Watching the birth of another urban legend?

Perhaps, we are watching the birth of another urban legend.

CHANG HYE-SOOThe author is a content production editor of the JoongAng Ilbo. Urban legends are stories that are not proven but are circulated as if they are true. For example, Koreans say, “If you play the flute or whistle at night, a snake will appear.” If true, it would be a groundbreaking discovery for reptile studies. Here’s another. “If you sleep with a fan on in a closed space, you will suffocate to death.” If true, a sequel to the 1994 movie “How to Top My Wife” should be made.

According to American folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, there are three conditions needed for urban legends to emerge: “they should have a persistent hold on the imagination because they have an element of suspense or humor; they should be plausible; and they should have a morality. Most of them are only partially true but sound plausible in general.

In Korean sports, there is an urban legend about the Gyeonggi High School football team. The story goes, the high school had a football team and a baseball team before high schools were standardized. As the school was famous for its academic excellence, neither team performed well in competitions. The alumni association decided to get rid of one of them. The two teams will play one of the two sports by random drawing, and football was picked. But the baseball team won by 7 to 1, and the football team was dissolved.

The story is partially true, as Gyeonggi High School now only has a baseball team. People seem to think it is a believable story for the school. It remains an urban legend.

Last month, the last graduation ceremony for Deoksu High School — formerly Deoksu Commercial High School — was held on its campus in Haengdang-dong, northern Seoul. Deoksu Commercial High School opened in 1910 and changed its name to Deoksu Information High School in 1997, and then general-education Deoksu High School in 2007. Due to the decline in the school-aged population in downtown areas, the school was moved to Wirye New City in 2022. The Haengdang campus will close soon.

As these stories were falsely spread, rumors say that the Deoksu High School baseball team is about to be disbanded or the Deoksu High School baseball team will be integrated to the Gyeonggi Commercial High School. I checked with Deoksu High School, and its runs its baseball team in Wirye New City. I almost witnessed the birth of another urban legend.

At least there is some truth to it. With the drastically declining birth rate and increase of single-child families, the number of aspiring athletes has plummeted. Not only inner-city schools are closing due to the decrease in students. School sports teams are also disbanding. After Team Korea did not perform well at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, some people attributed it to the population decline. Without resolving this problem, it is hard to expect a result like the past in Korea’s future sports competitions.

And yet, others put the blame on the athletes’ slack mentality for nearly everything. Then, joining the Marine Corps Camp was presented as a solution. How about just get rid of the Jincheon National Training Center completely and conduct the national team training at a Marine Corps camp? Perhaps, we are watching the birth of another urban legend.