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The story
Former Japan national team player Honda Keisuke quoted a post by J2 Iwata midfielder Inui Takashi criticizing referees, adding on X: “Once you get down to the Kanto League level, referees are nothing like that.” The remark appears to reference “EDO ALL UNITED,” the club Honda founded, which currently competes in the Kanto Division 1 League. On 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board, comments calling for respect toward referees clashed with rebuttals arguing that criticizing the validity of a call shouldn’t be conflated with referees’ volunteer treatment. Some posters called for the introduction of AI referees, while others brought up the Shinohara Shinichi judging controversy from the Sydney Olympics.
Honda Keisuke (40), who represented Japan at three consecutive FIFA World Cups, updated his X (formerly Twitter) account on the 18th. His comments about referees have caused a stir.
Honda quoted a post by former Japan national team player and Iwata midfielder Inui Takashi (38), who had complained about the referee’s calls after a J2 match between Yokohama FC and Jubilo Iwata. Honda wrote: “Once you get down to the Kanto League level, referees are nothing like that.”
He appears to have made the post because “EDO ALL UNITED,” the club Honda founded with the goal of winning the FIFA Club World Cup, is currently competing in the Kanto Division 1 League.
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
It's on you guys for not adjusting to the refs
Basically: if you don't like it, go play in J1 lol
Apparently the replies are angry because Kanto League referees are basically volunteers
I guess it means he's a disrespectful idiot — "Ahondara" (a pun combining Honda's name with old slang for "fool")
B: Referees' pay and treatment
Honda's criticizing A, so anyone bringing up B is just an idiot
Don't you know AI is loyal to whoever trained it?
Seriously, J.League guys should have to referee each other's games so they realize how hard it is
They're the "me, me, me" type who's always pushing to the front
They only want to do stuff like being a manager — things that put them in the spotlight
Guys like this are exactly the type who'd bash the referees over the Shinohara case at the Sydney Olympics (the controversial 2000 judo officiating scandal)
Whether it's a bad call and whether it's okay to mock the referee are different things
Just protest the bad call, dummy — no need to look down on them just because they're a lower-league referee
Bet you thought this was about Nishimura, didn't you! (the referee infamous for controversial World Cup calls) Who cares about that anyway
Plenty of overseas referees are terrible too, yet these guys act like only Japan's level is low
I'm not bashing referees, and sure, I hype up Japan and Japanese people while trashing the West/China/Korea/Russia — but Moriyasu Japan gets criticized, or rather I'm just pointing out facts, because they didn't get results
The standards are different, that's why you get screwups like Nishimura
Before talking about skill level, that gap never changes
Low level cuts both ways — honestly, if anything you players are the ones who are still low level
They're charging fans money, yet it's not holding up as a proper show
If we're saying that, it should be "players of your caliber have no business complaining to referees"
That's spitting on the very structure of the sport
The strike zone, half-swings, safe or out — it all comes down to timing
Soccer is ambiguous
Like whether something's a foul or not
Uhh, this is home-plate umpire Shirai speaking (a nod to a viral clip of umpire Shirai's deadpan on-mic self-introduction)
That's exactly why he speaks his mind with no filter
They're the ones pulling every dirty trick they can get away with
The one touching the face is in the wrong
Touching someone's face is creepy
Background and Key Points
Honda Keisuke is one of Japan’s most recognizable footballers, a three-time World Cup representative (2010, 2014, 2018) now working as a pundit and club owner. The team he references, EDO ALL UNITED, is his own passion project, launched with the stated goal of eventually reaching the FIFA Club World Cup — but it currently plays in the Kanto Division 1 League, a regional amateur tier several levels below J1 and J2 in Japan’s league pyramid. That gap matters: J.League referees are contracted professionals or semi-pros, while referees at the Kanto League level are largely volunteers officiating alongside day jobs, with far less institutional support, video review, or pay. Inui Takashi, whose post Honda quoted, plays for J2 side Jubilo Iwata and was airing frustration after a professional-tier match against Yokohama FC.
The thread’s real fault line wasn’t “referees good or bad” — it was whether criticizing a specific call’s accuracy is the same act as criticizing referees as a class, given their volunteer status. Posters in Honda’s replies argued the latter is unfair to unpaid officials; posters on 5ch pushed back that disputing a decision and disrespecting the person are separable, and that Honda — a professional-turned-club-owner — was seen as punching down at both Inui and amateur referees simultaneously.
What outside readers likely miss: this isn’t really a debate about video review or AI officiating (raised only in passing), and Honda’s Kanto League comparison is not apples-to-apples with J2 — it’s amateur ball. The Shinohara reference to the 2000 Sydney Olympics judo scandal, and the aside about referee Nishimura’s World Cup calls, are stock Japanese shorthand for “infamous bad officiating,” not new information about this incident.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Soccer] Honda Keisuke’s Referee Post Sparks Uproar: “This Comment Is Genuinely Unforgivable” / “You Can’t Even Play a Match Without Referees”.”
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