試合を盛り上げる球場の「華」　韓国プロ野球のチアリーダー

【仁川ＡＦＰ＝時事】野球好きが多いことで知られる韓国では、Ｋポップの楽曲に乗せた巧みなパフォーマンスで選手と観客を盛り上げるプロのチアリーダーが、ビールやフライドチキンと同じくらい球場に欠かせない存在となっている。（写真は韓国プロ野球のＳＳＧランダースの試合で、パフォーマンスを披露するプロチアリーダーの（左から）ペ・スヒョンさん、パク・ヒョニョンさん、モク・ナギョンさん）
　新型コロナウイルスのパンデミック（世界的な大流行）が猛威を振るい、ファンがスタジアムへ入れなかった時期にも、選手はチアリーダーたちに、イニングごとのパフォーマンスを続けることを求め、彼女たちがいないと気がめいって仕方がないと訴えた。
　３７歳のペ・スヒョンさんは、２０年近くにわたり球場で踊ってきた最古参のチアリーダーだ。ペさんによれば、その間にチアリーダーに対する世間の見方も変わり、短いスカートで踊る女性という認識から、選手とファンの「橋渡し」をするプロとみなされるようになったという。
　ペさんと同僚たちにとって、チアリーダーはフルタイムの本業だ。ペさんは「私たちがいなかったら、一体感のある応援を選手に届けられない」と話し、「私たちのチアリーディングがあるから、選手は打席やマウンドにいっそう集中できる。私たちがファンを一つにしている」と誇った。
　「私たちは試合の華。私たちがいなかったら、試合の面白みは薄れると思う」
　ペさんたちが踊るＳＳＧランダースの試合を観戦に訪れた２３歳のファンは、チアリーダーが「球場に明るいエネルギー」をもたらしていると言い、彼女たちがいなければ、試合はもっと「寂しい」印象になるだろうと話した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/05/16-13:15）

In baseball-mad South Korea teams of professional cheerleaders pumping up players and fans with elaborate K-pop routines are as integral to the games as beer and fried chicken.
Imported by American missionaries more than 100 years ago, baseball is South Korea's most cherished spectator sport, beating out even football.
There are no cheerleaders in Major League Baseball in the United States, but they are central to the spectacle in South Korea as they relentlessly dance, cheer and lead the fan chanting throughout entire games.
Even when stadiums were devoid of supporters during the height of the pandemic, the players requested that the cheerleading teams continue to perform every innings, saying it was too depressing without them.
We usually performed facing the players not the empty seats so we were really able to watch the game and cheer in earnest, 21-year-old Mok Na-gyeong, a cheerleader with the number-one ranked SSG team, told AFP.
We receive thank-you messages from players saying they got an extra dose of energy from us, she said, adding that players sometimes request tweaks to their introduction songs.
Every baseball player in South Korea's KBO League has a song written for them by their team. When they step up to the batter's box, their music is blasted out into stadiums and the cheerleaders start dancing.
- 'Flowers of the game' -
Bae Soo-hyun, 37, is South Korea's longest-serving cheerleader and has been performing at SSG Landers Field in Incheon for nearly two decades.
The public perception of cheerleaders has changed, she said, from women in short skirts who dance to professionals who act as a bridge between players and fans.
Usually, between four and six SSG cheerleaders perform on a stage in front of one section of the stand.
Their uniform includes a white crop-top with lace over it and silver epaulets, plus wedge trainers to give them extra height.
For Bae and her colleagues it is a full-time job.
Without us there wouldn't be coordinated cheering for the players, she said, describing how she and her team lead fans through dance routines and chants for specific players.
Our cheerleading helps players focus more at bat and on the mound. We unite the fans.
South Koreans are so accustomed to cheerleaders running through their routines with every twist and turn of the game that to watch baseball without them is unthinkable, she said.
We are the flowers of the game... it would be far less entertaining if we weren't there!
South Korea has a strong culture of fandom.
The fans of K-pop sensations BTS are known as ARMY, for example, and their collective power has been brought to bear on everything from disrupting Trump rallies to fundraising for Ukraine.
South Korean baseball fans have a strong sense of loyalty to their teams, they see us cheerleaders as practically family members too, she said.
- The 3s policy -
South Korea's professional baseball league is a legacy of former president Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power through a military coup in 1979, crushing democracy movements nationwide.
In a bid to distract South Korean civilians from politics, he then eased tight controls on popular culture in what would become known as the 3s policy of promoting sports, sex and screen.
He abolished curfews, poured money into the film industry, especially into promoting erotic movies, and established professional baseball and football leagues.
Chun tried to divert critical attention drawn to his dictatorship by launching a pro-baseball league, said Song Gi-seong, a sports journalist at broadcaster MBC.
While there was a political ulterior motive behind the launch, it has turned out to be South Korea's most popular sport league over the past 40 years.
Initially the military regime used an element of coercion to force companies to sponsor teams and support the new leagues.
But in hindsight it laid down the groundwork for baseball to become a sizeable sports industry.
Professional teams created their own cheer squads in the 1980s and began using them as an active audience marketing strategy, according to the Korea Cheerleading Association.
The strategy worked, and now for many fans, the synchronised cheering in the crowd is as important as the action on the field.
Park Han-eol, 23, who was watching at SSG stadium while waving a Korean flag, said that the cheerleaders bring positive energy to the ballpark.
The games would feel empty without them, Park added.