J-league - Grampus8 vs.Urawa Reds

On Sunday Jan organised a trip to see the Nagoya Grampus Eight play in Japan's National Football/Soccer League. We were late, couldn't find our seats and missed the first 30 minutes of the game. But that did not matter. This was one of my favorite activities so far in Japan. The game was open and enjoyable to watch, but the crowd...the crowd was unforgettable.

The crowd were friendly, involved and loud. It felt very competitive, but safe. There was lots of singing and no visible animosity toward the opposition team. In a sense, a complete contrast from going to the Aussie Rules Football.

The Nagoya Grampus Eight are named after two of Nagoya's symbols the Grampus (dolphins above Nagoya Castle) and the 8 (The 8 character is Nagoya's city symbol) .

In the 1990's Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger coached the Grampus for a very successful 18 months

Toyota Stadium in Toyota City. A fantastic venue for watching football, BUT with terrible parking options. Either come early, or park and walk.

Mt first view of the match. It took quite a while to figure out where we could sit. In the end we found that we could sit in the view top tier of the grandstand, or sit with the cheer squads at either end of the ground.

Japanese fans of Nagoya Grampus Eight
sebat77 - Feb 2007

PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO : This is not my video, and it is a different match, but it is the Nagoya supporters at the same stadium and completely captures the experience. Give the video about 10 seconds before the supporters really kick in.

A view of the other stand (we ended up on the top tier.

The view from the cheap seats was still pretty good. Unlike a cricket game at the MCG, you are still pretty close to the game. The sound of the cheers from the supporters at both ends of the stadium was clear and loud.

Nagoya scored, and equalized the game just before half time.

The Urawa Reds won the championship last year and their supporters often drowned out the local fans. Their flags were diverse, including one of Che Guevara !

One all at half time

A missed chance to go ahead

The Grampus Eight supporters behind the goal.

The $100 seats opposite were pretty empty....I wonder why?

Toward the end of the game I moved back down to near the cheer squad. Much closer to the action and noise.

Trying to spur on the team

They scored again, damn....their supporters were pretty happy though

A loss at home and the crowd leaves the game

J-League Table after Round 12 2007

	Team	Pts	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD

1	Gamba Osaka	25	12	7	4	1	25	12	+13
2	Urawa Reds	23	12	6	5	1	19	12	+7
3	Kawasaki Frontale	21	12	6	3	3	24	15	+9
4	Kashiwa Reysol	21	12	6	3	3	18	9	+9
5	Shimizu S-Pulse	21	12	6	3	3	17	11	+6
6	Nagoya Grampus Eight	18	12	6	0	6	16	12	+4
7	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	18	12	5	3	4	20	22	-2
8	Jubilo Iwata	18	12	6	0	6	17	21	-4
9	Vissel Kobe	17	12	4	5	3	19	15	+4
10	Kashima Antlers	17	12	4	5	3	13	12	+1
11	Albirex Niigata	17	12	4	5	3	15	18	-3
12	Yokohama F･Marinos	16	12	5	1	6	19	14	+5
13	F.C.Tokyo	14	12	4	2	6	14	18	-4
14	Ventforet Kofu	14	12	4	2	6	15	21	-6
15	Oita Trinita	12	12	3	3	6	12	22	-10
16	JEF United Chiba	10	12	2	4	6	15	21	-6
17	Omiya Ardija	9	12	2	3	7	7	14	-7
18	Yokohama FC	7	12	2	1	9	6	22	-16

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J-league - Grampus8 vs.Urawa Reds