The series kicks-off in fine fashion by discussing all things Gamba Osaka with their unofficial English blogger, Jonny. Jonny is the author of the gambaosakaenglishblog.wordpress.com blog and can be found on Twitter @BlogGamba. The Gamba English blog was started back in the fall of 2019 and though it is relatively new to the scene, Jon’s support for Gamba dates back to 2013 and he is extremely knowledgeable about his club. Jonny also provides some very unique stats on his twitter account when he can with the picture below serving as a small sample.
Just a quick procedural note. My questions and responses throughout all of these interviews will be in bold and colored black. The responses from those I interview will all be in the normal text resident on this site. Enjoy!
Thank you for agreeing to conduct this interview as I know we all lead busy lives while serving as unpaid amateur bloggers for our respective J League teams. I think it’s appropriate to begin all of these interviews by asking, how are you doing during these unprecedented times with the COVID-19 Pandemic?
Hi Geoff, thanks for taking the time out to talk to me. I really appreciate you promoting my work and in turn I’m happy to promote what you are doing. I’m always really impressed by your content.
I appreciate that very much, thank you.
Regarding COVID-19, there’s not much for me to report to be honest. I work at a private language school and, as we have paying students, we can only really close if the government tells us we must. So, my days are pretty much the same, minus of course, any new Jleague games to watch. I guess things may escalate in the next few days as today (Saturday March 28) my boss told me to take my school PC and iPad home with the expectation of us going into lock-down sometime next week.
I feel the idea of a lock-down is probably necessary at some point and I hope all are prepared (mentally most of all) for whatever awaits us.
Q. So, what have you been doing to occupy your time during this “interim” period between Gamba Osaka matches?
I actually used be a big Formula 1 fan back when I was a kid but now I’ve completely fallen out of touch with it. I started watching old races from the late 1980s and early 1990s on Youtube to occupy my time and I’ve slowly got hooked again. It’s actually really interesting to see how attitudes to health and safety have completely changed in the space of 25-30 years. The J-Talk Podcast guys have also been great for putting out a lot of content. I must admit that I usually listen to it while I take a bath at night, it’s quite a nice routine for me.
Well, I wish you all the best as we deal with this Pandemic. Now on to a much happier subject.
Q. Please describe how you came to Japan and became a fan of the J league and in particular, Gamba Osaka? And how did you choose Gamba over Cerezo Osaka?
Japan is actually the second Asian country I’ve lived in. I moved to Incheon, South Korea in mid-2010, so it was another team who play in blue and black, Incheon United, who first took my eye. Back in those days they still played in the old World Cup stadium, and often drew crowds of around 5,000 in a 50,000 seat arena. I saw a couple of decent games, wins over Jeonbuk (not quite the power they are now) and Suwon (with Jung Sung-Ryong in goal), as well as a fair few 0-0s.
I actually attended an Incheon UTD match against the Pohang Steelers with my friend back in June of 2017. Coming off the train and walking into a stadium that was below ground level was really awesome. I do love that stadium. Too bad we got lost on the way back to Seoul but that’s what you get when you’ve been sipping on large Hite beers all match.
During my year in Korea, I visited Japan, Tokyo and Hakone, for a few days and fell in love with the place. So after a misguided 6 months in Toronto I moved to Toyonaka in the north of Osaka in the summer of 2012. I initially thought I’d stay for just a year, but it’s 2020 and I’m still here!
And actually, the first Jleague game I ever watched was Cerezo vs Urawa. A 2-2 draw during Golden Week 2013, which, to this day, is probably the best Jleague game I’ve seen from a neutral perspective (though a Yokohama F.Marinos 3-2 Kashima game runs it close). However, in 2013 Gamba were in J2, and since I worked Saturdays, most J2 games fell on Sundays which made it was easy for me to attend Gamba’s matches on a regular basis. My first game was a 5-1 drubbing of Thespakusatsu Gunma in the pouring rain some time around May of 2013. I think Leandro (now with Tokyo Verdy) scored a hat-trick and Akihiro Ienaga (then on loan from Mallorca) was an unused substitute. He’s certainly aged like a fine wine. I got the uniform and actually met Takashi Usami through my work, so Gamba were my team from then on.
Pretty amazing getting to meet a legend and I can certainly see how that impacted your decision to support Gamba.
Q. So why Blogging? Maybe you were like me and frustrated at the lack of overall English content provided by the J League. ( I am not sure, does Gamba Osaka have an English Twitter account?)
I’m actually quite a late arrival to the Twitter scene having only joined in January 2018. I think I started following the Jsoccer Magazine and gradually found more and more English content through them. I used to do a lot of editing on Wikipedia and kept detailed records of Gamba’s seasons from 2013-2019, but I always wanted to do my own thing. Last year in early October there was a big typhoon headed for Japan, I think Kanto area got it pretty bad, but here in Kansai I just got a day off from work so I set up the blog and went from there. To be honest, I’m still finding my way, but I’ve had some decent feedback, especially about my match previews. My most successful posts are my J1 previews, there’s definitely much more appetite out there for a general JLeague content than Gamba-specific English stuff. I feel the J-Talk Podcast (@JTalkPod), Jsoccer Magazine (@JSoccerMagazine), J1 Tokei (@J1tokei) and Michael Master (@Michael_Master) do a much better job than I could, so I’m happy with my niche as the Gamba English guy. The club doesn’t have any official content that I know of, though I’d be happy to help if they want to go down that route.
You’re right! The J1 previews were very impressive. Also, I would like to know if anyone out there has been successful enough to transition from amateur/unofficial blogger for a club, into their actual English Twitter Account or Blog author. Have to pose that question on Twitter one of these days.
Q. How much have you connected to Gamba Osaka supporters throughout the world since you started your blog?
It’s been pretty interesting actually. Honestly, when I started the blog I never imagined that I’d be getting messages from people living in Brazil, India, Argentina, Germany etc. In fact it still amazes me. About 50% of my readership is based in Japan, the rest comes from all across the 6 inhabited continents on earth. As I type this its actually quite mind-blowing in fact.
As you probably know, there’s a lot of things that aren’t obvious when you first come to Japan, but over time they become more clear. For example, where to buy tickets and when they are released are two of the big ones, so I’ve had a few inquiries about them and it’s been great helping people out.
I too enjoy checking the WordPress statistics page to see who is reading my blogs and in what countries. The randomness for some is always enjoyable.
You mentioned in one of your blog entries that you attend 3 to 5 matches each season. I can certainly sympathize with that notion so my question is, do you earmark any matches on the calendar as ‘must attends’ or is it simply the luck of the draw?
As I mentioned earlier, I work at a private language school so we’re open on Saturday’s until 19:00. I’m assistant manager there so I have a bit of leeway for leaving early for night games in the summer but most Saturday afternoon games are out of the question. Last season I saw games against Urawa, Hiroshima, Iwata and Sendai….Gamba only won 1 out of the 4 and conceded late in 3 of them so maybe it’s best I don’t attend so often. I do try to make up for it by going to as many of the Under-23 J3 games as I can.
Q. As you may know, FC Ryukyu don’t really have a local rival that can make for a true derby each year. Outside of a FC Seoul vs Suwon Bluewings and FC Tokyo vs Kawasaki Frontale game, I’ve not been to many derbies here in Asia. Have you been to many Gamba v Cerezo derby’s (home/away)? (Please describe the atmosphere leading up to and through those matches at each location if you’ve been.)
I’ve actually never made it to a Gamba vs Cerezo game! May 2nd this year was going to be my first time ever….thanks coronavirus. I attended a Gamba Osaka vs Vissel Kobe game back in 2015, the Gamba end was sold out, so me and a mate ended up in with the Kobe fans….it was a pretty tame 0-0 which only really livened up in additional time at the end. In truth, there’s not much of a rivalry between Gamba and Kobe so it wasn’t really any different from say a Gamba vs Shimizu S-Pulse game. Last year there was definitely some heat at the Gamba vs Urawa match, maybe similar to a Tigers vs Giants derby in the NPB…though the fizz was definitely taken out by the poor quality on the pitch that day.
I saw Gamba vs Sanfrecce Hiroshima last Obon and that’s becoming a bit of a grudge match owing to a certain game at the end of 2015 season. Mr. Shimizu and Mr. Aoyama remain very unpopular in the north of Osaka as a result of that game. Gamba dominated but only took the lead in the 89th minute before promptly conceding an injury time equalizer. That was a bit of a sucker punch, but in Japan, there’s rarely any open animosity towards opposing supporters.
I agree with your last point about no animosity existing among the different supporter groups. In fact, I do all I can to be kind, courteous and welcoming to the opposition’s fans when they arrive here in Okinawa. It confuses many of them as they’re probably expecting me to be a typical rude American.
Q. What other matches rank up there as your favorite of all time? (any sport in any country is acceptable)
I grew up as an Ayr United FC supporter in Scotland. They play in the Championship tier of Scottish Football while local rivals Kilmarnock are in the Premiership. However, Ayr UTD have a great record over them in the cup competitions and my favorite game was back in 2002. It was a League Cup quarter final and I believe we had a man sent off after 30 mins but managed to survive the remaining 60 minuted plus extra time to take it to penalties. Kilmarnock had a chance to win it but the shot was saved. Ayr then scored. And then finally Kilmarnock blazed one over the bar to cause pandemonium in the home supporter end of the stadium.
I’ve also seen Scotland play Italy twice in the World Cup / Euro qualification. A 1-1 draw and a 2-1 defeat, plus I saw us beat an Andriy Shevchenko inspired Ukraine 3-1 at Hampden in 2007. We scored twice in the first 10 minutes and the stadium simply exploded with noise.
I envy you as I’ve never attended a national team match at any level for any sport.
Q. I really enjoyed your opening day preview for 2020 where you discussed many of the issues that J1 clubs must overcome to open the season. What other issues to you dislike within the J-League and what are some solutions you could offer up?
I think the Levain Cup is an obvious place to start and there have been many critiques as of late. I’ve noticed in the second half of seasons a lot of J1 players are often loaned out by clubs. For example Hiroto Yamada at FC Ryukyu last year, which raises the standard of the lower leagues. However, these players are kept by the bigger clubs in the first half of the year to cover the Levain Cup games and this leads to many J1 clubs having very bloated squads. With a trimmed down Levain Cup, I believe more of these players could naturally trickle down to J2 and J3 which would ultimately raise the standard of the lower tiers of the J League.
Additionally as Stuart (@stuartcw) on the J-Talk Podcast discussed in his chat with Paul Neat (@NeatPaul) in Korea; clubs are often very vague with contract lengths of new signings and injury news. Gamba Osaka doesn’t even announce contract renewals which is very frustrating for me!
You are preaching to the choir my friend.
Q. Gamba Osaka has a rich history, please describe some of what that entails as well as some of the most memorable moments for you as a fan?
I’ve been a fan of Gamba since 2013, so of course 2014 would have to be the pinnacle when we won the treble in our first season back in J1. I guess a lot of other teams laughed when Gamba went down in 2012 so that was used as motivation by the club in the latter half of 2014.
Probably the best Gamba game I’ve seen would actually be the away match at Yokohama F. Marinos back in 2017. Ritsu Doan scored the winner after a brilliant counter attack involving Ademilson and Shun Nagasawa. It was shocking the way that Gamba fell apart in the second half of the season, but they were excellent that day.
Q. What is the outlook for Gamba Osaka in 2020? What players have they brought in/let go that could strengthen/weaken the squad?
One of the main reasons I started the blog was I needed a place to vent my frustrations at some of the poor decisions the club was making as far as talent recruitment. Gamba have an excellent youth system, generally recruit well from local universities and have a good history of getting decent players in from South Korea. However, signings from other J1 clubs have largely been hit or miss in recent years. Jin Izumisawa, Shingo Akamine, Shohei Ogura and Haruya Ide are a few of the less successful purchases.
I like the look of this year’s squad. Gen Shoji really fills the void at the back, although it was disappointing we missed out on Ju Se-jong who we tried to bring in from FC Seoul. I’d like to see some of the young guys from the U23 side break through this year, such as Ren Shibamoto and Riku Matsuda, and there’s also Keisuke Kurokawa and Yuki Yamamoto who were designated special players in 2019 but turned pro this year after graduating from university. A couple of gems to look out for in the coming years are Shoji Toyama, a young striker who scored 8 goals in 10 J3 games last season and played for Japan at the Under-17 World Cup. Finally, there is Jiro Nakamura, a tricky winger who’s still in his 2nd year of high school, but will probably turn pro in 2021.
I know I’ve wandered off topic, but most punters seem to have Gamba Osaka in the top 7 and there’s no excuse for them to not finish there if we ever resume the 2020 season.
Punter: Noun (British-Informal) A person who gambles, places a bet or makes a risky investment. That is for all my non-British readers.
Q. Do you have a favorite player in the squad?
Takashi Usami. I have his number 33 on the back of my shirt. When I first started watching Gamba in J2, he was awesome (granted that’s not his real level), when he scored 19 goals in 18 games. He’s also the only member of the squad I’ve met in person. I really respect Endo and Kurata too. Also, when I left my old company in Toyonaka, one of my students went to the training ground and got Endo, Konno, Higashiguchi, Usami, Patric and Hasegawa’s signatures for me back in 2015….that was awesome.
I’ve also been lucky enough to run into a couple of FC Ryukyu players here in Okinawa over the course of last season, and they’ve all been great experiences.
Q. What are some ideas you have been mulling over for your blog and how has the response been since you began blogging last year?
I really enjoy doing the match previews and I do them sort of like a match program. There’s a lot of focus on the opposition and I’ve got some good feedback about that so far. I am pretty busy with my day job as an English teacher so it’s difficult to blog more than once a week. I’d love to do it full time and especially if the Jleague becomes more popular globally. Maybe provide more content, for example, live commentary, but that’s a long way off now. I’m always open to ideas and suggestions, so if anyone has any requests, please let me know.
I tossed around the idea of doing a simulcast broadcast for an FC Ryukyu vs FC Gifu match last year with Richy Palmer (@GifuRichy) but nothing came of it. Maybe in the future.
Q. Have you had any contact with the club, in any form for any reason regarding your blog? (this would include the following of your twitter account)
No, there’s been nothing. I think I’ve managed to differentiate myself enough so I don’t get any negative press leading to the unfortunate circumstances with the FC Tokyo guys original account. I even tweeted the official account about their repeated English mistakes when welcoming new players. For example, “Welcome Gamba Osaka Yuji Ono,” but they never replied. I’d be more than happy to do some official stuff, and I have had quite a few Japanese Gamba fans who follow me on Twitter. I even have an Urawa fan who was really great at promoting my work to his/her followers. I really appreciated that.
I am so appreciative that FC Ryukyu follows my Twitter account as it makes it easier for fans to find an English resource for the club outside of their website. It was difficult to locate English blogs or Twitter accounts for many of the J League clubs if they were not followed by the parent club’s main Twitter account. I hope Gamba Osaka follows you one day to make it easier on those seeking information in English about the club.
Rapid Fire Questions
Q. Name the one thing you wouldn’t be able to live without if we face an isolation period due to COVID-19 here in Japan?
I drink way too much Yogurina (a sweet yogurt flavored water for those of you not in Japan). If I couldn’t go down to the shop to get that I might get the shakes!
Q. How difficult was it for you to assimilate to Japan, and what has made the transition easier?
When I came to Japan I spoke very little Japanese, so working on that has improved my experience immensely. But I still have a long way to go. I know it’s cliche, but soccer / football is the universal language and that’s made it quite easy for me to make friends with Japanese people. As has just the general advice like being aware you’re in a different country with different rules etc and respecting those differences.
Q. Best food item at your current location? I forgot what Osaka and Kansai are known for but I recall that many have said that area has some of the best food in Japan.
Can I plug my mates’ Takoyaki shop in Senri-Chuo?
Yes, I’m all about shameless promotion on my blog.
It’s called Warajiya and does the best takoyaki in town. It’s located next to the south exit of Midosuji Senri-Chuo station (the one you need to go through to connect to the monorail that takes you to Gamba’s stadium).
Q. Tell us the name of the podcasts/twitter accounts you follow that would help out the English fan of the J league, or football fan in general?
Of course everyone should follow @JLeagueShirts for details on the Japanese side with the best uniforms. As far podcasts, hit up the J-Talk Podcast and also the little brother J-Talk Extra Time. On Twitter Alan @JsoccerMagazine is extremely knowledgeable, and @Michael_Master is an invaluable source of transfer news. @J1tokei is great for stats nerds and @bmtps_k tweets in Japanese, but owing to the time difference (Michael lives in Italy I believe) he gets the transfer tweets out first. He also provides line-ups and formations for both the J1 and J2. Apologies to anyone I’ve missed out, but if you listen to that pod and follow those accounts you can find everyone who’s anyone in the Jleague English scene.
Well said.
Any closing remarks?
Thanks again Geoff for sending me the questions and though we’ve never met in person before, I hope we have a chance at Gamba Osaka vs FC Ryukyu match in J1 some time in the not too distant future.
I’d love that!
Well, it was an absolute pleasure speaking with Jonny this weekend and I hope you all enjoyed the first installment. You can find Jonny @BlogGamba on Twitter as well as at gambaosakaenglishblog.wordpress.com.
See you next time!
ryukyuarmy.com 