I never could figure out what the hell they're suppose to mean. Verdy, S-Pulse, Ardija, Grampus Eight, etc... as far as I know, these aren't English or Japanese words so what do they mean? Why is it that Japanese teams don't just have Japanese names? Anyone have any idea/history on this subject? -Arigatou
For the most, they're words from European languages turned into nicknames. For example: - Verdy, for example would be 'the greens' (verdi) in Italian, Gamba means 'leg' in italian, but also sound as 'ganbaru' (=to do one's best) in Japanese - Marinos, Reysol (=king sun?) and Cerezo (=cherry tree) are Spanish, - Jubilo is Latin (=happiness, more or less), - Reds and S-Pulse are of course English, - Flugels was German, etc... Some other interesting ones are: - Sanga, which is a Sanskrit Buddhist term that could be losely translated as "group" (a bit as Eintracht in German, I suppose); - Sanfrecce which is a Japanese-Italian hybrid for "three arrows" (See Kurosawa's movie "Ran" to understand the meaning of the name); and - Thespa, named after "the spa" (=hot spring bath, onsen) where the club was founded in Kusatsu. I am sure others will add more names' meanings. They're actually quite fun.
The J-League has some of the more imaginative and interesting names in world club football. The J-League clubs obviously aren't afraid of using both the traditional naming conventions (ie, FC Tokyo) and the non-traditional, nor are they afraid of mixing Japanese and non-Japanese terminology. The J-League is the perfect antidote to all of my fellow American citizens on BigSoccer who are myopic whiners who can't conceive of the concept of club names that don't follow the pattern of NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL naming conventions. They trash interesting 'new' types of names like 'Clash' or 'Fusion' or 'Mutiny' or 'Galaxy' or 'Revolution' or 'Rapids' or 'Fire' because NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL doesn't use these names, so that rules out (in their type of thinking) the creative new types of names the J-League clubs have come up with, which are even wilder and more imaginative. On the other hand, however, they don't like 'old' or traditional names, either, if they aren't NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL type names, especially if they are names used by 'foreign football clubs'; so if you want to use FC or AC or United or Arsenal or Real or Rovers or Wanderers, they call you a 'poser' or a 'thief' even though football clubs have been 'posing' and 'stealing' these types of names from each other for over 140 years. Why is it that the Japanese have no problems with developing their own unique traditions within the context of world football traditions, whereas Americans can't seem to develop a clue on this topic? They want to turn MLS into a pale imitation of NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL, and yet don't seem to comprehend why the resulting 'product' is so unsatisfying to world football fans here in the USA. It's not like we don't already have a wealth of soccer history here in the USA to draw from, that does not rely on the seal of approval of the NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL or the established sporting media here in the USA which is going to hate on soccer no matter what we call our clubs.
Apropos of nothing: a Vespa is also an Italian motor scooter (Vespa = Avispa = Wasp). There's also a rugby club in England called the Wasps.
Thanks for the info guys. I still kept wondering what an S-pulse was, like maybe a physics term or somethign? So I went to the almighty bank of knowledge (Wiki): That's pretty cool. Anyway, Rowdies4ever, I've wondered myself why MLS couldn't just name teams whatever they wanted and not focused on our traditional names vs. European traditional names. Whenever America takes something from abroad and "Americanizes" it, people tend to think it's not real or cheesey. However, anything that penetrates the Japanese market becomes "Japanified" and people think it's cute. I don't know why we have such stigma about giving our own spin on things but we do. Now having said that, I was against the original '96 style hockey shootout which was going too far.
Simply put, that's the diffirence between Japanese and American personality. If you grow up in both countries, you can feel the diffirence.
The "JEF" in JEF United Ichihara Chiba apparently is from "JR East" and "Furukawa Electric", from what I hear. Vegalta Sendai comes from two constellations or stars "Vega" and "Altair". (Formerly, they were known as Brummel Sendai; I don't know where that name came from) Sanfrecce Hiroshima- San comes from the word "three" in Japanese, "frecce" apparently means arrow in Italian.
As said above, it does, it actually means 'arrowS.' Arrow is 'freccIA' Btw, since we're on Italian, ROSSO Kumamoto means "RED Kumamoto" Montedio means literally "Mount - God" but I don't know the story behind the name...
haha the sound of Vegalta reminds me of Vegeta from Dragonball Z i think They shoulda stuck with Brummel, sounds better
Here are the Chinese translation and english meaning of clubs 1.Urawa Red Diamonds 浦和红钻/浦和紅鑽 Red Diamond 2.Kawasaki Frontale 川崎先锋/川崎先鋒 Vanguard 3.Gamba Osaka 大阪飞脚/大阪飛腳 Fleet-footed 4.Shimizu SPulse 清水鼓动/清水脈動 Pulse 5.Jubilo Iwata 磐田喜悦/磐田喜悅 Jubilant 6.Kashima Antlers 鹿岛鹿角/鹿島鹿角 Antler 7.Nagoya Grampus Eight 名古屋八鲸/名古屋八鯨 Eight Whales 8.Oita Trinita 大分三神/大分三神 Three Gods 9.Yokohama F.Marinos 横滨水手/橫濱水手 Mariner 10.Sanfrecce Hiroshima 广岛三箭/廣島三箭 Three Arrow 11.JEF United Ichihara Chiba 千叶市原/千葉市原 12.Omiya Ardija 大宫粟鼠/大宮粟鼠 Squirrel 13.FC Tokyo 东京FC/東京FC 14.Albirex Niigata 新泻天鹅/新瀉天鵝 Swan 15.Ventforet Kofu 甲府风林/甲府風林 Windy Forest 16.Yokohama FC 横滨FC橫濱FC 17.Vissel Kobe 神户胜利船/神戶勝利船 Triumphal Vessel 18.Kashiwa Reysol 柏太阳神/柏太陽神 Apollo
7 - How ironic, during a period when Japanese whaling ships are killing endangered whales in a wildlife sanctuary in Antartica... Anyway, I think there is a "grampus" on the top of Nagoya's castle. It might come from that. 8 - I am wondering if Trinita (Trinity)'s name has to do with the Japanese Christian heritage of Kyushu...
They try and steal it from other peoples waters and then arrogantly crack the shits when they get caught.
OT = Whales As a country with a strong Buddhist tradition, they should reflect upon the karmic retribution that their main whaling ship got this year: the engine burnt down for a week, and they were stranded in antartic waters, until they finally repaired the ship, but had to abandon the hunting (yahoo!!).
Oh yeah, we were reflecting hard over a nice bowl of rice topped with whale bacon. I'll buy it when it's on sale at my local super for 200 yen. Mostly blubber, but the bit of meat reminds me of the one piece of pork you used to get in a can of Van de Kamps pork and beans. Reflect on karmic retribution? Yeah right.
Oh, now I got it! That is what the Japanese mean when they say that the whales are killed for "scientific research"!! They feed them to gaijins who think they're getting a treat for 200 yen, and without any apparent reason turn into Cerezo fans!! (ok, ok, end of OT for me as well... just messing around a bit, c'mon...) Anyway, I guess there used to be a Japanese baseball team called "Whalers"
Whoever he was, he's gone. Now, since gome good humor degenerated into racism, please no more whales (I started it, and I regret it), and back to when this post was fun. Thank You!