Sapporo Braces Itself For Match
Ichiro Sato looks more like an elder statesman than a potential vigilante. In a blue suit and yellow tie, Sato, a 70-year-old businessman, appears the pillar of the community, a proud member of the local Lions Club. But when it comes to Susukino, this city's entertainment district, he is downright defensive.
The 30-block neighborhood, teeming with bars, cabarets and restaurants, will be ground zero on Friday when Sapporo is host to the most eagerly awaited -- and feared -- match of this World Cup: England versus Argentina.
The game, and the fans here to see it, has been billed as the battle to top all others, two old rivals out for blood and revenge. The teams have figured prominently in each other's World Cup championship runs in 1966 and 1986, and English fans say Argentina robbed their team in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico City and in the 1998 World Cup in Paris. For additional drama, the countries fought each other in the Falkland Islands 20 years ago.
The game Friday has its own high stakes. Argentina, having won its opening match in Group F against Nigeria, can secure a place in the second round with a victory. England, which tied Sweden in its first game, must at least earn a draw to have a realistic chance of advancing.
With so much history and tension between them, and with English fans having been painted locally as instigators of hooliganism, many Sapporo residents feel cursed that their city was chosen as the host for this match. To counter the thousands of rabid supporters who will accompany their teams here on the northern island of Hokkaido, Sapporo has trucked in thousands of extra police.
The fear of trouble, stoked by the Japanese news media and the local government, also led Sato to mobilize his largely dormant group, Sapporo Hosui, an association of 14 civilians. It patrols casually and keeps an eye on merrymakers in Susukino most nights. Armed with walkie-talkies, small bands of businessmen and residents circle the neighborhood looking out for the occasional drunk or a love spat turned ugly.
Friday, however, will be different. Sato will stay up all night keeping track of the groups by radio. He will also stand guard over his own seven-story building, which is home to 36 bars and nightclubs. Although one-third of the shops will be shut for the night, the most lucrative of the week, Sato plans to help hostesses that are working there get home safely.
Sato's anxiety was raised on Tuesday when drunkards smashed a restaurant window in his building, leading him to board up the remaining glass and brace for more trouble after the England-Argentina match.
'This is our town and we have to protect it,' said Sato, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood who wears his Lions Club pin on his lapel. 'We want to welcome visitors, but after hearing about the potential trouble, it's hard to get excited about the World Cup. In our hearts, we don't want to have to think this way.'
The police, however, must think this way. Groups of four or more officers, many wearing flak jackets and helmets, have circled the busiest neighborhoods the past week on foot and in patrol cars with red lights spinning. The city's boulevards have been wiped clean of potential projectiles, including garbage cans, stray bicycles and vending machines. The city government has reportedly urged barbers to lock up their scissors for fear that thugs will break into shops in search of weapons.
The Home Affairs Ministry also ordered three boats to stand ready in case large numbers of foreigners are arrested and need to be shipped to Tokyo.
'We are taking security measures that can cope with every possible situation,' Katsumi Sumiyoshi, a Hokkaido police spokesman, said.
'Deterrence is one thing, but this is harassment,' said Arudou Debito, a longtime resident and naturalized citizen who was stopped by the police Monday. 'If they are going to be so afraid, why hold the event?'
In fact, the Sapporo police have made only five arrests since the Germany-Saudi Arabia game on June 1, and only one was of a foreigner, who was accused of attempting to scalp tickets.
Traffic in Susukino has been subdued most nights, and contingents of English fans have been boisterous, but little more. Many of the worst potential offenders were not allowed to leave Britain, where the government confiscated the passports of more than 1,000 known hooligans. Another 16 Britons were denied entry at Tokyo's main international airport at Narita.
Sato, however, is not taking any chances. 'We have to stand guard so there won't be any trouble,' he said.
SOCCER