Applause broke out in the 37th minute of the first half. A placard that read ‘Cheer up, Siyoung’ also appeared. Seongnam FC supporters and spectators stood up and applauded for 37 seconds to pray for the recovery of Hong Shi-yeong (11), who is suffering from childhood cancer. Yang Hong was wearing a mask in the headquarters seat. Inside the mask, a pretty smile would have spread gently. 37 means Hongyang’s birthday, March 7th.
On the 16th at Tancheon Sports Complex in Seongnam, the main character of the Seongnam-Cheonan, second division professional football match was Yang Hong. The Seongnam club played the game as a prayer for recovery after learning about Hong Yang, a Seongnam fan, fighting the disease through supporters. Hong Yang also intuited the match by begging his parents.
Seongnam players entered the stadium wearing T-shirts wishing for a recovery. Club staff also wore T-shirts to work. The spectators who bought and wore T-shirts also stood out. On the T-shirt, the character Hongyang kicking a ball was drawn with the phrase ‘#Siyeong-ah, cheer up #We’ll be together’. 메이저놀이터
Owner Shin Sang-jin (Mayor of Seongnam) also heard the story and came to the stadium to encourage Hong-yang. Mayor Shin said, “Yang Hong was discharged from the hospital yesterday and came to the stadium today.” Yang Hong is a fan of goalkeeper Kim Young-kwang. Prior to the game, Kim Young-gwang, along with captain Shim Dong-woon and last year’s captain Kwon Sun-hyung, visited Hong Yang and presented him with his goalkeeper gloves to wish for a speedy recovery.
Park Jong-Im, Hong Yang’s mother, said, “Si-Young kept smiling even when he was sick after receiving the team’s autograph.” His father, Hong Jin-geun, is a longtime Seongnam fan. All of his family became Seongnam fans. Mr. Hong held her daughter’s hand tightly and said, “Si-young likes to draw, so I often drew pictures cheering for the Seongnam team.”
Seongnam made and sold 100 T-shirts praying for recovery that day. A portion of the proceeds from the admission will also go towards treatment expenses. Fantoon writer Yoo-wol gives Hongyang all the proceeds from selling stickers. Seongnam supporters are also collecting money for Hong’s treatment. Seongnam, who played harder for Hong Yang, won 2-0 with goals from Jeong Han-min and Denilson. After Jeong Han-min scored the winning goal, he and his teammates held up a uniform with Hong Yang’s name on it.