14 Oct 2009(Wed)

A short holiday in Shikoku over the three-day weekend meant I was unable to take my place at Banpaku to see Gamba Osaka’s Emperor’s Cup victory over Ryutsu Keizai University, but I did take the opportunity instead to pay a first visit to the Ningineer Stadium and check out the local J2 side, Ehime FC.

 

‘Second team’ is perhaps an exaggeration, but Ehime is a club that I’ve always kept an eye on ever since first coming across them during my university research six years ago. At the time, the Matsuyama side were about to finish third in the Japan Football League (one tier below J2) – a sign of steady progress having won promotion from the fourth-tier Shikoku Football League in 2000 – but of more interest was the efforts they were making off the field in order to turn the club fully professional and make the next step into the J. League itself a realistic possibility.

 

This goal was finally achieved in 2006, when Ehime FC stepped out for their first ever J2 match against Yokohama FC, and delighted a home crowd of 10,922 with a 1-0 win thanks to a late goal from Hironori Saruta. Results may not have been spectacular since, but Ehime have certainly added colour to the division, and were the talk of the nation in late 2007 when they knocked out Asian champions Urawa Reds en route to the Emperor’s Cup quarter-finals.

 

 

The cup meeting with Avispa Fukuoka on Sunday was played out in front of an attendance of just 1,216. (Typically, Ehime FC attract around 3,000 people for J2 matches, and had nearly 13,000 in for the recent derby with Tokushima Vortis, but cup games in Japan are hosted by the JFA and not the clubs, meaning season tickets are generally not valid.) However, the atmosphere was in a way just as brilliant as the sunshine that flooded the stadium. My friend and I stretched out almost undisturbed on a patch of grass in the back stand reminiscent of the good old days at Banpaku. Children bedecked in orange played around us as their mums and dads sat attentively in the seats in front. The voices of the players were often as audible as the colourful language at my tiny hometown team, Taunton Town, before being drowned out by the calls of ‘mote koi!’ – ‘bring it on’, unless anyone more familiar with the Matsuyama vernacular than I wishes to translate it better – that resonated through the sparse stands from the small but determined group of ‘ultras’ behind the home team’s goal.

 

After being pegged back to 2-2 by an Avispa equaliser 18 minutes from the end of normal time, Ehime missed both of their first two penalties to eventually surrender 4-2 in the decisive shootout, but the home players received warm applause for their efforts nonetheless. Local men, women, and children of all ages had enjoyed their afternoons, and just as the J. League’s 100 Year Plan calls for football to play a central role in communities everywhere, isn’t that what it’s really all about?