When the final whistle blew at the Bucheon stadium on November 9th, 2005, at the end of a 1-1 draw against Daejeon, few in the stadium would have thought it would be 865 days until league football would again take place at the same venue.
SK Group's controversial decision to relocate Bucheon SK to Jeju at the start of 2006 deprived the Bucheon supporters of their K-League club, but almost immediately the movement to create a replacement citizen club began in earnest and that dream became reality when newly-founded Bucheon FC 1995 took the field against Gyeongju Citizen in the opening round of the 2008 K3 League season.
Despite the heavens opening an hour before kick-off, a K3 League record 1,211 spectators were in attendance to witness the historic match and the return of football to Bucheon.
The home side went on the offensive from the start and, but for the heroics of the Gyeongju goalkeeper, would have gone ahead in the 20th minute when Han Suk-jin bore down on goal but was thwarted with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Goalless at half-time, it took just three minutes after the restart for Bucheon to record their first ever goal. Playing-coach Kim Tae-ryung, the 25 year-old ex Chunnam Dragons man whose top-flight career was curtailed by injury, took full advantage of a free-kick award on the left edge of the box as he curled an unstoppable shot up over the wall and into the top right corner of the Gyeongju goal.
Kim turned goal provider in the 54th minute, as his long looping pass allowed Kim Jin-du to bear down on goal and, after rounding the goalkeeper he calmly slotted the ball into the net to secure the three points.
Elsewhere on the opening day, 2007 K3 champions Seoul United suffered a surprise home defeat to league debutants Gwangju Gwangsan with the visitors netting in the 84th and 89th minutes to claim the points. There was defeat too for runners-up Hwaseong Sinwoo Electronics, whilst Goyang FC, the side formed by supporters in the wake of Goyang Kookmin Bank's decision to refuse promotion to the K-League after winning the 2006 National League championship, suffered a heavy debut reverse going down 5-0 to fellow new boys Jeonju Ongoeul.
The full results from the opening round are as follows:
2008 K3 League Results (Saturday March 22nd, 2008)
Seoul United 0-2 Gwangju Gwangsan
Bucheon FC 1995 2-0 Gyeongju Citizen
Jeonju EM 3-1 Changwon United
Jeonju Ongoeul 5-0 Goyang FC
Namyangju Citizen 3-0 Pocheon FC
Yongin FC 2-1 Hwaseong Sinwoo Electronics
Seoul Pabal 0-1 Cheonan FC
Yangju Citizen 1-0 Asan FC
