As the snowflakes drift down on Yamanashi I thought I would create a thread to post all your favourite photos of beautiful Japan in the wintertime, and to serve as a database of information in case anybody decides to bring up the fall-winter season again..... If anyone happens to be in that part of the country, I am desperately looking for a picture that shows ND Soft Stadium either yesterday or today. 90cm of snow in the Yamagata valley . . . boy, wouldnt it be fun to play football in THAT!
I went to coach two games today, and I think I have said "F--k is cold!" about 300 times. Honestly, soccer with this weather is survivable if you play, not fun for anybody else around the pitch. Long live summer soccer, beer and eda-mame!
-Its actually a perfect illustration of the hidden "point" behind the plan. Teams in Southern Kanto, most of Kansai and the Tokai seaboard wont be affected. The "BIG" clubs take over, the ones out in the boondocks die, and Mr. Inukai lives happily ever after. But then again, they had 10cm of snow in KUMAMOTO on Friday, so even if you think youre safe in some place like Kyushu or Chugoku, dont count on a change like this sparing your club.
Any reason you cut out the second half of my quote? "but is still f--ing cold, though it doesn't look like it"
I'd prolly have died from hypothermia but I would have LOVED to be at this game. I just think it'd be fun Here's hoping we get Yamagata in March/April instead of August this year...
I hope you get Omiya in August.........Then they'll play the game in blazing Kumagaya and I'll have an excuse not to watch our annual home loss to your lot.
In fact I agree: ONE game in the snow would be fun, just like two-three week of cold winter could be fun... Two-three months a bit less...
Eh? Do they not use NACK5 in August? Am I missing something here Not like Kumagaya is unreasonable for an away match either
I'm hoping for a white christmas every year, but never got it ....it's like waiting for godot if you live in a tropic country
I don't hang out much on this part of the forum, so I didnt see this post until now ( thanks dameda for putting it back into the front page), so I wasnt able to take part of the discussion once it went on. I think I've seen discussions about this matter before, and first I want to say Im a big fan of the March to November league format, and agree with Gora about Edamame,beer and soccer being a great combination, and for those reasons I would like to keep it the way it is. We have the same format in Norway, and we also have the same discussion every now and then, about changing format. But, for the ones that claims that it is impossible to play even during heavy snowfall, or to run a soccer club efficient during even the darkest winter months, are wrong in my opinion. Sure, its hard to practice on grass during the winter, but more and more leagues are accepting artificial turf now, and actually only 8 out of 16 clubs in the top league of Norway have natural grass at their home ground now. Neither on Sapporo or Hakodate did I see any grounds like this, so I dont think its as common in Japan yet as it is in Northern Europe, but if we can do it then surely Japan can do it as well. It is no problem plowing snow off an artificial ground, and an example by how is done u can see here: http://www.sunnhordland.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100201/SPORT/702019989 This is my local club, from earlier this season, when we had a record-high snow-fall, but still it didnt affect the number of hours the players got to practice. On the picture they do it manually, but there are machines who do the same job now, although for a small club like on the picture that is a bit too expensive. But even the clubs that buy machines like this, or have the grounds professionally plowed, will save money in the end because there are literally no maintenance expenses with a field like that, compared to a natural turf. And i've seen people complaining about it being too cold to practice as well, but I don't really agree on that. 2 years ago I lived for a year at the coldest place in Norway ( from november to march the average degree was about -20 degrees), but we practiced outdoor 2-3 times a week. On the really bad days, we went inside and played five-a-side instead, and in many ways that's just as good a practice as playing outdoor. Another thing is building in-door facilities, or stadiums with retraceable roofs. Sapporo Dome is the mother of all such stadiums, and their solution to the snow-problem is the work of a genius. But again, that is expensive, so instead of that you can install a heating device under the fields, which of course is expensive, but not as expensive as the maintenance of a natural grass field is over a year. So for someone who is actually used to snow, and playing football in the snow, I think the arguments posted against a winter-season are not good enough. From the look of it, the other posters in this thread are all from countries not exactly known for heavy snow-fall, and I understand that it because of that sounds intimidating with all the snow. Even in Norway, we've had players from Brazil or other warm countries that only lasted a couple of months due to cold climate, but most of the time they adapt. When Rosenborg Trondheim can play a Champions League quarter-final game in February when it's -15 degrees outside, i have no problem seeing a J.League match being played under the same conditions. But again, Im happy with how it is now, as I like many others, like to watch football in the summer. But having a winter-season is possible as well.
Im not looking for any argument because I agree with most of what you wrote. However I just wanted to correct one error. Sapporo Dome cant be used in the winter (or not the REAL winter, so to speak), because the bearings that move the pitch into the stadium will not operate if there is too much weight on top (more than about 1-2cm of snow). This was the official response I got back from the operators of Sapporo Dome. According to them, the people who claim you can play football there in the winter have never bothered to check out the facts by contacting them.
I wasnt aware of that, but then half the point with a indoor soccer facility is gone. But in theory,I would believe there would be some ways to work around the snow problem, like putting a huge blanket or cover over the field before u move it out, and when it is time to move it in again you can remove the blanket and with that all the snow as well. I dont know if it would work in real-life though. Another thing is that during winter there is no baseball-games, so in one way they could just keep the soccer field inside. But perhaps that would interfer with various concerts and such, although there arent that many held in the Dome over a year.
Well, it isnt quite useless because as you say, they can clear the snow off before they move it, if there is only a small amount of snow. That makes it effective for matches in April and November/December. But as Im sure you know, in February we are not talking about a few cm but more like a few meters of snow. Incidentally, regarding your comment in the first post, I grew up in Western Massachusetts and Vermont, where they get almost as much snow as Tohoku, and probably more accumulation than most parts of Norway (though maybe not as cold). Playing American Football in knee-deep snow is great fun, but football is another story. When the ground is frozen, it hurts like hell to get tackled (assuming you dont actually break your leg or arm). Another issue is, you arent going to attract 10-20,000 fans to a J.League match if it is snowing and below 0C. Finally and most importantly, teams do not own their stadiums, so somebody else has to be willing to spend money to install equipment to keep the pitch from freezing. This isnt my opinion but the results of the study by the J.League (who, it should be mentioned, were opposed to the idea from the start) - According to them, unless something was done to stop the ground from freezing, over 50% of matches played in places like Hokuriku, Tohoku, Shinetsu and San-in would have to be postponed in the months of January and February, which would create scheduling chaos. And 0% of the towns and prefectures asked, said they would pay to upgrade stadiums. That was the end of the discussion.
yeah of course, but regarding the Dome I believe they would have removed the snow from the blanket on such a frequent basis that it wouldnt get time to become too much, if u know what I mean. And except for maybe march, when the temperature rises again, the snow would have been fairly light and not wet. Another thing is that it probably would be possible to remove the snow with one of those machines that throw the snow away ( dont know what its called) and leave about 5cm of snow to be removed manually. But Sapporo Dome is one thing, the other problems u are addressing are another. The biggest difference between Norway and Japan are as you say that barely no clubs in J.League owns their own stadiums, and therefore installing heating device and such would be hard to go through with. Sustaining injuries and getting hurt while playing during cold temperatures is one thing yeah, but again, football is supposed to be a tough and physical sport so that's the least the players should withstand imo. And its more instant pain we're talking about, not career-threatening injuries. About attendances you might be right, although we don't really see that as a problem here, but from my time in Sapporo I noticed that the local university and amateur teams didnt even practice when it was raining, so it seems they are a bit more sensitive to bad weather in Japan. But anyway, I hope they keep it like it is, because after all, football during the summer is more fun than in the winter, although I've learned to cherish both.
Don't know in other places, but the wonderful not-covered Nishikyogoku loses about 30-40% of its spectators when it RAINS...