Baejai High School's baseball team, which was handed a six-month competition ban after players chanted slogans denigrating the May 18 pro-democracy movement during a game, is in effect shut out of all remaining national tournaments this year. The deadline to file an appeal for a reduced penalty is imminent, but administrative procedures and time constraints leave the team with little realistic path back to competition.
The only national tournament still open to Baejai this year without a regional qualifying round is the 54th Bonghwang Cup National High School Baseball Tournament, which opens Aug. 6. To participate, the team would need to file an appeal this month and secure a substantial reduction of the six-month ban imposed by the Korea Baseball Softball Association's Sports Fair Committee.
Under Korea Sports and Olympic Committee (KSOC) rules, appeals of disciplinary decisions by member sports associations go to the KSOC's own Sports Fair Committee, which functions as a second and final appellate body — with the association-level committee serving as the first instance.
The rules require that an appeal be filed within seven days of receiving the disciplinary decision. Baejai must therefore submit its appeal to the KSOC's Fair Legal Affairs Office by Wednesday to seek a reduced penalty.
After filing, the team would have to wait for the KSOC Sports Fair Committee to convene and deliberate.
The KSOC Sports Fair Committee does not meet on a fixed schedule — it convenes as needed to review multiple agenda items at once. No date has been set for its next session, and there are no plans for an emergency meeting to address Baejai's case.
Even if Baejai files an appeal, receiving a reduced ruling within this month through normal procedures may prove difficult.
For Baejai to compete in the Bonghwang Cup, the KSOC Sports Fair Committee would need to overturn or effectively nullify the ban — an outcome that appears unlikely given the broad social repercussions of the incident.
However, there is another route: going directly to court without first going through the KSOC Sports Fair Committee. Short-track speed skater Shim Suk-hee took exactly that approach in December 2021, when the Korea Skating Union handed her a two-month national team suspension that threatened her bid for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Rather than filing an appeal with the KSOC Sports Fair Committee, she went straight to court seeking an injunction to suspend the ban's effect.
The controversy began June 29, when some members of the Baejai baseball team chanted "Let's go, let's go, let's go to Starbucks" and "Tank Day" toward the opposing team's dugout during a game against Gwangju Illo High School (Gwangju First High School) at Mokdong Stadium in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, at the 81st Cheongnonggi National High School Baseball Championship.
The Korea Baseball Softball Association's Sports Fair Committee voted July 1 to impose the six-month competition ban on Baejai and to award forfeit losses for the team's remaining games in the Cheongnonggi tournament.
In recent days, Baejai players and school officials visited Gwangju Illo High School to apologize. On Tuesday, Gwangju Illo principal Lee Kyu-youn issued a statement asking for leniency toward the Baejai players.
kimstar@heraldcorp.com
