On July 18, some girl group members — including Apink‘s Oh Hayoung and gugudan‘s Sejeong — shared news of the “FC Rumor W” women’s soccer team being founded.
In the picture posted, several idols and celebrities were tagged. The star-studded line up included TWICE‘s Mina and Jihyo, EXID‘s Jeonghwa, gugudan’s Nayoung, model Kim Sa Rang, actress Kim Sae Ron, and more.
Unfortunately, the news attracted haters — who insisted that the FC Rumor W team has been created for the purpose of “fraternizing” with the members of the men’s team under the same name, FC Rumor, like SEVENTEEN‘s Seungkwan, ASTRO‘s Cha Eunwoo, and 2AM‘s Lim Seulong.
58 male members + 21 female members = 79 total members. We’re grateful so many of you have passionately joined in pursuit of a healthy hobby. As the team leader, I wholeheartedly look forward to running this Instagram! Let’s be careful not to get hurt. Go FC Rumor! I looooooove us! #FCRumor #FCRumorW #79Members #HaveFunExercising #WithTheEnergyOfANationalTeam #LetTheGoodRumorsSpread
— FC Rumor & FC Rumor W’s official Instagram account
When the press coverage about FC Rumor W fueled more haters to show aggressiveness toward the team, both Hayoung and Sejeong spoke up to clarify. In her Instagram story, Sejeong wrote:
Oh… Uhhhhm, this is not it. 1. The men’s team and the women’s team are not associated. We have never interacted and will never. We don’t know who’s on the team and we don’t really intend on knowing. Really, seriously, honestly. We’re happy by ourselves. 2. We formed the team because we really like soccer and we want to learn how to play. It’s a good hobby-forming group. 3. There are non-celebrities on the team too… And we, as the celebrities, should have been more careful as to protect their privacies. That, we admit we didn’t think through.
— gugudan’s Sejeong
Hayoung explained in a thread of tweets that no malicious comments will be tolerated.
Hey pandas, I’ve been reading some of the things being sent my way and I wanted to point out that the members only interact amongst ourselves and we don’t ever interact with anyone outside the team. I see it has raised some concerns and I wanted to make sure it’s not a problem. It caught me off guard to receive so many malicious and sexually harassing comments. I’ve never even heard some of these things before. But I don’t want the fans to worry. So I wanted to clarify the points that seem to be causing the confusion. We have never met up with anyone. We got together because we like sports and competition. We are a women’s team made of members who love soccer. We started playing because we like sweating it out and getting fit. I think there has been a lot of misunderstanding and rumor-spreading. But again, I started learning because I wanted to eventually share with my fans that I’m a legitimate soccer player. I guess some people took this the wrong way.
— Apink’s Oh Hayoung
Hayoung then apologized, “Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
Sorry for the misunderstanding. The agency and I will discuss how to deal with the malicious comments. Anyway, we’re only trying to have fun while pursuing our goals. Please stop spreading rumors about us. Again, we’re a separate team from the men’s team. We’ve never seen or played soccer with them. When fans worry, it makes me worried. And I know we need to be cautious about gathering right now. We’ve been super careful. But you guys are still concerned, I’ll be even more careful.
— Apink’s Oh Hayoung
To prevent the unexpected controversy from growing any further, the posts sharing the team picture have since been deleted from the stars’ social media platforms — and FC Rumor W’s official Instagram account has been switched to private. The entire thing has K-Pop fans left wondering though, “Why would it have been problematic in the first place?”
- “Sorry for the misunderstanding…? Why is Hayoung apologizing for this? She’s not the one who caused the misunderstanding…”
- “You know, I like how they get together to work out. Looks healthy. Sounds inspiring. I want more female celebrities to make and join sports teams.”
- “LMAO. I’m f*cking baffled. Girls can’t even get together to be friends and play some soccer? Stop making things controversial. Why would it have been problematic in the first place? It’s funny that they had to clarify anything.”
- “Literally, there are so many f*cking idiots out there… Like, being a girl group member must be f*cking exhausting.”
- “Wow… I can’t believe some female celebrities getting together to play soccer got this far. What is wrong with some people who went batsh*t crazy over this? Stop apologizing, girls. There is no need.”