Neck and Neck in the League
　The 1973 season in the Japanese Soccer League has, so far, been a very close competition indeed. Since the start, five weeks ago, five teams have been in a close race for the leadership. Hitachi F.C. and Mitsubishi F.C., both of Tokyo, along with Shin Nihon Steel of Kita-Kyushu share top place with eight points each from four wins and one loss, while Yanmar Diesel of Osaka and Towa Fudosan of Utsunomiya City are close on. their heels with six points each (three wins and two defeats).

　China-Shangrila of Football
　Mainland China has a quater of the world's population and a fifteenth of the world's land area. It has also large numbers of footballers but they are hidden from the rest of the world. The Football Association of the People's Republic of China walked out of F.I.F.A., the governing body of world football, in 1958 protesting against independent affiliation of TAIWAN which they are claiming, is actually part of China.
　Since then, the football teams on the Chinese mainland have been unable to have official international matches, because F.I.F.A. regulations prohibit football relations with non-affiliated countries.
　Furthermore, footballers on the Chinese mainland could not hold their domestic competition between 1966 and 1971 because of their "Great Cultural Revolution" which, stormed across the nation. All kinds of sports activities ceased during that period and consequently, the world lost all contact with football in China.
　During last two years, several sports specialists had occasions to visit the Chinese mainland to observe its sporting activities. Some of them found there the Shangrila of football. Of course, football has always been alive there, since no political reason could ever stop small boys from playing with ball. Football has been played continuously in every Chinese town even during the period when international matches and the domestic championships were called off. Futhermore, the visitors saw standards of purity and fair play which have been lost in the western world.
　According to their reports it did not seem that the quality of the Chinese national side had dropped during the past ten years. The national players reassembled in the Institute of Physical Education in Peking in February, 1972 and been training there since. Most of them were members of the national team before the "Great Cultural Revolution" and so they are not so young now, but their ball-control at top speed is still good and their individual tactics are still clever. One football specialist, who saw their game in Peking, commented that the Chinese national team would eventually be the best in Asia.
　Friendship first, competition second! This is their chief slogan. No foul tackling, no dirty play, no gamesmanship. And, although there is no doubt that football is the most popular sport in China, hooliganism is unheard of. Tens of thousands of spectators always pack the Peking Workers Stadium to see the national team play and these spectators are just as enthusiastic as those of the western world ; but the Chinese never fail to applaud the skill and fair play of their opponents.

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