Revisionism Vamp

A near sell-out crowd, a clash between two titans, a history-making encounter. Or not? Just two hours before Urawa Reds come face-to-face with K-League side Seongnam Chunma Ilhwa in the second leg of their hotly anticipated AFC Champions League semi-final, grumblings continue to rumble about the revisionist nature of some media reports pertaining to the match.

In a piece circulated around the globe through Reuters, Urawa Reds, it was claimed, would become the first Japanese team to reach the final of Asia's "premier club competition" if they managed to overcome Seongnam in the semi-final. As many fans on message boards across the world have rightly pointed out, Urawa might become the first Japanese team to reach the final of the newly rebranded AFC Champions League, but they are certainly not the first Japanese team to reach the final of a continental competition in Asia.

Whilst the forerunners to the modern-day JEF United and Tokyo Verdy both won the old "Asian Club Cup" in their pre J-League incarnations, the club seemingly most hard done by in the rush to proclaim new glory, is Jubilo Iwata. Not only did they win the old Asian Club Cup as recently as 1999, but they also reached the next two finals in a row as well.

Now that the AFC Champions League has been revamped to take on a look that more closely resembles the format of the UEFA Champions League, does that mean that the history of the Asian Club Cup should be forgotten? Has the success of teams like Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade suddenly been forgotten - teams that in the current European climate now have virtually no chance of ever tasting continental success again, simply because the European Cup changed its name?

In its rush to modernise, the Asian Football Confederation is in danger of eliminating its past. That might be the aim. Yet no amount of revisionism will change the fact that in 1994 and 1995, Asia's premier club team was the now defunct Thai Farmers Bank FC. Perhaps there was more to Saburo Kawabuchi's claim earlier this year that AFC Champions League must become "more like the European Champions League." Perhaps what he meant was that the future of Asian football lies only in glamour clubs like Urawa Reds and Seongnam Chunma, and not in obscure minnows with unflattering names, like Thai Farmers Bank FC.

Win, lose or draw tonight - Urawa's participation in this season's AFC Champions League has certainly brought much needed exposure to the competition. It would be a shame, however, if it has done so at the expense of history.