Opinion

World Cup etiquette

By Tony Laszlo

"Did you see that lousy offside call late in the first half? Absolutely disgraceful." "It's like this, see? The source of Japan's strength is in the 'Flat Three.' It keeps the other teams' players all boxed in!"

Amid the usual clamoring before and after classes, I could hear my students talking about the FIFA World Cup. And they were speaking with surprising authority for people who just weeks before had shown very little interest in the event.

It seems that this phenomenon was by no means limited to my classroom. As far as I can tell, folks from all across Japan have suddenly become amazingly soccer-literate. One of my journalist colleagues in Japan remarked with a grin that even her grandmother, an octogenarian, had suddenly developed a deep understanding of both the sport and the tournament — and the ability to speak with conviction that goes with it. "No doubt about it. Things would have been completely different for France if only they could have played Zidane one game earlier," the elderly woman mused knowingly. "Such a pity."

On the other hand, there has been a bit of a public outcry against the bad behavior of "overnight supporters." On a mid-June television talk show, I was shown video clips of young people throwing themselves into Osaka's Dotonbori River, and then asked to comment on the poor manners of the Japanese fans.

What can one say? These looked less like soccer enthusiasts and more like people who had jumped on the World Cup bandwagon simply in order to jump off a bridge — sometimes naked — on live television. Why some people like to jump and why others like to watch are perhaps interesting social questions, but they have very little to do with soccer.

"But four years ago, during the last World Cup, Japanese fans received accolades for picking garbage up off the French streets and otherwise having fine manners," one of the talk show guests said. "That reputation has been tarnished."

Well, let's think about this just a bit more. While I don't intend to condone bad behavior, especially that which is illegal and harmful to others, I do think it is important to give people plenty of freedom to react to something as elemental as victory and defeat in soccer. While some will choose to howl at the referee, others may very well wish to howl at the moon. Still others may decide to get away from the insanity.

The World Cup experience made it clear that definitions for both laudable and punishable behavior in public need to be spelled out more plainly, the former encouraged and the latter clamped down on. Those who would destroy public property, steal or incite rioting should be swiftly brought to justice. And people who are acting strangely or even outrageously but are not actually harming anything should be allowed to have a good time.

As for diving into the Dotonbori, well, this has become something of a local tradition. Maybe the city could harness that energy and organize diving sessions whenever the Japanese national team (or the local baseball club) wins an important game. Of course they'd have to clean up the river. And full nudity in central Osaka probably won't cut it. How about if the divers wear traditional Japanese loincloths and the like, instead?

Shukan ST: July 12, 2002

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