Keio University and Soccer

2006/04/01

Published in "Juku" No. 250, 2006

The 2006 FIFA World Cup will be held in Germany this June.
Like the previous tournament co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, the intense competition on the international stage is sure to attract significant attention.
This time, we look back at the history of soccer at Keio University, which has produced numerous famous players and coaches, while tracing the history of Japanese soccer.

It is surprisingly little known that throughout Keio University's long history, numerous Keio students and Keio University alumni have enlivened and supported soccer in Japan and around the world, not only as players such as J.Leaguers and members of the national team, but also on the administrative side as coaches, soccer association officials, and management of club teams, as well as soccer journalists. Currently, active J.Leaguers are playing for teams like Cerezo Osaka and Shonan Bellmare, while others are active in team management for Urawa Reds, Kawasaki Frontale, and FC Tokyo (as of February 2006). The masterful coaching of former manager Yasuharu Sorimachi (a graduate of the Faculty of Law), who led Albirex Niigata from J2 to J1 and regrettably retired last year, is still fresh in our memory.

On the world stage of the Olympics, Tokutaro Ukon (then a Keio student, graduate of the Faculty of Law) competed as a member of Japan's national soccer team at the 1936 (Showa 11) Berlin Games; Tadao Kobayashi (graduate of the Faculty of Economics) and Isao Iwabuchi (graduate of the Faculty of Letters) at the 1956 (Showa 31) Melbourne Games; and Hiroshi Katayama (graduate of the Faculty of Law) at the 1964 (Showa 39) Tokyo and 1968 (Showa 43) Mexico City Games. At the Mexico City Games, Japan defeated the host nation Mexico in the third-place match to win the bronze medal, the first-ever Olympic soccer medal for an Asian team. It was a tournament that made Japanese soccer known to the world.

The founding of the Keio University soccer club dates back to 1921 (Taisho 10). It was first called Keio Blue Soccer and later renamed the Keio Association Football (A-shiki Shūkyū) Club. Then, in 1927 (Showa 2), it officially joined the Keio University Athletic Association under the name "Sokkā-bu" (Soccer Club). This name was given by the club's first captain, Yukichi Hamada (a graduate of the Faculty of Economics), who derived "Sokkā" from the sport's common name, "SOCCER." The reason for adopting the foreign word "Sokkā," which was not common at the time, was to avoid confusion with the "Rugby Football Club" (蹴球部, Shūkyū-bu), the founder of Japanese rugby, which boasted a tradition dating back to 1899 (Meiji 32). Incidentally, while "SOCCER" is now commonly pronounced "sakkā" in the American English style, Hamada's interpretation was that the initial "SO" sound was closer to "so." After the war, the kanji character "蹴" (keru, to kick) was removed from the list of Tōyō kanji, so newspapers began using "サッカー" (sakkā) instead of "蹴球" (shūkyū), but Keio University still calls its club the "Sokkā-bu." Incidentally, Waseda University still uses the name "A-shiki Shūkyū-bu" (Association Football Club).

In 1932 (Showa 7), the Soccer Club won its first championship in the "Association Football Tokyo College League" (the current Kanto University League) and also secured its first student championship by defeating Kyoto Imperial University in the East-West Student Championship Match. Since then, the club has won numerous titles, including the Kanto University League, the East-West Student Championship Match, the All Japan Championship, and the Emperor's Cup. In 1969 (Showa 44), the team, led by General Manager Yoichi Ninomiya (a graduate of the Faculty of Law) who was a former member of the Japan national team, won both the Kanto University League and the All Japan University Championship.

Although not as widely known as the Waseda-Keio rivalry in baseball, the regular soccer match against Waseda University, which has continued uninterrupted for over half a century, is also noteworthy. The Waseda-Keio regular match, which had been held before the war, was revived in 1950 (Showa 25). The first Waseda-Keio regular soccer match, held on October 1 of that year at the Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium (now the National Stadium), was also the first soccer night game in Japan. The stadium's lighting at the time was dim, and perhaps because it was difficult for the players from both universities to play, Keio University won 6-4 after a chaotic game. In 1959 (Showa 34), the 10th anniversary regular match was held at the National Stadium, which had been renovated for the Asian Games. This match was attended by Their Imperial Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess Michiko (the current Emperor and Empress), who had recently married, and the intense game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Furthermore, in 1964 (Showa 39), regular matches with Yonsei University in South Korea began, as Tadao Kobayashi, then the coach of the Keio Soccer Club, was an old acquaintance of the Yonsei University soccer team's coach. Waseda University had also been promoting exchanges with Korea University in South Korea through regular matches since 1961 (Showa 36), and a "Japan-Korea Soccer Collaboration" involving the four universities was realized just before the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea. This exchange match between the four universities involved two combined teams: "Keio-Yonsei" and "Waseda-Koryo." During the tournament in Seoul, players from Keio University and Yonsei University shared two-person dormitory rooms, fostering exchanges beyond the matches themselves. Although the "Waseda-Koryo" team won both matches, it can be said that the tournament held a significance beyond victory or defeat for the four universities.

Keio has long produced not only athletes but also many individuals involved in coaching and team management. In recent years, former J.League players and others have been teaching theory, practical skills, and sports management in various sports, including soccer, at graduate schools such as the Graduate School of Media and Governance and the Graduate School of Health Management, as well as at the Institute of Physical Education.

Furthermore, the fields of activity for Keio students and Keio University alumni in sports are expanding. For example, Urawa Reds, whose president is Motoaki Inukai (a graduate of the Faculty of Business and Commerce), has established Reds Land on a riverbed in Saitama Prefecture, opening it to local residents and practicing social contribution through sports. While the focus in sports tends to be on the players, we should also pay attention to how Keio students and Keio University alumni will continue to enliven the world of soccer in various ways in the future.