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The story
Jubilo Iwata issued a statement on the club’s official website, under the name of club president Kenju Otomo, addressing the booing from some supporters and the verbal abuse directed at players and staff that followed the J2 League Matchday 16 draw against Shonan Bellmare (1-1) on the 8th. After head coach Tadahiro Akiba criticized certain fan behavior in his post-match interview, the club clarified that his comments were meant as a protest against “insulting language directed at players” rather than the booing itself — the club does not deny that the booing happened, but reiterated that it will not tolerate verbal abuse. On 5ch, opinions split between those arguing that “pros should accept jeering” and those insisting that “abuse and jeering are not the same thing,” with the discussion expanding into broader debates about how J.League clubs handle fans and customer-harassment (kasuhara) issues.
On the 12th, Jubilo Iwata released a statement on the club’s official website regarding events following the J2 League Matchday 16 draw against Shonan Bellmare (1-1) on the 8th.
In that match, Iwata took the lead in the 45th minute of the first half on a goal from midfielder Yuri Lala, but conceded an equalizer late in the game to finish 1-1. After the match, some supporters booed, and head coach Tadahiro Akiba criticized certain behavior during his flash interview. The club also released a statement that same day flagging concerns over verbal abuse directed at players and staff.
This latest statement was issued under the name of club president Kenju Otomo. The club explained that, after receiving a range of opinions from fans and supporters, it held repeated discussions involving the coaching staff and players. It clarified that it was not denying the booing itself, and that coach Akiba’s remarks were specifically aimed at “insulting language directed at players.” At the same time, the club reiterated that it will not tolerate verbal abuse or insulting behavior toward players and staff.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Baseball, soccer, whatever — I always thought part of the fun was fans putting players and managers up on a pedestal one minute and dragging them down the next.
Flip-flopping and getting all worked up about it is just…
It's an era where you have to watch your image, so this is just the bare minimum of PR talk. 'We won't tolerate it' — well, of course they'd say that, it doesn't mean they're actually going to do anything about it.
Pathetic.
Booing is booing, match or no match — they're pros, it's fine.
Well, apparently they gave up the equalizer in stoppage time, so I guess it's understandable.
Who do they think they are!!
I'm never going to the stadium again!!
What are you even saying? This is literally a thread about not tolerating abuse from supporters.
Well, having soccer as your reason to live is fine. The problem is the guys who made hurling abuse their reason to live.
The people actually causing the problem here are probably just a handful — ten, tops. It got to the point where people were saying it's bad for kids to witness it. Most middle-aged guys are probably a bit more decent than that.
Plenty of people do the exact same thing online — on 5ch and elsewhere. They probably don't think they're bothering anyone, but that's just as much of a nuisance.
These days gambling venues are actually far more orderly. Plenty of families go there too.
Guys like this usually aren't getting warned for the first time.
It's the J.League, so they'll probably just let it slide as a special exception.
That's exactly why they should just ban them from the stadium. That's the best answer for harassers — the clubs that won't do it are the ones being foolish.
There's a pretty immature crowd in there too, and if you keep coddling them nothing's ever going to change. At some point they need to draw a clear line of 'this is not okay' and, depending on the case, actually follow through with stadium bans.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
The controversy started when head coach Tadahiro Akiba criticized the behavior of some supporters in his post-match interview. His remarks were initially read as criticism of the booing itself, which drew some backlash against the coach — but Iwata’s follow-up statement clarified that his comments weren’t aimed at booing in general, only at insulting language directed at players. In other words, the club isn’t denying the booing itself; the only thing it’s treating as a problem is abuse aimed at individuals. On the thread, this pitted the traditional view that “pros should just accept jeering” against a newer view, shaped by recent concern over customer harassment (kasuhara), that “paying for a ticket doesn’t give you the right to say anything you want.” The debate ended up reaching beyond the J.League into the broader relationship between spectators and players.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread “[Soccer] Iwata issues statement under president’s name: ‘We will never tolerate it, no matter the reason,’ over post-match abuse of players and staff after Shonan match.”
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