Liverpool belt Arsenal, but can United hang on?
Sunday, 01 April 07, 08:23 PM · Comments(4)
Just kidding folks, just kidding! I thought one way to get everyone interested in Japanese football is simply to talk about the English Premier League.
It seems that interest in Japanese football is on the wane, even *gasp* right here in Japan! While I can understand that Kashiwa Reysol vs FC Tokyo might not capture the attention of your average fan from Barcelona to Bury, I think it's a little concerning that media coverage of the J-League in Japan is plummeting as fast as the attendance figures of certain clubs.
According to The Rising Sun News - which is by far and away the best resource on Japanese football...on the web or elsewhere, interest in the J-League is dwindling, both in the media and with your more casual fans. And on the issue of decreasing interest in the league, The Rising Sun News has been most vocal on the topic of the poor standard of refereeing in Japan. I can see why.
When Shimizu S-Pulse took on Yokohama F. Marinos in the League Cup last weekend, I was really not looking forward to attending the match. That was for the simple reason that, in the previous two matches, both against Kashiwa Reysol - once in the J-League and once in the League Cup, S-Pulse had been on the receiving end of some seriously dubious refereeing.
I took it with a grain of salt, since in 2006, Shimizu had been the beneficiaries of poor refereeing on numerous occasions. And they were the beneficiaries once again on Saturday afternoon, when referee Masaaki Iemoto gave a straight red card to Omiya's new signing Mauricio Salles just eight minutes into his Omiya debut.
The send-off probably had little impact on the outcome of the match, since Shimizu were playing Omiya off the park anyway. But what impact will it have on the miserly 7,737 crowd that bothered to turn up at Komaba Stadium - where standing behind the goals offers you the same kind of view that you might have if you were standing on the moon?
I think I know. People stop coming. And who can blame them? When they can just as easily sit at home and watch Liverpool vs Arsenal instead, there's little incentive for the casual fan to get out to a windswept Japanese stadium, only to watch their team's chances disappear down the drain - which is where any credibility that J-League referees once had, has long since disappeared.
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Hi I will be moving to Japan this year, and would like to find a J league team to cheer for. I'll be in Wakayama, but I don't choose based on geography. So far I have found just snippets of info and some stats. The goal #s from last year make me think about Jubilo Iwata and Kawasaki Frontale ... I am curious about Yokohama FC (a recent club formed by fans). u r a shimizu fan?
Hi clayton, great to have you on board. If you're in Wakayama then you could probably choose between Gamba and Cerezo Osaka or even Vissel Kobe, but if your choice is not based on geography, then the world is your oyster. There's an interesting *cough* article on Yokohama FC here LINK And yes, in answer to your question, I am a Shimizu fan.
4 Comments · Add yours
well you certainly caught my attention!
is it just that foreign football is taking away all the attention, or that football is ocne again losing out to baseball in the overall stakes?
A little bit of both, and some poor scheduling and weather thrown in. Add to that the poor refereeing and the fact that many fans felt like the J-League would be a two horse race between Urawa and Gamba Osaka this season, and the J-League is struggling a bit.