Hitachi wins the league
Hitachi F.C. of Tokyo won the Japanese league championship in the 1972 season which ended on Nov. 26. This season was the hardest ever in the eight years of Japanese league history. Yanmar Diesel of Osaka had been in the top position leading Hitachi on goal difference right up the last day of the season. But it slipped to second place, drawing its last game at home against Mitsubishi F.C. of Tokyo, while Hitachi was winning its last game against Shin-Nihon Steel in Tokyo to gain the title for the first time. The young Hitachi striker Akira Matsunaga became the leading goalscorer with 12 goals in 14 games with the famous Kamamoto second with 11 goals.
The final standings of J. S. L. 1972
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts. |
| Hitachi F.C. |
14 |
9 |
3 |
2 |
36 |
16 |
21 |
| Yanmar F.C. |
14 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
30 |
11 |
20 |
| Toyo Kogyo |
14 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
20 |
13 |
16 |
| Mitsubishi F.C. |
14 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
26 |
19 |
16 |
| Nihon-Kokan |
14 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
15 |
18 |
13 |
| Shin-Nihon Steel |
14 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
22 |
30 |
12 |
| Furukawa F.C. |
14 |
3 |
2 |
9 |
17 |
41 |
8 |
| Towa-Fudosan |
14 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
11 |
29 |
6 |
|
Talking in Peking
Last November, an official of the Japanese Football Association, had an opportunity to discuss with the sports officials of the People's Republic of China in Peking ; and on that occasion the Chinese officials indicated their intention to have ordinal football relations with the Japanese Association and the International Federation if their precepts could be accepted.
A Japanese sports mission to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea composed of ten sports officials of football, volleyball, table tennis and other kinds of sports visited Peking on their way home from their visits to Pyongyang. Mr. Shizuo Fujita who is the executive director of the Japanese Football Association was among them and he met some officials of the National Sports Federation of China.
The Chinese reiterated their original standpoint: China is one and Taiwan is only a province of China. They were critical of the fact that Taiwan is now occupying the China seat, in some international sports organizations including F. I. F. A. and they again insisted it should be replaced by the Peking Association. They outlined their relations with F.I.F.A. as follows; their Football Association was affiliated to F.I.F.A.in 1952 as the only organization representing the whole of China. However in 1954, F.I.F.A. accepted the affiliation of Taiwan and consequently the Football Association of the People's Republic of China left F.I.F.A. in protest against the idea of admitting the two Chinese organizations.
Mr. Fujita stated he could well understand the Chinese view point and he would try to solve the problem in the International Organization as a representative of the Japanese Football Association. He said that the Japanese Association would support the admission of China to international sports organizations, and he also pointed out that international relations in football should be conducted between the national associations. Consequently, he expressed the hope that the Chinese would not make separate contact with individual Japanese football clubs without the consent of the Japanese Football Association.
The discussions in Peking were unofficial and were only the beginning of new football relations between Japan and China. But we hope, it is the first step to bring a quarter of the world population into the international activities of this "World Game". |
