16 Mar 2010(Tue)

‘Oh! A foreigner!’

 

I inadvertently startled a fellow supporter just over a week ago, on the opening day of the season. Personally, I’ve never considered my face or physical appearance in general to be all that scary, but either way, this woman – who looked to be in her late thirties or early forties – was clearly not used to my white skin and Anglo-Saxon features. Such awkward moments can be a little frustrating in this age of communications and globalisation, but then again, the racial palette of Japan’s population remains highly homogenous and, when put in this context, perhaps her reaction was understandable. It is only human to fear the unfamiliar.

 

A few days later, as the city of Osaka began gearing up for its first derby match since September 2006, the board of Gamba Osaka decided to show their human side as well. Sadly, however, the alien concepts that they appear unable to comprehend are irony and – most crucially – the sociology and culture of the sport in which their club is involved. Below is a translated excerpt from a news release posted on the Gamba website on 9 March.

 

 

[Warning] Derogatory banners and supporters’ chants

Shortly before kick-off in the match against Nagoya Grampus at Banpaku on 6 March (Saturday), a derogatory banner towards the opposing team was displayed near the centre of the ‘A – Home’ stand. In addition, derogatory chants towards a certain other team have also been performed in the Gamba supporters’ sections at matches so far this season.

…

Gamba Osaka hereby announces that it will impose severe sanctions, namely immediate expulsions and life bans, on any persons or groups deemed to have acted in an improper fashion within the Gamba Osaka supporter areas.

 

Such actions may include – but are not limited to – the performance of chants or the display of banners that include derogatory, defamatory, juvenile, or otherwise insulting language. Any other actions deemed improper by the club shall be subject to similar sanctions.

 

We are well aware of the excitement felt by our supporters ahead of the first ‘Osaka derby’ in four years. However, we do not consider any insulting behaviour towards opposing clubs and players to be beneficial to either Gamba Osaka or its players, nor do we believe it to add to the value of the ‘Osaka derby’.

 

Such shameful behaviour in Gamba Osaka supporter areas and the appearance of banners so shocking as to make one cover one’s eyes has, before now, served as nothing but a true embarrassment to all the players, staff, and other fans and supporters associated with Gamba Osaka.

 

 

The eye-coveringly shocking banner to which this news release refers was directed at Marcus Tulio Tanaka, whose popularity in northern Osaka has never been especially high since a couple of altercations with Gamba players during his six-year spell at fierce rivals Urawa Reds. Its simple message – ‘TULIO RECALL’, with a Toyota logo painted in the middle – was a nod to how a breakdown in contract negotiations had seen the Japanese international defender released by Urawa to join a team sponsored by the Toyota Motor Corporation, which has of course had to recall several million vehicles due to a series of faults in recent months. Fine, this was never exactly meant to be welcoming, but in a city with the comedy traditions of Osaka, it is baffling that anyone would fail to understand the topical irony.

 

Meanwhile, the chant alluded to above was one that has been sung by Gamba fans without complaint at all previous matches against Cerezo Osaka for at least a decade. Its lyrics, and a rough English translation, are as follows:

 

La la-la-la...

Pinku-iro no buta-yarō ga nirande-ru!

Iwashite mae!

Cerezo merda!

 

La la-la-la...

The stupid pink pigs are looking at us!

Let’s make ‘em pay!

Cerezo are shit!

 

Again, it is hard to argue that the implications here are overly friendly, but the song is clearly still no more serious or sinister than any of the other football chants that poke fun at local rivals in every other stadium in the world. Songs that are genuinely slanderous, insensitive to deaths or other tragedies, or inciting to actual violence should indeed be condemned, but nobody ever feels the need to telephone the police or the fire brigade whenever Manchester United fans sing of putting ‘the Scousers on the top and the City in the middle’ of a big bonfire every Guy Fawkes Night.

 

Conservative critics in Japan may point to ‘untranslatable’ cultural differences, but while this country seeks to import the culture of this global game it is inevitable that the celebrated tradition of derby banter will arrive in some form as well. I must admit my own shock, when arriving from England in 2003, at the sheer ‘un-Japaneseness’ I found in the sight of Gamba fans enjoying the same social opiate in football as so many millions do throughout Europe, Latin America, and Africa. Whether the club’s board would accept it or not, the passion, humour, and emotion shown by these central supporters have attracted not only foreigners like me, but also large numbers of locals to keep coming back and paying their admission fees as well.

 

The hardest part of Gamba’s announcement to excuse is its timing. Whatever the board’s understanding of football in general, they would surely have anticipated the negative reaction of the supporters who generate the atmosphere in the stands, as well as the fact that such dissent would not have died down in just five days. As it was, the fans’ excitement at the derby was tarnished with a tension that meant that patience at events on the pitch was in short supply. The sense of occasion was diluted and the players bore the grunt of this frustration when they failed to deliver the victory that was demanded. Further protests will surely follow. In short, the ‘warning’ on the Gamba website was far more provocative than anything ever chanted on the terraces of Banpaku.

 

Perhaps the greatest success of the J. League to date has been its recognition of the need for its clubs to become rooted in their communities and play a genuinely contributing role within local society. This is exemplified by the on- and off-the-field successes of popular, established clubs like Kashima Antlers and Urawa Reds. However, there remain some outfits that have evolved little from the offspring of corporate teams they started out as two decades ago. Supporters who do cross a line deserve to be sanctioned. But Gamba can never hope to develop if its board are unable to think outside of traditional Japanese business parameters, and panic at the sound of anything that isn’t the parent company song.