So, I would like to introduce everyone to the Urawa Red Diamonds. The Urawa Red Diamonds; who are also referred to as the Urawa Reds, is one of the many sporting teams world wide I support. At the moment they are probably the team I follow the most. I have being following them since they came to Sydney for a training camp in 2005. They actually stayed in the hotel I was working at that time. From then I began to research about who they are and follow began to them. To be honest with you I've probably began following them more fanatically after going to Japan at the end of 2008, especially being able to head into Saitama (Urawa's hometown). Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend a game during my time in Japan; don't know if it was a bad thing because all the games they played whilst i was in Japan they lost, including the season ending 6-1 lost to the Yokohama F.Marinos.Alright, enough about me...
Who are they?Team Name: Urawa Red Diamonds
Team Colours: Red, Black & White
Home Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 & Urawa Komaba Stadium
History
They are a football club which plays in the J-League; Japan's premier soccer competition. They were originally formed in 1950 as a company-based football team for the Kobe based Shin Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The club and company relocated to Tokyo in 1958 and changed their name to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1964. The club became one of the powerhouses of Japanese company football, and was one of the 8 founding members of the first non-professional national league, the JSL (Japanese Soccer League) which was launched in 1965.
Mitsubishi's greatest period was between 1969 & 1982. In 1978 Mitsubishi completed Japan's first ever treble when they won the league, Emperor's Cup and the League cup. During this period the team colour changed from blue to red, which it has remained ever since.
During the 1980's, the team experienced a difficult patch, which also led them to be relagated to the 2nd division at the end of the 1988/89 season. The club however did bounce straight back by winning the 2nd division. The club changed umbrellas from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Mitsubishi Motors for the 1990/91 season in preperation for joining the J-League; Japan's first professional football league, which they were also a founding member.
The club has enjoyed mixed fortunes since the J-League advent. The club finished bottom of the league for the first two seasons of the J-League with an average crowd of under 15,000. In 1999 they suffered relegation to the second tier of Japanese football yet again. The team has since improved in form in recent years, starting with a 2003 victory in the Nabisco Cup. In 2006 Urawa clinched their first professional league title by defeating runners-up Gamba Osaka 3-2 on December 2 before 63,000 supporters. This came after two close calls in the previous two years. In 2005, they finished 2nd, one point behind champions Gamba Osaka. In 2004, they finished 3rd in the First Stage and won the Second Stage. Having qualified for the two-match J-League championship decider, they lost on penalty kicks to Yokohama F.Marinos.
In 2007 Urawa won the Asian Champions League, the first Japanese side to win the title since the competition was reorganised from the Asian Champions Cup in 2003. Unfortunately, Urawa gave up what seemed to be an unassailable 7 point lead, when they earned only 2 points from there final four games, and was leap frog by Kashima Antlers on the last day of matches.
2008 was one of the worst seasons for Urawa since they were relegated in 1999. There were signs of disunity in the team. This all became evidentt in the final game of the season, where they were defeated 6-1 at home to the Yokohama F. Marinos. The end result for the Reds was seventh on the table.
So why do I support Urawa...
On of the main things I have noticed is that you either love them or you hate them and for me I love them. They are not the most successful club in Japan (that would be the Kashima Antlers) but they are the most popular (avg crowd of 46,000 at their home games) and it's because of the fans that I am such a big fan of the Red Diamonds. I don't know how to explain it, but when I went to Urawa I felt as though I just connected. My next aim would be to attend an Urawa home game at Saitama Stadium 2002.
And what about 2009...
So what do I expect from the Red Diamonds in 2009?
To win the J-League
Team Colours: Red, Black & White
Home Stadium: Saitama Stadium 2002 & Urawa Komaba Stadium
History
They are a football club which plays in the J-League; Japan's premier soccer competition. They were originally formed in 1950 as a company-based football team for the Kobe based Shin Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The club and company relocated to Tokyo in 1958 and changed their name to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1964. The club became one of the powerhouses of Japanese company football, and was one of the 8 founding members of the first non-professional national league, the JSL (Japanese Soccer League) which was launched in 1965.
Mitsubishi's greatest period was between 1969 & 1982. In 1978 Mitsubishi completed Japan's first ever treble when they won the league, Emperor's Cup and the League cup. During this period the team colour changed from blue to red, which it has remained ever since.
During the 1980's, the team experienced a difficult patch, which also led them to be relagated to the 2nd division at the end of the 1988/89 season. The club however did bounce straight back by winning the 2nd division. The club changed umbrellas from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Mitsubishi Motors for the 1990/91 season in preperation for joining the J-League; Japan's first professional football league, which they were also a founding member.
The club has enjoyed mixed fortunes since the J-League advent. The club finished bottom of the league for the first two seasons of the J-League with an average crowd of under 15,000. In 1999 they suffered relegation to the second tier of Japanese football yet again. The team has since improved in form in recent years, starting with a 2003 victory in the Nabisco Cup. In 2006 Urawa clinched their first professional league title by defeating runners-up Gamba Osaka 3-2 on December 2 before 63,000 supporters. This came after two close calls in the previous two years. In 2005, they finished 2nd, one point behind champions Gamba Osaka. In 2004, they finished 3rd in the First Stage and won the Second Stage. Having qualified for the two-match J-League championship decider, they lost on penalty kicks to Yokohama F.Marinos.
In 2007 Urawa won the Asian Champions League, the first Japanese side to win the title since the competition was reorganised from the Asian Champions Cup in 2003. Unfortunately, Urawa gave up what seemed to be an unassailable 7 point lead, when they earned only 2 points from there final four games, and was leap frog by Kashima Antlers on the last day of matches.
2008 was one of the worst seasons for Urawa since they were relegated in 1999. There were signs of disunity in the team. This all became evidentt in the final game of the season, where they were defeated 6-1 at home to the Yokohama F. Marinos. The end result for the Reds was seventh on the table.So why do I support Urawa...
On of the main things I have noticed is that you either love them or you hate them and for me I love them. They are not the most successful club in Japan (that would be the Kashima Antlers) but they are the most popular (avg crowd of 46,000 at their home games) and it's because of the fans that I am such a big fan of the Red Diamonds. I don't know how to explain it, but when I went to Urawa I felt as though I just connected. My next aim would be to attend an Urawa home game at Saitama Stadium 2002.
And what about 2009...
So what do I expect from the Red Diamonds in 2009?
To win the J-League
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