K-League club FC Seoul have been fined almost €75,000 after they used sex dolls to fill the empty stands during a recent behind-closed-doors fixture.
The K-League was one of the first sports leagues to make a return amidst the coronavirus pandemic, with fixtures being played behind closed doors. This led to some clubs coming up with creative ways to fill their stands, with FC Seoul choosing to do so with mannequins.
However, they accidentally received a shipment of sex dolls instead.
South Korean club FC Seoul have apologised after accidentally using sex dolls as an alternative to real fans: https://t.co/l9tgnCcgFc pic.twitter.com/4a9JzVNX7R
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 18, 2020
K-League club FC Seoul have been forced to apologise after using 'adult toys' as fake supporters during Sunday's clash against Gwangju 😬🤣
(📸: @WhoAteTheSquid) pic.twitter.com/x2OMqe7y4b— GOAL (@goal) May 18, 2020
The club have blamed it on a mixup with the suppliers and claim they had no idea that the mannequins used were indeed sex dolls.
With the K-League not allowing any advertising of a sexual nature, they were forced to hand down the fine. They said in a statement:
The disciplinary committee decided to take heavy disciplinary action considering the graveness of the incident, caused by the 'real doll', that has greatly insulted and hurt female and family fans and to prevent similar incidents going forward.
FC Seoul apologised for the incident, placing the blame on the company who supplied the dolls:
We would like to apologise to the fans. We are deeply sorry about the mannequins that were seated during the May 17, 2020 match.
However, we would like to clarify that while these mannequins have been made to look and feel like real humans, they are not for sexual use — as confirmed by the manufacturer.
We had them supplied by a company... which claimed they are clothing mannequins. We double- [and] triple-checked that they are not for sexual use.
