Urawa Reds have been criticized by some supporters for repeatedly violating the “Guidelines for Coronavirus Infectious Diseases” such as voice support and booing. Among them, the breaking news of Meiji Yasuda Life J1 League Section 20 Urawa Reds vs. Kyoto Sanga on the J League official website is controversial.
In professional sports in Japan, including the J-League official game, the support act of speaking out is still prohibited due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection. However, since last month, the J-League has conducted operational verifications in some games as part of the gradual lifting of the ban on voice support. We have introduced a “voice support area” for some games.
However, some Urawa Reds supporters provided voice support and boos even before the operation verification was carried out. In the Meiji Yasuda Life J1 League Section 18 game against Gamba Osaka on the 2nd of this month, he violated the same rule even though the “voice support area” was not set up.
In response to this, Urawa Reds “continue to disseminate enlightenment information through official websites and SNS”, “strengthen enlightenment information dissemination at Stadium Aurora Vision during home games”, and “violation” as measures to prevent recurrence on the day of the match. The three points of “timely, appropriate and resolute response to actions (including immediate exit)” are listed.
In addition, the club issued a statement two hours before the kick-off against Kyoto Sanga on the 6th of this month. As we once again called for thorough compliance with the “J.League New Coronavirus Infectious Disease Response Guidelines,” no noticeable rule violations such as vocal support and booing were seen in the match against Kyoto Sanga.
However, in the official J-League match bulletin, midfielder Yusuke Matsuo (24) in the 18th minute of the first half said, “Matsuo has fallen on the pitch. I’m booing aloud. ” Even though he didn’t have a noticeable boo, he included the word “boo”.
After that, the text was corrected as “Matsuo fell on the pitch due to contact with Appiah Taweia”, but some Urawa Reds supporters and J League fans said “This is terrible” and “Only malicious”. Criticism erupted on SNS saying “It’s not good to make a fake” and “The method is dirty”. There are also calls for an apology from the J League.
What kind of explanation will the J-League side explain about this issue while Urawa Reds and some supporters are being scrutinized by voice support and booing?