Tension Rises Between Japan’s Football Teams as the League’s 30th Anniversary Season Proceeds

Japan’s football league, its first division J1, started its 30th anniversary season on March 18th. The rivalry in the league, which commenced just with 10 teams, has been quite peaceful and harmonious over the three decades, but a rare commotion has arisen between Nagoya Grampus and Urawa Reds, both of which are members of the original 10.

The uproar took place during the match between Nagoya and Urawa at Toyota Stadium on April 9 and was mainly caused by violations by Urawa’s supporters. The violations included intruding into restricted areas of Nagoya’s home stadium, raising banners in areas where banners were prohibited, as well as violence and intimidation towards a security guard.

As a penalty, it has been decided that the leaders of “intrusion into restricted areas” and “posting of banners in areas where banners are prohibited” will be banned from entering Urawa games in the near future. And also, one Urawa supporter who assaulted the security guard has been banned from entering 10 Urawa games to be held after April 12th.

 

Japan’s J1 Football League

Urawa Red Diamonds, known as Reds, is without a doubt one of the top teams representing Japan’s soccer league. In addition to winning the 2006 season of the J1 league, they have also won the Emperor’s Cup, one of Japan’s three major tournaments three times, as well as winning the championship to the Asia Champions League twice. Not only that, Urawa Reds plays an important role in attracting even broader attention, as, for example, J league betting on bookmakers is quickly becoming a popular pastime amongst the locals.

On the other hand, Urawa’s supporters have been known to be extremely enthusiastic since the beginning of the J-League, and their excessive behavior often caused a problem. In March 2014, a banner saying “JAPANESE ONLY” was put up during the game, and it became a major issue, which led to the first game behind closed doors in the history of the league.

 

Conflicts Between Urawa Reds and Nagoya Grampus Football Clubs

In addition, even before the match was held, there was a sign of conflict between Urawa Reds and Nagoya Grampus. It was about the operation of the supporter seats at Toyota Stadium, the home stadium of Grampus. Some of the seats on the 2nd floor of this stadium were reserved for away supporters for Red, but since this area didn’t allow standing up to watch the game, Nagoya decided to move the area for away supporters to the first floor, which did not prohibit standing up.

To deal with this situation, Urawa announced on its social media account “For those who have purchased 2nd floor away reserved seat tickets for the match against Nagoya by 3/28 (Tue) and have not been able to obtain transfer tickets for 1st floor away reserved seats, please ask the Urawa Reds Club staff near the entrance to the Toyota Stadium away reserved seat for help.”

However, regarding the announcement of this information, Nagoya also criticized Urawa on their social media saying, “In regards to the series of Urawa Reds’ announcement, they rewrote information on their own accord, which could give a different perception from what we agreed.” The accusation raised tension between the two teams. Urawa also argues against this, saying that there is a discrepancy in recognition.

What is shocking is that all of these exchanges are done publicly on social media, and anyone can see what they say on their official social media. In Japan, where people expect a certain kind of cleanliness, professional sports teams criticizing each other like this is definitely unheard-of. As the final of the Asian Champions League approaches, how will this problem come to an end?