Christmas Special Cracker! Check out Dan Magness, Billy Fincham, Mr Woo &
Gerbeshi in this amazing Christmas clip!!!
Interview:
Mr Woo Byline:
Baktosch Gillan
‘Mr Woo' is widely acknowledged as the world's greatest football
entertainer. He can juggle the ball with his head, shoulders, chest, knees and,
of course, feet. And is perhaps the most complete Football Freestyler on the
planet! He is also a Guinness World Records holder after keeping the ball up
with his head for five hours, six minutes and 30 seconds. Born in Korea, at a very early age Woo
realised he had a unique talent with the football. Inspired by Diego Maradona
and his unique mastery of the ball, Woo practiced and practiced to emulate the
skill, and has since become the world’s number one freestyler. “From a young age, I have been crazy about
football,” he says. “I started playing football when I was four years old when
my uncle bought me a football for my birthday and ever since I wanted to be a
footballer - football is the only sport in Korea. “At school I was always the best player -
everyone called me Pele because I the most skilful.” Woo won a national football skills
competition in Korea
and decided he wanted to become a professional footballer and achieved this in
his home country. “I wanted to continue to play professionally but
in Korea
there is no money in football and as the only son, my parents wanted me to go
to university. I tried to concentrate on studying but my grades were getting
worse and worse because all I could do was think about playing football,” he
says. “I decided that to leave Korea for Europe
was the best thing for me to do. I kept training to improve my touch ball
juggling because I knew I had to impress.” Woo went on to play in the German league for
Stuttgart Kickers. Still practicing his amazing ball skills, Woo realised he
wanted to become the Greatest Football Entertainer in the World. His ball control gained him national recognition
when he performed at the final of the German Cup and then back in Korea,
Woo showed of his routine at the opening ceremony of the Seoul Olympic Games in
1988. “I did some travelling around Europe and went
home to Korea.
That’s when I started doing shows in the streets and also started coaching.”
During the
Italia '90 World Cup, Woo performed for Pele at his 50th birthday. He
then moved to Hawaii
in the U.S.A. and began
coaching as well performing at various events in Las Vegas. He performed again for fans in
World Cup '94 and on numerous occasions performed in front of big audiences for
the Outrigger Hotels group in Hawaii.
Woo again became involved in the FIFA World Cup
in 2002 when the tournament was held in his native Japan/Korea. As an
ambassador for the World Cup 2002 in Korea, he promoted the event at
many games. Woo then decided to perform his awesome skills
in the UK, the 'home of
football' and has performed on television, for Nike in recent freestyle
commercials and events across the UK, at football matches, corporate
events, coaching and even impromptu public appearances. “I always wanted to come to England because of the love for
football here - it is part of the culture. I met a newspaper journalist and he
helped me settle in England.”
Woo appeared on Football Focus, juggling the
ball and showing his vast array of tricks throughout the entire program. Mark
Lawrenson and Mick McCarthy were guests on the show and clearly impressed by
his skills!
“I started
performing and did shows in Covent Garden and
I was asked to go on BBC’s Football Focus – that was my first television
performance over here. From there I was asked to do more shows and then Nike started
working with freestylers in their commercials.” Woo appeared in the Nike Stickman TV commercial
as part of the Nike Freestyle campaign. He played the part of the 'Stickman'
character and had to wear a special green suit so they could super-impose the
computer generated Stickman character onto him. The advert also featured Ronaldinho – after
which the World Cup winner was so impressed with Woo's skills that he even
asked Woo to sign his football for him! “I did a commercial with Ronaldinho. Since then
I have done a lot more – for Euro 2004 – the T-mobile commercial. That was
played on the big screens at all the stadiums in Korea and in the Premiership. I
also did a commercial for the BBC’s Match of the Day. “I have met many players – Ronaldinho, Pele,
Maradona, Geoff Hurst, and Beckenbauer invited me to the opening ceremony of
the 2006 World Cup. I did a half-time show for the Charity Shield and met the
whole Manchester United team. All the Premiership players I have met say Mr Woo
is their hero!
In what
must be considered to be one of the greatest honours bestowed upon any Football
Freestyler in the world, Mr Woo was recently granted an honorary ambassadorial
role for the 2014 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games Bid.
"I
felt very honoured at being recognised by my country in this! To be recognised
by your own country and given such a responsibility is something very
special!" Woo emphasied.
“My dream
is to continue this style of football – entertaining with teams of freestylers
playing in a different way. Now most of the top freestylers are working
together at Kaos Football and my dream is to set up the Football Freestyle
Federation.
“That I think is the way to make freestyling
more popular – I want more people to become members so that this vision of
football as entertainment can grow all over the
world –
with individual competitions and the team concept – there are many
possibilities.”
