Thai Police Kick Out Trespassing Japan Fans

[george]

Fans manage to sneak in

BANGKOK: -- More than 100 people turned up in the supposedly closed stadium for the match last night.

Despite orders from Fifa banning fans from the stadium, some people who were obviously not journalists showed up to watch the match armed with VIP tags or ID cards. Some even bought their children and carried the flags of North Korea.

The gate-crashers sat on opposite sides of the stadium and waved at the players as the two teams moved onto the field.

Lots of loud cheering was heard when certain players had the ball, which came as a shock to journalists covering the match as the venue was supposed to be a neutral one with no fans allowed.

It did not take long for Fifa officials to step in tell the fans to be quiet. But they did not stay quiet for long.

More than 100 Japanese supporters, who watched Friday’s match against Bahrain in Manama, arrived in Bangkok despite knowing they would not be able to enter the stadium.

Some were spotted outside the stadium before the match but headed back to their hotels to watch the game on TV.

Those who opted to stay saw the match from across the fences around the ground. Some supporters remained outside the arena, singing and banging drums which could be heard inside the stadium.

The big contingent of Japanese media in the stadium were also very vocal during the game with the 500 accredited journalists urging their team on.

Kazuhito Yamada, a freelance photographer for the KAZ photo agency, said the game had attracted tremendous attention in Japan because the result would earn Japan a place in the 2006 World Cup finals.

“Japan will automatically qualify for the World Cup even if we only get a draw,” he said. “That’s why it’s very important to us.

“Besides, whenever the national team plays internationally, there will always be a lot of media following,” added Yamada, who has been taking photos for more than 20 years.

There has been hostility between the two nations going back almost a century, but that was not the case in the match.

Yamada said the fact that Japan would become the first nation to qualify for the 2006 World Cup was the main focus for the Japanese media.

“This issue has been the main focus of the Japanese media for the past few weeks,” he said. “Now we don’t pay attention to the relationship between the two countries, only this game.”

--The Nation 2005-06-09