Friday January 7 was to be the big night of Japanese rugby. Behind the walls of the New National Stadium – the grounds of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games – the Tokyo Bay Spears had to face the Saitama Wild Nights in the opening of the ambitious League One, the new formula of the Japanese championship. Decimated by the cases of Covid-19, the formation of Saitama (north of Tokyo) forfeited, offering an enhanced victory to their opponent of the day.
A failed start for a league that aims to professionalize Japanese rugby 100%, on the model of the European championships, such as the Top 14, with the idea of raising the level of the Brave Blossoms, the national team. For Kensuke Iwabuchi, the president of the Japanese federation, JRFU, League One must become “An exciting competition for fans in Japan and the world. In the stadium or in front of the television, we want the public to have a unique experience ”.
The new formula brings together 24 clubs divided into three divisions, the first with twelve formations. It succeeds the Top League, which, since 2003, has played between business teams mixing professional players and employees. The stated objective is to operate, by 2025, with all independent clubs, endowed with a promotional policy, all professional players, local roots with an appointed stadium, a playing identity and ‘A training center.
“Recreating the excitement of the World Cup”
Led by Yoshiro Mori, former prime minister and president of the JRFU, and Katsuyuki Kiyomiya, its vice-president, the project was launched in the wake of the 2019 World Cup organized in the archipelago, taking advantage of the enthusiasm sparked by competition. Mr. Kiyomiya wanted to create a championship generating annual revenues of 50 billion yen (381 million euros) from broadcasting rights and sponsorship.
“With League One we are trying to recreate the excitement of the World Cup with a new platform”, confirmed today Genichi Tamatsuka, president of the company operating League One. Mr. Tamatsuka is already planning to expand the league to other clubs, or even integrate formations from other Asian countries, such as the Hyundai Glovis, from South Korea, or the South China Tigers, from Hong Kong.
However, notes a good connoisseur of Japanese rugby, “League One actually appears very far from the objectives set. There are not many differences with the Top League ”. Of course, all the teams have chosen a stadium and have backed their names with that of a city or a department where they are located. The Panasonic Wild Knights thus became the Saitama Wild Knights.
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