Arai homers, Shimoyanagi solid for CL leader Hanshin

Thursday 15th May, 07:13 AM JST

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6 Comments

northlondon at 10:47 AM JST - 15th May

Ishikawa Stadium was so full of Tiegrs fans I thought the game was at Koshien. They even have the 'lawn green' coloured perimeter fence just like the famous one at Koshien.
Altria at 10:54 AM JST - 15th May

Is Ishikawa supposed to be a home game for Hanshin or Hiroshima? It's kind of far from both.

Tigers fans will fill at least half the stadium anywhere in the country...they outnumbered the poor old Yakult Swallows in their home stadium in Tokyo by about 4 to 1 last time I went to watch.
eresay at 02:03 PM JST - 15th May

It's a Hiroshima "home" series taking in Toyama, Kanazawa and finishing up in Fukui tonight. While always enjoying a relatively large fanbase, the Tigers surge in popularity at away games is fairly recent. When I first came here in the mid-90s, you didnt see anywhere near the number of fans at away games. Finishing last every year, does nothing for attendances. You could even walk up to Koshien on almost any given gameday and easily get a ticket. Since they won the CL championship in 2003 alot of people have jumped on the bandwagon hence the sharp rise in attendance figures both home and away.
northlondon at 06:51 PM JST - 15th May

Being married to a Nishinomiya girl (and getting hitched at Nishinomiya jinja) means that I have no choice in the matter. But my first yakyu game in 2000 was the Tigers at Jingu and I was so impressed with half the stadium filled by Tigers fans who then went on to get very drunk/ invade the pitch/ fight with security. It was great. They were rubbish that season but won that game in Jingu hence the drunken riots that followed.
eresay at 12:08 AM JST - 16th May

"I was so impressed with half the stadium filled by Tigers fans who then went on to get very drunk/ invade the pitch/ fight with security. It was great"

It was great??

Which part of violence and hooliganism is "great"? It might be an inherent part of sport in "north london" but you can keep it my friend. I want to take my family to games where they don't have to put up with that.
northlondon at 01:20 AM JST - 16th May

eresay,

Our eldest was 3 years old at the time and we took him along and he loved it. No-one was picked on like at football in England and the fights were between Jingu security (Tokyo National Gymnasium budo-ka) and the drunken Tigers fans trying to invade the pitch. As you can imagine, a Tokyo National Gymnasium budo-ka versus a drunken baseball fan is no contest. These 'drunken hooligan' Tigers fans out in the bleachers were making fun with our 3 year old and my wife had no issues with them at all, being a working class kind of girl and all. I mean, you don't want your kids to get too soft now do you ?

Maybe you should stick to the opera, or ballet. You ever been to a baseball game in real life ? In Japan or the US ? I doubt it. It's not exactly the opera buddy. I've seen plenty of dust-ups at baseball games in Japan. It's a working class game you see. People get drunk and let off steam.