Tohoku Regional League

2006 TEAMS

Grulla Morioka

Grulla Morioka is a relatively young club, having been formed in 2004 by a group of young football players, with the support of the local government. The idea of building a J.League club had been in the air for some time, since football has achieved tremendous popularity throughout the Tohoku region of Japan. J.League clubs like Vegalta Sendai and Montedio Yamagata are wildly popular in their home towns, and many other cities in the region have been working to develop clubs of their own, in a bid to match the success of Sendai and Yamagata.

However, apart from a team named Morioka Zebra, which made it to the Tohoku regional in the early years of the century, Morioka did not have a club to call its "home team". In January 2004, however, the plans of city officials and local sports fans got a huge boost when local boy Shinichi Muto took early retirement from J.League club JEF United in order to return home and take the spot as Grulla's head coach and top player. Muto probably could have played another two or three years at the J.League level, if he wanted to, so this represented a big investment on his part, in the new team. The effort immediately began paying off. Grulla won the Iwate Prefecture league title in its first season, and in 2005 it conquered the Tohoku Region's division two (North), earning promotion to the Tohoku Regional League Division 1. It appeared that 2006 might be the team's big chance to leap into the JFL, as they won the Tohoku Regional League and advanced to the Nationwide Regional League Championship Tournament as one of the most highly regarded entrants. But a crushing defeat to Rosso Kumamoto sent them tumbling out of the tournament, and in the subsequent storm of finger-pointing, Muto got disgusted and walked out on the team.

Grulla's J.League ambitions are still very keen, but the team was forced to rebuild in 2007 with far less support and talent as they had in 2006. Though the team again won the Tohoku Regional title, this time their prospects for JFL admission wer much more subdued, and rightly so. Once again, Grulla failed to make the step up to the nationwide stage. Nevertheless, Grulla remains at the forefront of Morioka's efforts to put a local team into the J.League. And any club with a logo as beautiful as Grulla's deserves to join the J.League on that merit alone.

Team Name:
Grulla Morioka Football Club

Team Insignia:

Home Town:
Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture

Founded:
2004

Current Status:
Tohoku Regional League (since 2006)

Team Logo & Mascot:

Home Stadium

Morioka Minami Park Stadium

Team Flag:

Fukushima Primeiro

Fukushima Primeiro was formed in 1996, from amateur players who had been left over after the dissolution of a team -- Fukushima FC -- which had been disbanded the previous year. Fukushima FC was formed in 1951, and established itself as a fairly competitive power in the region. In 1994, the team won the Tohoku Regional League title, edging out Brummel Sendai -- the forerunner of Vegalta Sendai. In the following year,1995, Fukushima FC not only earned the right to take part in the JFL, it also was asked to serve as the centerpiece and main source of publicity as the prefecture hosted the "Fukushima Kokutai".

"Kokutai" is an abbreviation for the Kokumin Taiiku Taikai (National Sports Festival), an annual event which could be described as a "domestic Olympics". It is held in a different prefecture each year. In order to put on a "good show", Fukushima hired a few bench players from teams in the newly formed J.League, and even brought in a few Brazilians. Fukushima FC not only made a splash in the JFL, the team also helped Fukushima win the Kokutai that year (though this is not particularly unusual. In recent years the festival has been poorly attended and the host prefecture is the only one that sends a really competitive team).

In any event, this season marked the explosive climax for Fukushima FC. As soon as the Taikai was finished, the prefecture -- now flat broke from the expense of hosting the festival -- disbanded the team and allowed all of the pro players to go their separate ways with most returning to J.League or JFL teams. The remaining amateurs wanted to continue playing together, so they formed a club named "Primeiro" -- the Portuguese term for "Number One".

The team's accomplishments since then have not been quite as impressive, but it did manage to reach the Tohoku Leage's first division in 1999 and remain their ever since. It has won the Tohoku Regional title just once, in 2001.

Team Name: Fukushima Primeiro FC

Home Town: Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture

Founded: 1995

Current Status:
Tohoku Regional League (since 1999)

Home StadiumFukushima Stadium

Team Logo:

Shiogama FC Wiese

Shiogama FC traces its history back to 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympics, when the town of Shiogama set up a youth sports organization known as the Shiogama Soccer Sports Youth Organization. The organization struggled along as essentially just a bunch of young men playing one another in the local parks, until 1981 when some of the more ambitious players decided to create a more formal team structure. Thus was Shiogama FC born.

At first, Shiogama FC was just a youth team, but it steadily expanded as the youth players grew older. One youngster who got his start at Shiogama FC -- a kid named Hisashi Kato -- went on to become a professional footballer, a J.League coach, and a respected football commentator on TV. His support has been a major factor which has supported the team over the years. The Shiogama FC youth program has turned out a large number of players who went on to J.League success. Eventually, Shiogama's top team wanted to adopt a name that would set them apart from the youth program (which is arguably more famous and more competitive), and adopted the name "Wiese".

Team Name:
Wiese Shiogama

Team Insignia:

Home Town:
Shiogama City, Fukushima Prefecture

Founded:
1981

Current Status:
Tohoku Regional League (since 2002)

Team Logo:

Home Stadium

Ihoseki Bokujo Stadium

Viancone Fukushima

Viancone Fukushima traces its history back to a club named Northern Peaks Koriyama, which was formed in 1998 by a group of graduates of Koriyama Tech High School. It started out in the Fukushima Prefectural League as a relatively small club, but by 2002 it finished second in the top division of Fukushima Prefecture, and in 2003 it finished first, and represented Fukushima in the Emperor's Cup. This also earned the team promotion to the Tohoku Regional League's second division.

By around 2004 or 2005, football-related organizations and individuals in Fukushima Prefecture were beginning to look for a local team to represent the prefecture in the J.League. Although FC Primeiro, based in Fukushima City, got an earlier start, Viancone also began to think about throwing its hat into the ring as a J.League hopeful. In 2007, the club took a number of major steps to lay the groundwork for such a bid. First, the team established a separate corporation -- Koriyama Football Club Co. Ltd. -- and changed its name to Viancone Fukushima.

The name "Viancone" was selected from among 132 suggested alternatives, and like so many other team names in Japan, is based on a bit of ersatz Italian which got mangled in translation. The original name, Northern Peaks, conjured up visions of white, snow-capped peaks, so the Italian word for "white" was selected as a base for the team name. To that was added the word "One", which obviously represents the ranking that the team hopes to reach (at least in the hearts of local citizens). However, since the pronunciation of "B" and "V" in Japanese are frequently confused, the person suggesting the name wrote "Vianco" rather than "Bianco", and thus the name came out as "Viancone" rather than "Biancone".

Soon after the name change, Viancone absorbed another Koriyama-based team, FC Godere, which had a youth organization. This gave Viancone the junior and U-16 team structures which are required of J.League applicants. At the end of 2007 the team won the Southern division of the Tohoku League's division 2, allowing it to advance to the top division for the 2008 season.

Team Name:
Viancone Fukushima

Team Insignia:

Home Town:
Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture

Founded:
1998

Current Status:
Tohoku Regional League (since 2008)

Team Logo:

Home Stadium

Satsuki Park Stadium

Furukawa Electric FC

Furukawa Electric FC is the company team of Furukawa Electric's Iwaki Plant. The Fukukawa Electric corporate family has spawned nearly as many teams as Honda Motors, and therefore it was no surprise that in 1985, the employees at the Iwaki plant decided to create a football team. Furukawa Electric started off in the Fukushima 3rd division but progresed rapidly. It won the Furukawa Shakaijin title on no less than eight occasions, and has now risen to the Tohoku Regonal League. Although there are many teams in the area which may enjoy more fan support and better facilities, it is hard not to admire a club whose motto is "Weed Spirit".

Team Name:
Furukawa Electric FC

Team Insignia:

Home Town:
Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture

Founded:
1985

Current Status:
Tohoku Regional League (since 2007)

Team Logo: