FACT – Nadeshiko Japan players were AMONG the MANY athletes that had Economy Class tickets allocated to them, while the Japan U23 men were among those who had Business Class allocations.

Various newspapers and web sites based in the UK have run stories that the Nadeshiko players are “furious” based on one tongue in cheek (IMO) innocent quote forced out of Homare Sawa:

“I guess it should have been the other way around,” Sawa told Japanese media after arriving in the French capital on Monday. “Even just in terms of age, we are senior,” she said, with a smile.

Yes, she said with a smile in response to pushing for this kind of quote, she then added, and obviously believes it (winning will give them the bonus of an upgrade on the way home):

“When we won the World Cup, our seats were changed to business class for our return flight,” she said. “I hope we can produce a good result again and be treated the same way.”

FACT – It was not ONLY the Nadeshiko ladies in economy, and it was not only the Men’s U23 football “up front”.

FACT – They did not charter a flight, so have to spread the athletes out. There are only a certain number of seats in Business or First Class – not room for everyone, unless separate flights are taken – a logistical nightmare.

It does not actually seem like anyone DID complain, certainly no official/confirmed reports of anyone being “furious”!!

Taking just the football – which we shouldn’t really, because then we’re pandering to the writers of the stories in UK – we’ll find that also taken into consideration were things like the fact that the male U23 athletes bring in more money, are professional, their bodies are larger, their game is much more physical, and probably more…. which is among the reasoning I have heard the organisers state.

What will be worse, and just add to the ridiculous desperation of this story will be if (when!) sexism is brought up, or a history of ladies being treated as 2nd class citizens in Japan – then we’ll all KNOW that there is no truth in the “furious” stories. Because, I am SURE that IF someone can get the list of which athletes were in economy and who was in Business or First Class we will see some females in “front” and plenty of males at the “back”. But who would do that to kill a story, eh?!

Just to check a theory I had, also, I got a Japanese friend to search for the story in Japanese – after I searched and got many hits from UK press sites. he found just one – the Hochi Shimbum (newspaper), often affectionately known as Hoax Shimbun! Though I am told by reliable sources that there are, or were, more…. but my point is that it’s not really something we should be taking our time up with!

What do YOU think?

Alan Gibson
Editor, JSoccer Magazine