Captain’s Message

WELCOME TO THE LEGENDARY YC&AC 35+ FOOTBALL TEAM

Welcome to those who have just arrived in Yokohama, and welcome back to our regulars!

My name is Sada Hosogai, the on-field captain of the Legendary Football team in YC&AC. We are known as a group of good, noble men who have slight tendency to forget their ages…. I have been taking this role for 3 years (if my memory is correct).

Let me introduce the officials of the team: Alan Plater, the off-field captain (including the activities around the Bar, correct Alan?) or Supreme Administrator. He is a good man who takes care about recruiting players every time we play. I suggest you to be nice to him otherwise your name will be dropped from his mailing list and never get game of football. The other one is Alex Hendy who is our exclusive match reporter. If you want to be seen nice by your wife or girl/boy friend who don’t watch how you play, you should buy him a beer.

We have 3 footy squads in the Club, 1sts, 2nds, and 35+. Amongst all, our team is the best in every aspect.

Now, the reason I am writing this is to make every players sure about the principles of our team. These should be reckoned as the Supreme Law by the players.

1. We play for joy, not for the victory. This is the one that always brings controversy but this is the part of our tradition. Of course it is nice to win the game, however, we feel that it is more important that each and every individual players have good time on the pitch. Further, we want everyone to encourage your team mates on the pitch, and we don’t want to hear the voices to blame your own player(s).

2. Every one will get a part of the game when they turn up. Here’s the uniqueness of the team…. We have experienced players and also the ones who had never kicked the ball in his/her life. (By the way, we currently do not have any female players but ladies are also acceptable. We actually had one from Norway some time ago and everybody had fun… except for her husband, I think.) We believe that everyone is the important part of the team and they all participate when they show up. There is however one exception. We play the match known as the Interport with the Gaijin team from Kobe every year and this is one of the oldest soccer match in this country with over 100 years of history. This game we have to win and some may not have chance to play even if they show up. (Our next game with KRAC will be at the YC&AC ground some time in the new year.)

3. Having said this, there may be possibility that the playing time of individuals may vary. Although it is not our main purpose to win and everyone surely gets a part of the game, we have to recognize that we are football team. This is also important to pay respect to our opposition. So, in order to keep some shape as football team, key players may have longer playing time than others. I am open to your suggestion on tactics or use of players on the pitch, but basically this is my responsibility to decide this.

4. We strongly support fair play on the pitch. Unfortunately, there had been some behaviors in the past which forced us to point this out. If we see such acts on the pitch, there is a possibility that player(s) in question may be suspended to play for a game or two. This is based on the decision of the Supreme Council of the team. Nothing to do with the opposition or the referees. Also, it is true that we don’t have reliable referee all the time but I want everyone to concentrate on playing football. Being too emotional on the pitch is not good for you and the mental health of the whole team.

5. Set the priority right – Football should come first. We all have to admit that we have little time left to play this wonderful game because of age. Please try to come up and play regularly. Put all these family things and business into the off season.

I think that is all I have to say. For your information, we are the most popular team in the Club. In fact, we sometimes have 20+ players standing by for a game in the last season, which brought me a big headache for the team selection. (Much tougher job than managers in the Premier League!)

So, I am sure that all of you will enjoy being the part of this legendary team. Let’s have fun!!

Sada Hosogai

With the officials distracted by Paul Blamire’s repeated offer of paper to their stone, Captain Sada (left) executes his now notorious pre-match handshake.