A Day at the... Soccer

merchandise stand... scarves are more like bar towels! Our player on our scarf was number 13, Yoshito. Funny thing was, he turned out that way!

We headed to the soccer in Kobe for a bit of J-League action. I`ve been hanging for live sport and thankfully Spring brings with it the soccer and baseball seasons.

So it turns out soccer crowds are pretty much the same everywhere. They sing funny songs (In Japan they are funny because they sing `Love me tender` and `Go West`, not because they are vulgar, insulting or question somebodies sexuality!), they cheer, play the trumpet and bounce up and down when they score... However in Japan people bring their own snacks (rice of course), there is no abuse of referees or opposition players, even when it is justified. For instance, a bloke got sent off for elbowing one of the home teams players and he got clapped from the field.


Imagine what would happen if Kevin Muscat did that in Adelaide (note: that is purely fantasy, we all know Kevin Muscat would never be yellow carded, let alone
sent off, despite being a thug!). Then, the ref disallowed a clear goal for an apparent foul that looked questionable at best, which left the result at 1-1. I think Kobe could have lost 5-0 and the crowd still would have left happy! All in all, good entertainment and a fun day out...

Leandro after scoring Kobe's only goal. He should have had a double but the ref was on par with breeze and shields' finals performance!