Having spent the last few years attending rugby games in Japan and noting how much the Japan Rugby Union, and the game's players and followers, need to learn from their counterparts overseas, I decided a change was as good as a rest.
I, therefore, decided to break my duck and watch a game of the round-ball variety -- silky shorts, dyed hair and all.
I suppose I should have gone to a J. League match to get a feel for the game at its grass-roots level but the chance to watch a game at a ground that had been described to me as a "real English type of stadium -- compact and close to the action" was too good to turn down. The fact that the game was between Japan and Italy was, of course, irrelevant.
So having spent a hour looking for my rattle (the soccer variety, not the baby type), I packed my rucksack (the game being played in Saitama), put on my Dr. Martens, watched a re-run of "The Great Escape" so I could at least hum along to one of the songs sung by the masses, and headed off into the wilderness wondering if there was a Japanese equivalent to Chas and Dave to warm up the fans.
As may be obvious by now, I am somewhat of a fair-weather soccer fan (observer, perhaps, being a more appropriate word). I had been to a few games in England, both league and international, and had worked at a few at Wembley as a steward (we were known as the streaker squad -- as our main role was to stop streakers running onto the field) but my main experience of a big-game atmosphere was from the numerous rugby internationals I had watched at Twickenham and Cardiff.
To say my day out at Saitama was an eye-opener would be an understatement.
The first thing that struck me was the difference in attitude of the fans. In the U.K., big-game day is a full day out. The whole day and the days/weeks leading up to it revolve around the game.
An international at Twickenham would usually start at 10 a.m. in a pub in Richmond, so that you could drink off the hangover from the night before when you had been out on the town with friends from whichever country you were playing. The Irish and French were often the best guests as they brought with them a plentiful supply of duty-free booze.
On Wednesday, the train was full of people for whom the soccer game was something to do after work, school, shopping, etc,. There were salary men with briefcases, school children in uniform, housewives with a few shopping bags all crammed onto the train. Quite what a bunch of English fans, still getting over the shock of seeing beer-vending machines in the street, will make of such a scene remains to be seen, but I would imagine some of them would think their wildest dreams have been realized when they find themselves following a group of schoolgirls in sailor uniforms into the stadium.
However, there is one problem with such a diverse group of people attending the game. Bags. Everyone on the train had at least one type of bag. Now the locals may be used to being squashed into trains and having a bag or umbrella probe their nether regions but for many foreign fans the experience is going to put them in a foul mood by the time they reach the stadium. Perhaps the schoolgirls are the organizers' secret weapon -- their way of defusing an otherwise volatile situation. It certainly caused a number of foreign journalists at the game to forget any problems they had had that day.
The stadium itself was very impressive (once you got to it) but I would be interested to find out if the architect was an Electric Light Orchestra fan as it bears a very close resemblance to the space ship that appeared from the stage when ELO toured in the late '70s.
The less said about the food concessions inside the stadium, the better. The young girls squashed next to me on the train had the right idea bringing their own from a fast-food outlet, though quite how they managed to stay upright clutching a designer handbag, a bag of burgers and some shopping is beyond me.
The atmosphere during the game was superb and the Japan Rugby Union should take note. No morgue-like atmosphere here as is often the case at Chichibunomiya. However, there was one thing I found strange -- the lack of cohesion among the fans.
At a league game one can understand the different ends singing different songs as the opposing fans try to out-sing their opponents. However, to hear such a thing at an international, where the home fans outnumbered the traveling fans 60,700 to 600, seemed odd. For some reason the Japanese fans at opposing ends of the stadium spent the entire 90 minutes and more trying to out-sing one another. In a land where uniformity seems to be No. 1, it was particularly strange.
One of the joys of going to a big game in the U.K. is to hear the crowd, as one, sing for their team. Whether it is the round-ball chant of "En-ger-land, En-ger-land, En-ger-land" or the oval-ball fans singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," "Flower of Scotland," or "Bread of Heaven" (depending on your persuasion), you can't help but feel inspired. If that is what happens to the fans, imagine how the players feel.
The Japanese soccer fans are halfway there, which is more than can be said for the rugby fans.
In South Africa, fans can rent radio sets to listen to the referee, as he communicates with the touch judges and video referee. No need for that in Japan as the referee is usually the noisiest person in the ground.
With that in mind there are plans afoot to set up an area for those that do want to make some noise and enjoy their day out at a rugby international.
The "Eski End" or "Kooler Kop" will be Tokyo's answer to the Hill at Sydney or Bay 13 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Fans will be allowed to BYO booze and hopefully caps and flags will be provided so that the Japan team can see as well as hear their support.
It was no coincidence that the Wallabies' come-from-behind series win over the Lions coincided with the Australian Rugby Union handing out T-shirts and scarves for the second and third tests. The Australian fans, silenced by the traveling Lions' fans in the first test, came to life and helped their team to victory.
So as the World Cup approaches for the round-ball followers, and the Rugby World Cup qualifiers approach for the men who play with odd-shaped balls, here's hoping that the Japanese fans can get their act together and inspire their teams to some famous victories.