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Japanese Non-league Football News

Takamatsu Set Off On Road To J
Mid-ranking Shikoku League outfit Takamatsu FC from Kagawa prefecture have announced their intention to follow in the footsteps of neighbouring clubs Tokushima Vortis and current JFL high-flyers Ehime FC and work towards a bid for J-League entry. Despite having spent just a single year under their current name - they were previously known as Sunlife Kagawa - the first step along what is likely to be a lengthy road to the ranks of the pros will see the club re-born in 2006 as Kamatamare Sanuki. This is in many respects a typical Japanese team name in that it consists of a convoluted mixture of local references - the famous sanuki udon noodles and Kagawa's beautiful seascape being the key factors at play here - and although there are mutterings of discontent among Takamatsu's existing fans, the new concept is at least in line with the original idea of the J-League, i.e. that clubs should be an expression of local character, in contrast with the corporate focus of Japanese baseball.

25 Oct 05 - Kamatamare Sanuki Emblem

The only club badge in the world that features cooked food?

In the 2005 season just finished, Takamatsu finished fourth in the eight-team Shikoku League, their four defeats coming at the hands of Ehime Shimanami and the League's major players since the promotion of Ehime FC in 2000, Nangoku Kochi - who are themselves, in theory at least, on a similarly upward trajectory. Indeed, one of the stated motivations behind the change in local attitude towards the Kagawa side is the chance to play proper derby matches against Tokushima, Ehime and Kochi, each team representing one of the four prefectures of Shikoku. And as the club now says, Dream Come True.

25 Oct 05 - Takamatsu FC, 2005 vintage

Takamatsu FC, 2005 vintage
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