When the first-ever professional football league was introduced to my country in 1993 it was welcomed by our people and it was about this time that some friends took me to a football stadium. Unfortunately I always noticed the younger, more “extreme” fans that seemed to try too hard to be “true supporters” and had foolishly copied the hooligan element. For these young fans hooliganism was equivalent to enthusiasm. I saw these “supporters” invade the pitch and even resort to violence against stewards. I believed it was absolutely wrong and they should feel ashamed of themselves but they were in fact proud of their stupid, reckless attacks and pitch invasions. In some matches, I was pressured to join in with their idea of what it meant to support a team, but thankfully only by singing and making flags. Until then I had always enjoyed sports on my own particular way. During baseball matches I joined in the singing and clapped when I felt like it, so, mainly because of the pressure to conform, I never really got used to attending Japanese J-league football. I believe to this day that such odd behavior stemmed from the lack of any footballing history and tradition. I was also aware that when I attended Japanese league football matches the crowd were almost all youngsters whereas baseball games were enjoyed by people of all ages; at home in Japan it was Baseball for me. And then I came to England.

I arrived during “Euro 2000”. Although I had occasionally watched Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool games on the telly I was still not particularly interested in football but my best friend e-mailed every day saying the same thing over and over again “Please, why don’t you go and watch some real football in its mother country.”

He wasn’t interested in J-league football either and for similar reasons ? he disliked being pressured. He is a big baseball fan as well, but he used to be a star-striker when he was in school and he had even seen Pele starring for New York Cosmos when he played in Japan! So it went on, every single day another e-mail bomb drew my attention to Euro 2000; and to think, at that time I didn’t even know that Kevin Phillips was in the England squad.

I was in a pub in Brighton enjoying my first glimpse of International Football when my outlook on football changed completely. The Portuguese, Czech and Dutch teams impressed me immensely. From the very first moment I saw Luis Figo show his skills I knew I was hooked and would spend the rest of my life as a football fanatic. I finally came to understand just why people are so crazy about the beautiful game. Luis Figo, Sergio Conceicao, Denis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars, Pavel Nedved, Fabio Cannavaro and Demetrio Albertini were my inspiration. They were absolute class.

After Euro 2000, I tried to watch football as much as I could. At that time, Channel 4 provided full coverage of Serie A, and I soon found my old Euro 2000 favourites playing there. There are so many great players in Italian football and I really enjoyed it (my fav teams were Parma and AC Milan), but after only one season I gradually got bored watching Italian sides. The Champions League was on terrestrial T.V., but the likes of Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool didn’t impress me somehow, even though I enjoyed watching them. As I have said, Man U were too much like the Giants and I disliked them for the same reasons. I enjoyed MOTD and Football League Extra, coz Brighton and Hove Albion had a good spell under Micky Adams. I watched all the different programmes, slowly but surely I began to recognize the name of Sunderland and eventually I came to see them as the “best team in the North-East” (I think Lawro read a post from the audience on BBC1)

It was in August 2001 that my life really changed, my mum came to see me in Brighton. She found the programme, “The Premiership” on ITV. Digest of the match, Sunderland V Ipswich was on telly. Sunderland ? are they the “best team in the North East”? It was the first time I had watched The Lads playing properly. Watching them more carefully this time I noticed a little striker playing alongside the tall centre forward, he played brilliantly and from that moment I was hooked; his name was Kevin Phillips. I thought he was somehow different to other strikers. I didn’t know it at the time but now I know why I felt that way ? he was one of that rare breed that appears to command absolute and total devotion; and from one of the largest and most passionate crowds in football, the Sunderland supporters. He was obviously a quality player but with such passionate and committed fans urging him on he was simply magnificent. That day I decided to go to Sunderland to watch Phillips and yet I didn’t even know where it was.

After moving to the place closer to Highbury, London, I made my first trip to Sunderland in November, 2001, against Leeds. You may remember it was one of the best games in the 2001-2002 season, Arca scored and a classic Quinn-Phillips combination generated Phillips’ best goal in the season ? 2-0 to Sunderland! The Stadium of Light was brilliant and the crowd was superb. I love watching people who enjoy themselves, children, the elderly and the SoL does not only have a great and enthusiastic atmosphere but also a family atmosphere. I love it! Maybe unconsciously it reminded me of my early days with my family at ballparks. However, the vital difference is that this club has true support of the people and the club serves the people. It was totally different from professional sport in my country because usually professional teams are owned by big companies, so I am hugely impressed by a team that has a true and proud support from the locals and can even attract people from outside it’s local area. The supporters make Sunderland great because they will love their club through the good and the difficult times.

My first season was a bit of a disaster, escaping relegation by a hairsbreadth, but regardless of the results and performances the people who follow Sunderland always stayed loyal. As an outsider, the anti-Newcastle stuff can sometimes be really funny but my attention was usually focused on Kevin Phillips. Gradually I came to love it all, every facet of Sunderland football club and I began to catch up on the clubs illustrious history and its past players by reading books about their achievements.

My second season was an utter nightmare, as we all now know the 2002-2003 season was not a good one. At the end of that season my favourite player left the club. I suppose I could have followed him, but somehow it just never happened. One day in September I happened to meet Kevin Phillips, he remembered me and asked me “are you supporting Southampton now?” Without hesitation I replied “NO WAY!”. He laughed at that and the Southampton supporters around him just looked frozen. I wondered why those words came to me so naturally and because of this I convinced myself my transformation was complete; I was now a Sunderland fan. On Boxing day a Southampton fan offered me a match ticket for Fulham v Southampton at Loftus Road, in the Saints away side, and I still wore my Sunderland Red’n’White shirt with “Phillips 10” printed on my back, because I was not a fan of Phillips of Southampton but a fan of Phillips while he was at Sunderland. (The Fulham and Southampton supporters who saw me like this burst into laughter) To be honest, I never felt happy being in with the Saints supporters. They’re not as enthusiastic as Sunderland supporters and this made me miss the Sunderland supporters a lot, I wanted to leave because I thought it was not the place to make me happy. I always feel so very happy to watch the Sunderland lads and love talking about them. I think it is likely that I will be a Sunderland fan for the rest of my life, simply because I love the people who follow Sunderland. It isn’t just a question of quality or of glory.

I am often struck by the question of why I enjoy your football so much ? perhaps the reason why I’m so fascinated by English and particularly Sunderland’s football is that you have a long established and mature football culture. I knew I had been unconsciously longing for something ? something more than just the football on the pitch and I believe that I have found it at Sunderland. It is in fact the strength and warmth of this “culture”. I think I understand now what appealed to me watching those first games of baseball back home in Japan; it was a “Field of Dreams” for everyone.

In closing, World Cup Korea-Japan has brought football fever to my family as well. My dad loves the Japanese national team, my mum is a fan of Kashima Antlers (J-League) and a big fan of the Irish international side and she even went the World Cup to see them, Germany against Ireland ON HER OWN and wearing a shirt signed by Niall Quinn, Kevin Kilbane, Jason McAteer, and Thomas Butler! My grand mum, aged 83 is a big Beckham fan. She’s even placed a Beckham poster on the wall in her room (Oops!). Maybe it’s because I translated a biography of David Beckham and she is really pleased about that. I am of course hoping that Japanese football will develop a unique culture of its own, although when I think about how long it has taken English football to mature I imagine it will take a very long time.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you; you have accepted and welcomed me with open arms and have been so very kind to me. It has been one of the great additions to my life to know you.