Alpay praises loyalty of Japanese fans as attendances rise again
Ever since the J.League began in 1993 I've always taken a strong interest in the attendances.
After last weekend's matches, the signs are very encouraging for the league as a whole.
At the moment in J1, the average attendance for the second stage is 19,175.
The average for the 15 rounds in the first stage was 18,763.
This makes for a season's average of 18,969, which is considerably higher than the 2003 average of 17,351 for the 240 matches.
With Urawa Reds at the top of the table and Albirex Niigata improving, I am sure the huge fan bases of these two clubs alone can help the first division finish with an average attendance of over 19,000 for the season.
If that is the case, it would be the first time to pass the 19,000 mark since 1994, when the league recorded a high of 19,598 in its second season.
After 1994, the crowds went away and came back again, which is a very healthy sign for the game in Japan.
It means that the fans of the early bubble years, who didn't understand the game and just followed the fashion, have been replaced by a growing number of genuine football supporters.
Take away the big four leagues of Europe, meaning Spain, England, Italy and Germany, and probably also France, and these J.League attendances would hold up against most other European leagues, including Holland and Belgium.
In fact there must be several clubs in the allegedly glamorous Italian Serie A who are jealous of the support the teams receive in Japan.
After the JEF United-Urawa Reds match on Saturday I spoke with Turkish tough nut Alpay Ozalan.
Anyone who's been to a match involving the Turkish national team knows that their fans are crazy, so I asked Alpay how Tokyo compared with Istanbul.
Alpay had no hesitation in saying that the atmosphere in Japan was better.
He said that in Turkey people stop going to the games if one team is dominating the championship race, whereas in Japan the fans still keep coming and still keep singing.
He was very impressed with the JEF fans, who continued to cheer for their yellow-shirted heroes long after the match was lost.
"And look at our fans. It must be two hours from Saitama but there's over 20,000 of them here," he said.
The steady increase in attendances must be the envy of many leagues around the world.
As the Japanese baseball world reaches a turning point, the J.League is quitely getting on with business, step by step.
ends
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