---

January 31, 2005

. . . And Away We Go

Below is a graphic depicting the major football fixtures of the coming year, including not only league matches but also cup matches and competitive internationals. There have been a number of changes in addition to the obvious one -- the shift from a two-stage format to a single season format, in the J1. For example, the J1 season and J2 season now begin and end on the same day, whereas in the past, the J1 season usually started a day (or even a week) earlier, and ran at least a week longer. This may seem to be just a cosmetic change, but in fact, it reflects a more important change in attitudes by the League, which we have discussed in the past.

For the first decade of its existence, the League showed a healthy respect for the Emperor's Cup tournament, which is the longest-running sports event in the country and is administered by the JFA, rather than the J.League. However, beginning last season, the J.League "asked for" (demanded is probably a better word) changes to the scheduling of the Emperor's Cup which would reduce the burden of taking part in this event on J.League teams. The result was a contorted Emperor's Cup schedule, which prevented the low-level teams taking part in the early rounds from receiving the sort of nationwide exposure that they always were accorded in the past. But the "joke" may actually be on the league bosses. The Emperor's Cup is still one of the two titles that earns a team a spot in the AFC championships (and ultimately, the world club championship). Because of the J.League's gerrymandering, J.League teams gave it even less attention than they have in the past, and small clubs were able to spring several stunning upsets -- none more dramatic than Thespa Kusatsu's overtime win over the recently-crowned league champion Marinos. We can only hope that this situation persists, if only because it may eventually force the League to take the Emperor's Cup more seriously, and revise its scheduling practices.

The J1 season runs from March 5 to December 3, and includes three "breaks" in late March, the full month of June, and late July. These breaks are organised to allow the National Team ample time to prepare for competitive matches, which this year will include not only the WC2006 qualifiers, but also the Confederation's Cup tournament in June and the East Asian Football Championships, in late July. Naturally, as has been the case in the past, the Nabisco Cup schedule has been arranged to correspond with these breaks, so although there is some disadvantage for teams with a large number of national team members, the conflict between league dates and cup dates is minimized

The one other issue that could present problems down the road is the scheduling of the AFC Champions League competitions. In the first year of AFC Champions League play, the AFC arranged the early round matches in clusters, in a single location. However, the results left nobody in any doubt that the system was simply ensuring that the host team would invariably progress from the early rounds. Not surprisingly, the J.League and its teams chose to ignore the AFC Champions league for this reason. In 2005 , the AFC has adjusted its scheduling and introduced home-and-away fixtures in the hope that they can get top teams (particularly those from Japan and Korea) to give the AFC competition a bit more attention. We believe that this is a move in the right direction. However, the result is that teams taking part (Yokohama Marinos and Jubilo Iwata, this year) must play Wednesday night matches sandwiched between two seekend League matches. Naturally the teams are going to pay greater attention to the league contests, particularly in the case of an away match in some distant location like Malaysia or Indonesia (fortunately, the AFC has broken the early rounds into east and west blocs, so there will be no need to jet off to Lebanon or the UAE for a Wednesday match). Only time will tell whether this system can work, but we suspect that many of the early-round away matches will be played by second-string and youth players, with instructions to stall for a 0-0 draw, to put the team in a good position to advance with a home victory.

Marseille se Fiche du Monde

But the deal that sent Daisuke Matsui to French division 2 club Le Mans, last year, proved to be a different story altogether. Though we were among the people who had doubts about whether Matsui would have the physical strength to withstand the physical side of the game in France Div 2, the former Kyoto Purple Sanga ace has proven his doubters wrong, emerging as a key link in the Le Mans attack, and winning the hearts of the local supporters with two consecutive match-winning goals, in early January. Thus, when Nakata was invited to take part in Marseille's early January training camp, we greeted the news with approval, seeing it as the next logical step for Japan to cultivate the French football market, and vice versa.

But in the words of Phil Collins , "something happened on the way to heaven". It is a bit of an understatement to say that things did not work our quite as we had anticipated. To understand the situation completely, readers must understand the system of contracts between players and clubs that prevails in Japan. Clubs usually have only one-year contracts with their players, and renegotiate them every year, usually in January. This system works quite well in Japan for both players and clubs, for several reasons. First, by renewing the contract every year, both clubs and players can ask for adjustments to the terms, based on the changing conditions of both the club and the player. For example, a youngster who joined a mid-table club straight out of high school would probably receive only a very low salary base. However, if that player turned out to be a star, contributing greatly to the team as it moved up in the rankings, the player would be able to request an upgrade to his pay scale at the end of the year, based on both his own contributions and the club's success. The other side of the coin comes when a club which has been paying players quite well is suddenly demoted to the J2. The team may have invested a lot of time and effort in developing its its players, and earned their loyalty by treating them fairly in the past. At the end of the year, the club will ask key players to accept a cut in pay -- for just a year -- in order to help the club climb back into the top division. It is quite common, particularly for younger players, to accept this sort of pay cut out of loyalty to the club.

So long as everyone involved was committed to negotiating in good faith, the system worked well. However, there is one stipulation in the domestic laws governing player contracts, which helps to discourage those who might be tempted to take advantage of the short-term nature of contracts. There is a 30-month first-refusal clause covering all J.League contracts. Even after a player is out of contract, his former club has the right to demand a "reasonable" transfer fee if that player joins another club within 30 months.

In the past, J.League clubs assumed that the 30-month rule applied to overseas transfers as well. Indeed, the only player to challenge this rule -- Nozomu Hiroyama -- never really succeeded in winning the point. The JFA refused to clear Hiroyama to join another club after his contract with JEF United expired, leaving him in a sort of "contractural limbo" for nearly a full year. Eventually, JEF relented and allowed him to join Braga, in Portugal, without a transfer fee, but the 30-month rule was never challenged.

But that was before Olympique Marseile got into the act. It appears that M. Troussier, who clearly knows a thing or two about the system of contract in Japan, discussed the matter with Nakata's Agent, Mr. Tanabe (can you say "blood-sucking leech? I thought you could . . .), and agreed to screw the Antlers over on the transfer fee, and split the profits. With Tanabe's blessing, Marseille offered a ridiculously low amount -- around 250,000 euros, depending on who you believe -- to the Antlers as a transfer fee for Nakata. Though it was only natural that the Antlers would be offended by such a low offer, Mr. Tanabe assured Marseille that even if Kashima balked at the offer, they could sign Nakata anyway once his contract expired. He would ensure that Nakata accepted the deal even without agreement from the Antlers.

Basically, this negotiating tactic was a bit like playing "chicken" in a speeding truck -- if the Antlers had been cold-hearted and determined enough, they might have fought the transfer on the basis of the 30-month rule. Since this rule exists only on contracts inside Japan, FIFA would surely have blocked Nakata from playing for the Antlers, but by the same token, by refusing to certify him as eligible for an overseas transfer, the JFA could have blocked Nakata from playing for Marseille. In the end, Nagata would have been forced sit on his butt for as long as two-and-a-half years, or until one side or the other backed down. Essentially, if the Antlers had been willing to destroy Koji Nakata's career in the process, they might possibly have won the point in the end. But at what cost?

Clearly, Marseille has no such scruples, which will explain the wording of this article's title. Many of the "unwritten rules" in Japan are very similar to this 30-month rule. They exist mainly to preserve harmony, and ensure that everyone's interests are protected. There is no need to resort to lawyers and courts of law, because everyone involved operates in good faith. By breaching this principle of good faith, Marseille has set a very disturbing precedent. J.League clubs immediately sent all their lawers into action, seeking ways to alter the nature of their contracts and ensure that no overseas club could "steal" a player in this way, ever again. The Kashima Antlers organisation came out of the fray with heads held high, and immediately won the admiration and sympathy of all football fans -- even those who have viewed the Antlers as rivals in the past. The club announced that it was releasing Nakata from all obligations, and wished him the best in Europe. They turned up their noses at the offer of 250,00 euros from Marseille, making it clear that they did not want to soil their hands by touching Marseille's "dirty money".

Koji Nakata himself comes off looking a bit ungrateful to the Antlers, who not only employed him for seven years, but just finished carrying him for nine months as he rehabilitated from a knee injury -- with full salary and benefits throughout that period. However, knowing Koji's character, he will find a way to repay the Antlers through publicity and support in his future career. In his final message to fans on the Antlers' website, he vowed to "become a stronger player, and then come home (to the Antlers) . . . " implying that he by no means is walking away from his commitment to the club that developed him.

As for Marseille . . . as they say in Paris, "vous vous trompez tout a fait" (or as they say in South Philly, "piss off you cheese-eating monkey"). Perhaps the team thinks that they are somehow "saving money" by doing over the Antlers in such a contemptable way. Well, that is one way of looking at it . . . for this writer's part, though, as a long-time fan of Koji Nakata, I would have been one of the first in line to buy a replica jersey of a European team with his name on the back. But if you think you are going to sell me one now, after thumbing your fat gallic nose at Japan, and every standard of moral decency that exists in Japanese culture, better think again. The smart thing would have been to simply pay the fee, and make the money back on merchandising to the legions of Antlers fans, or by playing friendly matches with the Antlers during the summer. One has to wonder how eager the Antlers will be to play a "friendly" with Olympique Marseille after what has transpired.

Having said that, there have been some signs in recent days that the club is beginning to recognise its mistake, and look for ways to make amends. On the day that Nakata was presented to the press, OM president Pape Diouf made some comment about wanting to "start with a clean sheet, by resolving the issue of the transfer fee". This would certainly be a step in the right direction. Japanese football fans are quite familiar with the "character" of men like Philippe Troussier and Koji Tanabe (if the word character can be applied to creatures of deceit such as these). It would be wrong to smear all those at OM with the same brush, and if M. Diouf was being sincere in his comments, it would indicate that we need to give Marseille the benefit of the doubt. Even so, it will take quite a bit of effort on the part of the OM management to reverse the bad first impression that they have made on Japanese fans. We hope that the club will continue taking steps to repair this tattered image.

The Symbols of Change

Vissel Kobe

After going to the extent of naming his company "Crimson Group", it came as no surprise that Mr. Mikitani wanted to change the team colours of his new club, Vissel Kobe, to crimson. Though the fans were less than thrilled about the makeover, the team went ahead with the changes anyway, and introduced not only a new uniform colour, but also new team logos and symbols. Even the Vissel mascot was taken into the design shop for a cosmetic make-over.

The results of the make-over are just what you see here. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but for our part, the Rising Sun News is a bit underwhelmed. In the past, we may have had some fun joking about the odd source of the team name, the team mascot, and so on, but at least they all had some sort of connection to the home town. The new logo and identifying marks look like something off the graphic design board of a stodgy Fortune 500 company. No doubt that was what Mr. Mikitani was looking for, but let's face it, they dont fit in well with the general "decor" of the J.League. At least the team had the good sense to retain its mascot, and of all the changes, the revisions to "Movi", the Kobe mascot, are the most agreeable. Perhaps the new designs will "grow" on the local fans after a few years, but at the end of the day, one has to conclude that Mr. Mikitani is not very well in tune with the views and feelings of the local fans.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Thus, it was with great pleasure that we attended the unveiling of a new team logo mark. Not only does the new logo adopt the "shield" shape of most other J.League logos (indeed, its silhouette is almost identical to that of the Cerezo Osaka Logo), but it also includes several features that are closely tied to local history. The "three arrows" in the design reflect the team name (san frecce is Japanese-Italian for "three arrows"), and are taken from a legend involving the local samurai lord Mori Motonari. The three-pronged crown atop the shield has a similar background. To put it simply: this is the way that a team logo SHOULD be created. Perhaps it isnt too late for Kobe to hire the graphic design team that came up with this logo, and replace the character-less mark that they have chosen.

JEF United

Anticipating the fact that no announcer in the world will have the patience to use the full team name, JEF officials let it be known that in general discussion, they would refer to themselves as "JEF United Chiba". For our part, we think that "JEF United" is more than sufficient as a team name, and will leave out the jr. high school geography lesson when referring to the club, in the future.

Thespa Kusatsu

Thespa Kusatsu joins the J.League in 2005, and though it has retained the basic design, colour scheme and symbols that it used while still in the JFL, the team did bring in some graphic designers to give both the mascot and the team symbols a brush-up. Thespa already had one of the most impressive team logos around, but after a bit of colour tweaking, it now looks a bit more "cool" and restrained. The team mascot, Thespa-boy has also been toned down a bit, to give him a slightly more "classy" appearance than before. These chages were all well done, and have given the team's "corporate identity" a significant improvement which should lend an air of greater "professionalism" while not offending the sensibilities of long-time fans.

Rumours and Rumblings