The Paichai High School baseball team, which sparked controversy by shouting a hate-laced cheer toward the opposing school at the Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship, has been handed a six-month suspension from national tournaments.

The Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA) announced that on the 1st, at Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, it convened the 11th Sports Fairness Committee meeting and, after reviewing the Paichai team’s inappropriate cheering slogan, voted to impose a six-month ban from national tournaments.

The sanction takes effect immediately from the second round of the 81st Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship on the 2nd. Paichai High School will be assessed a forfeit in the Blue Dragon Flag tournament.

Some Paichai players, during their Blue Dragon Flag game against Gwangju Jeil High School at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 29th of last month, shouted the chant “Let’s go to Starbucks” toward the opposing dugout. This was taken as a mocking cheer evoking Starbucks Korea’s so-called ‘5·18 Tank Day’ event controversy, leading to a wave of public criticism.

Considering the gravity of the matter, the association urgently convened the Sports Fairness Committee. Of the seven committee members, five attended the meeting, and fourmeeting the quorumtook part in deliberations. The managers of Paichai and Gwangju Jeil High School, as well as the umpire for the game at the time, also appeared to testify to the facts.

After a comprehensive review of the facts and testimonies, the committee determined that the incident ran counter to the spirit of sport and disrupted order at the venue. Having reviewed the Korea Sports association rules and the association’s Sports Fairness Committee regulations, the association explained that it deemed the case to constitute team-level ‘disruption of venue order’ and ‘interference with the game’, rather than an individual offense, and decided on a group sanction.

However, disciplinary measures for individual coaches and players will proceed separately. During the suspension period, the association will conduct a thorough investigation to identify those involved and will reconvene the Sports Fairness Committee to determine penalty levels for each individual.

The association also decided to pursue institutional improvements to prevent recurrence. Going forward, at the managers’ home-plate meeting before games at all tournaments, it will be mandatory to brief teams on the prohibition of inappropriate cheering, and the tournament operations rules will add a new aggravating standard for cases that ‘cause significant social·economic harm to an individual or group’.

It also plans to consult with relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, to prepare educational programs that enhance coaches’ and student-athletes’ proper understanding of history and social sensitivity.

The KBSA stated, “We take this matter seriously and will pursue follow-up measures and institutional reforms to eradicate inappropriate cheering culture in stadiums and prevent a recurrence.”