Goal.com Special: Football Civil War Looming In Japan?

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Urawa Reds - Japan

"The guy has gone completely off the rails!" "He's not exactly the sharpest tool in the toolbox". "All I can think of is that he must have lost his mind!"

These comments (or rather, rough Japanese translations thereof) raised a few eyebrows in Tokyo,last week. And not only because they were spoken by Mr. Kenji Onitake, the Chairman of the J.League.

What really set tongues wagging was their target. You see, Mr. Onitake's scorn was directed at none other than the Japan Football Association (JFA) President, Motoaki Inukai!

When the comments were reported to Mr. Inukai, who was with the Japan National Team in Qatar, he seemed to be truly shocked. "I havent heard what words actually came out of his mouth so I dont want to comment," he temporized, vowing to meet with Mr. Onitake face to face when he returns to Tokyo, to "set things straight".

How did this state of affairs arise, and what explains the unusual level of tension and disharmony that is starting to emerge between Japan's two main football bureaucracies? It is a rather long story, and one which cannot be fully understood unless we back up and explain the relationship between the JFA and the J.League, as well as their respective leaders, from the very beginning.

It can be easy to criticise the administrators but looking back to former JFA boss, "Captain" Saburo Kawabuchi, I nevertheless recognize that he has contributed tremendously to the development of football in Japan, and have applauded his successes. Mr. Kawabuchi succeeded in popularizing the sport among many who had no real interest in football (of for that matter, sports in general) through his outgoing and engaging persona, as well as what seemed to be a conscious effort to avoid conflict, promote consensus and focus on the positive. These qualities made him a perfect choice to head up the committee that is now working to develop and upgrade the AFC's Champions League competition.

Unfortunately for domestic football fans, Kawabuchi's successor, Motoaki Inukai, has quickly given everyone associated with the sport a reason to appreciate Kawabuchi's strong points even more. The incoming head of the JFA has tread on many toes with his brusque manner, singleminded pursuit of pet projects, and complete lack of consideration for the views of those who may be affected by his decisions. He has already earned a reputation for being a "KY" -- a recently popular slang term which is derived from the abbreviation for "Kuuki ga Yomenai". Translation: "he cant see which way the wind is blowing". Meaning: "He is oblivious to the opinions of those around him unless they are explicitly stated in so many words."

One of Mr. Inukai's first "initiatives' upon taking office was to loudly and aggressively promote a change in the J.League's season, to make it coincide with those of European leagues. This idea seems to appeal greatly to powerful individuals in Europe, not only in FIFA and UEFA but also in the European press. The idea is that by changing Japan's league calendar from a March-November season to one that begins in September and runs through May or June, Japanese players would have an easier time attracting bids from European clubs, and Japanese clubs would find it easier to sign Europeans. In actual fact, there is no solid evidence to suggest that this would make any difference at all. But at least it sounds good.

Whether Mr. Inukai adopted this "plan" based on his own rationale, or whether he did it because he thinks it will win him publicity and favour among powerful football bureaucrats, he really pulled out all the stops to promote the idea. He gave dozens of interviews, and aggressively encouraged the press to "talk up" the idea. But at the same time, he used his influence to discourage any real "discussion" of the pros and cons. And in doing so he not only infuriated a large swathe of the J.League's fan base, but also trod on the toes of many League bosses.

To put it bluntly, the idea of switching the J.League to a September-May schedule is the single most idiotic suggestion that has ever been floated by a football official. Only someone who is utterly clueless about actual climactic conditions in Japan, and thoroughly indifferent to the economic impact that it might have on clubs, would even suggest such a thing.

The reason is that large portions of Japan experience brutal winter weather which would make even parts of Russia look mild, by comparison. Even in Europe, the leagues in Russia, Sweden, Norway and Finland, among others, must take long breaks between January and March because of the impossibility of playing football on a frozen pitch. And conditions in cities like Sapporo, Niigata, Toyama, Yamagata, Sendai, Akita, Morioka, Aomori, Nagano, Tottori and Fukui (all of which could have J.League teams within five years) make Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen look like beach resorts. 

So when Mr. Inukai introduced his "plan" with great fanfare, only days after he had narrowly defeated Mr. Onitake in the voting for JFA President, it was no surprise that the proposal was met with total and visibly awkward silence by J.League officials and club chairmen. It was as if the new president of the college fraternity activites council had stood up at the first council meeting and proposed a total ban on alcoholic beverages. I was rather surprised that so many media outlets reported the "plan" as if it had any chance whatsoever of being adopted, but then, the overseas press paid the plan far more heed than domestic sportswriters, who must have been a bit more conscious of the problems it would create.

Even more astounding, however, was the fact that neither Mr. Onitake himself nor any of his advisors were able to "see which way the wind was blowing" based on the reaction of team managers and J.League bureaucrats. Last week, after Mr. Inukai insisted that they put the proposal to a vote, the J.League unanimously rejected the idea of altering their schedule. Although some vague excuses were offered about why the plan could not be accepted "at this time", thus helping Mr. Inukai save face, in practice the League ensured that no such plan could be adopted until at least 2012, at the earliest -- a year after term limit rules will have forced Mr. Inukai to step down as the head of the JFA.

But this was only the first of the missteps Mr. Inukai has made since becoming chairman. Two weeks ago, the JFA boss announced that he wanted to punish two clubs -- JEF United and Oita Trinita -- for fielding understrength teams in their Emperor's Cup matches. Although the J.League does have a vaguely worded rule which mandates that clubs field the strongest team they have available in every match, the Emperor's Cup is a JFA competition, not a J.League competition, and there is no similar rule covering "full-strength teams". Mr. Inukai insisted that "This is not really a question of rules", but rather a point of principle, and he was determined to teach the clubs a lesson.

This incident is surely the best example of why the JFA chairman is described as "KY". Trinita was preparing for the Nabisco Cup final just a few days later -- the first opportunity to claim a piece of silverware in club history. JEF United, meanwhile, are struggling desperately to avoid relegation, and were surely more interested in fielding a full-strength and well-rested club in the next League match than in contesting an early-round cup tie. Fans from one end of the country to the other greeted this "threat" with derision and disdain.

Apparently, someone at JFA House must have got the message, because last week they quietly released a statement saying that no action would be taken against JEF or Trinita. Considering the incidents described above, you can probably understand why Mr. Onitake (and other J.League officials) are not exactly thrilled with the recent behaviour of their new JFA chairman.

But until this week, the resentment has been kept under wraps, and not expressed in public. Then came the final straw. After stepping off the plane to Qatar, on Monday, and basking in the spotlight of international press coverage, Mr. Inukai apparently felt the impulse to give reporters a nice, meaty story that would demonstrate his influence, and the efforts he was making to "improve" Japanese football.

So he unveiled his latest plan for revising the league schedule. The Nabisco Cup, he declared, would soon be changed to a strictly U-23 competition. This would make the Emperor's Cup the only cup competition for top football players in Japan. Unfortunately, it soon emerged that Mr. Inukai had failed to formally submit this plan (or for that matter, even to mention it) to Mr. Onitake, or any other J.League official.

When a reporter asked Mr. Onitake -- back in Tokyo -- to comment on the plan, he was completely baffled, and tried to get the reporters to admit that they were just pulling his leg. After they finally convinced him that they were entirely serious, and Mr. Inukai had really announced this "plan" -- presenting it as a fait accompli -- the J.League boss apparently could not restrain his true feelings any longer.

According to quotes published in the Sanspo and Sports Nippon newspapers, on Wednesday evening, Mr. Onitake said that the JFA boss "had completely gone off the rails" (joki wo isshite iru), and was "not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree" ("teijigen", or literally "very low-level"), "Does he know that the J.League is not under his control? All I can think of is that he has lost his mind." (J. mo kyoukai kasashita no soshiki na no ka? Atama ga konran shiteiru shika omowenai).

Ouch! Mr. Onitake concluded his tirade by declaring: "J.League no koto wa J.League ga kimeru!"Direct translation: "Things relating to the J.League will be decided by the J.League."More accurate translation: "Inukai should mind his own business!"

Ken Matsushima