simply ISN'T supporter loyalty.

Need more insight into football supporter culture... Dig into the recent plight of Coventry, Charlton, Blackpool, Blackburn...

Some soldiers are loyal to the country and some are loyal to their superiors.

"Loyalty" is not the same as "obedience" and chain of command.


Incidentally.... Which army did you opt to be a "fan" of, btw? : P

Seriously tho, transpose this scenario onto a domestic SK sports team/league... It shouldn't be that hard to comprehend.

Staff come and go, the club remains and the SUPPORTERS (not customers!) are a large part of what constitutes said club; past, present and future... I'm not N17-born and bred, so even though you're geographically miles further away; it's still just an extension of the same principal.

Obv. my comments are dependent on you having some deeper affinity with the game itself than merely "Yay... I see SK bloke...", but assuming you have, eventually, it boils down to a simple question:

Are you a supporter of Sonny or Tottenham Hotspur?

Ask some of our US-fans or European neighbours here on TFC for example. Presumably a player or a moment attracted them to the club (regardless of initial exposure by whatever means), but their support out-lasted said player or moment and are still with us.

The logical interpretation of your posts is that your days 'with' us appear numbered... Whether 'tourist' or 'fanboy' is most appropriate phrasing I'll let someone else decide.

Not necessarily attributing this last part to yourself; but I take offense the false notion propped up by fanboy-ism that somehow everyone else is secondary and subsurvient to the subject of their adoration (as examplified by some of the Kane conspiracies that lurk within this very thread)... It's an insult to the other 10 men in Lilywhite afaic.

An aside: I appreciate the earlier F1 analogy, but it feels like an anomoly more than defining any sense of 'rule'.....

Personally, I simply can't get my head round cheering on a team of engineers, no matter how much I can respect their brains... By default you're left cheering the driver, but ordinarily, yes, I'd still cheer the team. rather than the driver for the same reasons as football....

I mean; once driver X retires do I get left supporting no-one until such time that a driver surfaces that I take an inexplicable liking to? ....Similar, When Son retires; where does whatever passion you had for the game go? ...What about all the joy that those men in Lilywhite brought to enable you to enjoy your countryman's day in the sun? ...That counted for nothing all along?

Further to your anology, It won't be unheard of for your team to sign a player you weren't keen on. However, even the most devout supporter wouldn't be inclined to 'revoke' their fandom unless it was a matter of high principal (i.e. The player was a true scum-bag who'd sully the name of the club itself) at which point you'd be talking a boycott anyway and pointing fingers AT the way the club is run as your only tangible course of action anyway. You yourself already brought up Jose/Utd.




(You may note my insistent and deliberate use of the word SUPPORTER.... Personally, I don't think the term 'fan' means a great deal.... )
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom