Last Sunday's J-League clash between FC Tokyo and Shimizu S-Pulse revealed that, if nothing else, the J-League landscape is a diverse one.

For those experiencing a J-League match for the first time, the sound of "DJ Stephen" breathlessly announcing the team line-up's in slow, calculated English may have left newcomers feeling slightly confused.

For Shimizu fans, the match was no doubt celebrated as a chance to knock off a team from the big smoke and avenge the 3-1 drubbing that Tokyo handed out to Shimizu at Nihondaira Stadium earlier in the season.

Tokyo fans will have rejoiced as a crowd of over 30,000 piled into Ajinomoto Stadium on grey autumn afternoon, yet the casual observer may have noted the sight of around 20,000 empty seats staring back at them.

Certainly one of the matches of the round produced a carnival atmosphere, with former Tokyo legend Amaral presented to the capital city faithful before the match. His presence seemed to fire up the hosts, who ended Shimizu's six match winning streak with a 2-0 win, courtesy of an own goal from S-Pulse captain Kazumichi Takagi and a volley seconds later from Tokyo striker Shingo Akamine.

What may have stuck in the mind of Shimizu fans, however, is just how different the experience of watching their team play in front of hosts FC Tokyo was, compared to their usual J-League fare.

The cavernous Ajinomoto Stadium was built with the 2002 FIFA World Cup in mind. Sadly for the city of Tokyo, it was finished before FIFA decided that the tournament should be co-hosted by Korea Republic and Japan. With nearby Saitama Stadium hosting a semi-final and neighbouring Nissan Stadium in Yokohama selected as the venue for the World Cup final, Tokyo was axed as a World Cup city - leaving FC Tokyo to try and find ways of filling a 50,000 capacity ground.

Conventional wisdom suggests that actually winning a few games on the pitch would help, but never a team to back away from some on-field mediocrity, FC Tokyo have come up with some other novel ways of attracting fans. Noted for their so-called "English style" of support, earlier this season FC Tokyo promoted an "English Day" - blasting out Britpop tunes and offering traditional British match-day food at their clash with JEF United. They even rounded up as many English-speaking volunteers as they could find, to guide confused gaijin to their seats after offering free entry to British fans (tough luck for this correspondent!).

All of this stands in glaring contrast to Shimizu S-Pulse - a community club that relies on the support of local fans both to fill Nihondaira Stadium and to keep the team afloat. With the "S-Pulse Club Shop" located on "S-Pulse Street" opposite the "S-Pulse Dream Plaza" shopping centre, the locals here are proud that their football team is one of the focal points of the community.

Shimizu, unlike FC Tokyo - are not fighting in a market that also contains fellow J-League club Tokyo Verdy, as well as two popular baseball teams and the myriad other attractions that a cosmopolitan city like Tokyo offers. As such, it's not surprising to see Tokyo reaching out to new markets - in this case English speakers, although one can't help but think that if Shimizu S-Pulse were also willing to think outside the square, they too might attract new fans who, if nothing else, were willing to pump some money into the club.

Repeated requests on my part for Shimizu to produce an English-language version of their website finally yielded a stock-standard Babelfish translation (http://www.s-pulse.co.jp/english/) that overlooks all of the most crucial details - where to buy tickets, how to access the ground and what the fixture list looks like. Contrast this with local rivals Jubilo Iwata (http://www.jubilo-iwata.co.jp/eng/index.php) and one gets the feeling that Shimizu are happier to turn a blind eye to the sprinkling of English-speakers and Brazilians that dot Nihondaira Stadium on a weekly basis.

Yet, grumblings aside, perhaps what makes the J-League such an intriguing competition is its diversity. The J-League could never be accused of being homogeneous, with most away trips likely to be rewarded with an experience unlike any other. Thus while the warblings of "DJ Stephen" might be a novel treat in the capital (except, perhaps, for non-English speaking FC Tokyo fans!), it would be a shame if this experience was recreated throughout the land.

And while FC Tokyo officials might like to see a couple more of those 20,000 empty seats filled - and they would be if Tokyo Verdy got their act together and achieved promotion from J2, they only need to look outside to see what it might be like to be on the periphery in this country - which is where fans of "American Football" seem to be.

Urawa Reds' bold declaration at the start of the season that they would become "the first Japanese team to reach the AFC Champions League quarter-finals" raised a few eyebrows in Japan. To begin with, it overlooked the fact that fellow J-League outfit Kawasaki Frontale were also competing for that honour. More importantly, it ignored the success of Jubilo Iwata, who reached three continental finals in a row between 1999 and 2001, before the old "Asian Club Cup" was rebadged and revamped.

Ultimately it was Kawasaki, and not Urawa, who became the first Japanese team since 2003 to book their progress beyond the knock-out stage of the AFC Champions League, as Urawa learned that deeds on the pitch and not words in the media, were the key ingredient in getting out of their group. Urawa did get out of their group - just, and not surprisingly they've kept the preparations for their quarter-final clash with defending champions Jeonbuk Motors FC fairly quiet, as have Kawasaki, who face a tough task against Iranian side Sepahan.

Yet Urawa's bombastic rhetoric marked a growing trend in world football. Arrogance, it seems, is the new black.

When Uruguay came to Sydney for their knock-out FIFA World Cup qualifying clash in 2005, Uruguayan striker Alvaro Recoba incurred the wrath of the locals by declaring that Uruguay would win the tie because they had a "divine right" to play at the World Cup. Sadly for Recoba, his inference that Uruguay's rich football history was enough to get his team over the line proved incorrect, as Australia ultimately booked their place at the World Cup finals.

The late Australian legend Johnny Warren had hoped to live long enough to say to the world "I told you so" when it came to Australia rejoining the footballing élite. Yet Socceroos fans didn't have to wait long before the clichés kicked into overdrive, as first Brazil and then eventual champions Italy fell over themselves to declare that they would be easy winners against the supposed minnows from Down Under, before a ball had even been kicked.

How ironic, then, that Australia's maiden Asian Cup campaign should come undone partly as a result of their arrogance. After declaring that they could beat any team because they possessed a "tougher mental attitude," the suggestion that perhaps Iraq might also possess a tough mental attitude - given that their country had just been bombed into submission and was now being torn apart by civil war, sent the Australian camp into a spin - and eventually lead to the suggestion that any media outlet who questioned Australia's attitude was obviously conspiring against them.

Of course there is no greater arena for arrogance than the UEFA Champions League. Today English giants Manchester United and Liverpool announced their opposition to new UEFA President Michel Platini's plan to include domestic cup winners in upcoming editions of the Champions League. For Liverpool - who last won a league title some seventeen seasons ago, and United, who like the Anfield club were recently bought by a consortium of North American investors, nothing is more important than their own self-interest.

Tradition-laden teams from countries outside of the big three of England, Spain and Italy are routinely portrayed as easy-beats by both managers and fans alike, and with a level playing field having long since disappeared from European football, triumphs by clubs like Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade seem more like historical anomalies than distinct possibilities nowadays.

With fans in the modern era possessing greater access to information and video footage than ever before, perhaps the most telling aspect of this facade of grandeur can be found on message boards and forums across the internet. In many cases the majority of fans spend more time belittling their opponents, than worrying about the fortunes of their own team.

Modern football is seemingly at a crossroad. There may come a time when money - and the churlish attitudes that seem to come with it, no longer rules the game. But with the likes of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho snarling his contempt for referees, FC Bayern commercial manager Uli Hoeness implying that the Bundesliga is a one-horse race, and Urawa Reds conveniently forgetting both their opponents and contemporaries on a regular basis... I wouldn't bet on it.

The first day of autumn brought derby day delight for Shimizu S-Pulse and Omiya Ardija, as the two away teams won the Shizuoka and Saitama derby respectively.

Thousands of orange clad supporters made the seventy kilometre trip to Ecopa Stadium in Fukuroi to see their team take on bitter local rivals Jubilo Iwata.

Shimizu won 2-1 thanks to a Cho Jae-Jin brace earlier in the season, and S-Pulse did the double over their local rivals when the Korean striker scored a last minute goal to hand Shimizu a 1-0 victory.

The win sees Shimizu move to within a point of third placed Kashima Antlers on the table. 

The real story was at Saitama Stadium, however, where a crowd of 49,910 watched mainly in disbelief as second-from-bottom Omiya Ardija kept their season alive by beating city neighbours and league leaders Urawa Reds.

Hiroshi Morita scored the only goal of the game on the hour mark to hand Omiya a result that has implications at both ends of the table. With Gamba Osaka thrashing an injury-ridden Nagoya Grampus Eight 4-1 at Mizuho, the Osakans have pulled themselves back to within a point of league leaders Urawa. Omiya Ardija, meanwhile, are now just one point behind fifteenth placed Oita Trinita after yet another absorbing round of J-League action.