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May 19, 2003
Psssst. . . .the "J" stands for "Joke"

But sadly, the events that took place on Saturday evening at Nagai Stadium in Osaka leave us with no heart to make positive comments about any of the other matches, or to provide any approbation to the J.League whatsoever. As it enters its tenth year, the J.League clearly has not "grown up" yet. If anything, some of the amateurish and disturbing trends that have been gnawing at the very fibre of the league since the start are becoming even more pronounced this season. For that reason, we wish to devote this week's issue to discussing the problem of substandard officiating and excessive "gamesmanship" that are threatining to make the league title this season into a farce.

The direct reason for our rant was the inexcusably poor officiating and blatant diving/play-acting that took place at Saturday's match between Jubilo Iwata and Gamba Osaka. Yet the problems that this match highlighted have been around for a long time, and as much as Jubilo Iwata may deserve scorn for their diving, acting and other assorted gamesmanship this season, they are hardly the first team to go down this road, nor are they necessarily the worst offenders. This is a disease which has spread and grown over the past ten years to the point where now, a large percentage of the league's teams and players have been infected.

Almost anyone who has been associated with the league for any amount of time will agree that the standard of officiating in Japan is poor. It certainly is not up to world standards, and it is not even particularly good relative to other leagues in Asia. As for the nature of the bad calls, there have been a few occasions when officials have at least "seemed" to favour one team or another in their officiating, but in the vast majority of cases, the problems do not seem to be a reflection of malicious or corrupt behaviour, but rather, are due to "mere" incompetence. The Rising Sun News is certainly not the first to point out this problem. It has been discussed widely and extensively, even by the JFA and the J.League head office, virtually since the league started. Some measures have been taken to try to improve the situation, but in our eyes, as Japan's players have improved from "talented amatuers" to the level of true professionals, rapidly approaching what could be described as "world class" ability, the quality of officiating has remained the same, and may even have gotten worse.

As any football fan knows, it is easy --maybe too easy -- to criticise the ref and gripe about substandard officiating. It is much more difficult to actually make constructive suggestions to correct the situation. The Rising Sun News, therefore, would like to offer a few simple suggestions for ways to address this continuing problem, in the hope that the league as a whole can finally start to make the same sort of progress towards professionalism that the players are already making. Readers who concur with these sentiments are encouraged to print out this page and send it to the league office, at the following address, or to send your own comments and proposals. If enough people express their concern directly to the head office, perhaps they will finally wake up and start taking actions to resolve the problems that are holding Japanese football back.

J. LeagueiJapan Professional Football League: Public Affairs Dept.
Shin-Nikko Bldg. 19F, 2-10-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001

Suggestions:

Probably the most glaring problem with J.League officiating, to a first-time viewer familiar with top-level European or South American football, its the inability of linesmen to make offsides calls accurately. Almost every non-Japanese football fan who has watched a J.League match on TV remarks, with amazement, at the fact that Japanese TV does not show replays of offsides calls. This appears to be a deliberate choice on the part of the boradcasters, who do not want to "show up" officials who make mistakes. But far from "protecting" the officials, this simply perpetuates the low standard. Until linesmen are given immediate feedback on their calls, and forced to confront the mistakes that they DO make, they will have neither the opportunity nor the incentive to improve.

Closely associated with this problem is the fact that the J.League does not seem to use officiating performance as a guide to promotion and assignment of referees. There are some officials in the league who do a very creditable job, week in and week out. Yet for some reason they end up calling the match between Oita Trinita and Vissel Kobe, whereas officials with a well-deserved reputation for incompetence somehow get assigned to the crucial match between Kashima Antlers and Jubilo Iwata, or the tempermental rivalry betwen the Yokohama Marinos and Urawa Reds.

There are several very simple measures that the league could take to address these problems immediately. The first and simplest step -- and this is a measure that should have been implemented Long LONG ago -- is for the broadcasters to begin showing replays of controversial plays, and attempting to make an honest critique of the call. This is not to say that the commentators should begin bashing referees. Rather, plays should be reviewed any time that there is any question about the call, and the announcers should try to describe the situation in very technical terms, explaining to viewers in calm yet critical fashion what the rule book says about the incident, and what specific points the official got wrong (if any) as well as what points he got right (if any).

The second measure follows very easily from the first. As soon as broadcasters begin providing a video review of all controversial calls, not only the viewers but the J.League head office will have a solid basis on which to decide whether a referee has done a good job or a bad job of officiating the match. Those who demonstrate consistent quality should receive seniority, and should be assigned to the more important matches. Those who make repeated and glaring mistakes should be assigned to J2 duty until they improve their officiating skills.

Until measures such as these are implemented, there is little hope that the pathetic state of officiating in Japan will ever improve. The J.League has seen fit to make other adjustments, such as doing away with extra time, in an effort to follow the "world standard". It is high time they started doing the same with their system for employing and training officials.

The other problem which clearly needs to be addressed is the increase in cynical play, deliberate fouling, "acting" and other forms of gamesmanship by players. Of course, officials will not always be able to tell, without the benefit of replay, when a player dives in the penalty box and when they are actually pulled down. One hopes that the measures mentioned above can help improve officiating performance, but a more important task is to stamp out this type of poor sportsmanship at its source. Specifically, the J.League should implement the sort of disciplinary reviews that are common in Europe (especially the Premiership), and begin punishing players for behaviour that is clearly unsportsmanlike.

As it is now, a J.League striker who dives in the box has a decent chance of being awarded a PK, but is rarely if ever given a card by the official (most of the time, if the official thinks it was a dive, he just waves play on). Given these prospects, it is only natural that players are diving more and more often, and altering the outcomes of an increasing number of matches with their antics. However, if a player faced the prospect of disciplinary review based on the videotapes of a match, a possible suspension from one or more matches if caught, as well as (one would hope) a monetary fine for serious offences, they would surely think twice before resorting to such cynical foul play. These reviews should cover any instances of deliberate diving, deliberate fouls, and rough play which could potentially injure an opponent (all of which can be determined with a fairly high degree of accuracy based on videotapes). In cases where there is no "irrefutable evidence" on the video, the player could still be informed that their behaviour had been reviewed, as a caution against repeat performances. Surely such a system would cure repeated offenders in short order.

The J.League, along with their main broadcasters NHK and SkyPerfecTV, have been making much of the League's tenth anniversary, showing interviews with key J.League players at the start of each match. The same theme seems to crop up again and again in these interviews -- veteran players and rookies alike seem to yearn for appreciation, not only from local fans but from the international footballing world. In the interviews, the players repeatedly express their ambition to make the league even better, to make it a league that is watched and respected not just by Japanese fans, but by football fans around the world. . . .

But a sports league -- like any team, company or organization -- can only be as strong as its weakest link. If the league continues to encourage advancement, development and professionalism among its players, but fails to do the same for its linesmen and referees, there is no cahnce that it will ever be viewed as a "serious" league on the world stage.

Rumours and Rumblings

Paraguay Replace Nigeria in Kirin Cup

Paraguay took part in the Kirin Cup last year, as well, and are a popular opponent for Japan. Players like Francisco Arce and Jose Luis Chilavert are household names in the Japanese football community, and several Japanese players have plyed their trade in Paraguay as well (including Nobuhiro Takeda and Nozomu Hiroyama). Paraguay will meet Japan on June 11 in Saitama. It is not yet clear whether Paraguay will play Argentina -- the other Kirin Cup participant -- or whether the round-robin format will be abandoned. However, Japanese fans will be pleased to know that the match at Saitama Stadium will at least go on as scheduled.