Kyoto
Purple Sanga
Overview
Kyoto
Purple Sanga is a somewhat unique team in that
it can trace its history back to the very earliest
phase of Japanese football history, yet it only
became a professional club a short time ago.
The club was founded in 1922, as the university
club team of Kyoto Teacher's University. In
this guise, Kyoto participated in a number of
national (Emperor's Cup) tournaments in the
1950s and 1960s. With the formation of the Japan
Soccer League in 1973, the team entered the
JSL second division, though retaining its character
as a university club team. Only with the formation
of the J.League, in 1993, did the club restructure
itself as a professional team. It was accepted
as one of the initial members of the new JFL
(the informal "second division" league
below the J.League), and took its current name
-- Kyoto Purple Sanga. The purple describes
the colour of the team uniforms, which is also
an imperial colour reflecting Kyoto's status
as Japan's ancient imperial capital city.
Kyoto's
improvement from university club team to top
JFL squad was rapid. The team improved from
10th place in 1993 to 5th in 1994 and 2nd in
1995. The second place finish that year won
it a promotion to the J.League, though this
would prove to be a curse, more than a blessing.
Kyoto's university roots meant that it had only
very limited home-town support. In the early
years of the J.League, the sport was so faddish
that any team could draw crowds, but by 1996,
the fad was fading and only dedicated fans continued
to attend matches. Kyoto's gate was miserable,
from its very first year in the top division.
With no money to attract top players, its performance
was no better. Kyoto never finished higher than
ninth in any individual stage, and spent most
of its time in the cellar of the league. Though
the team narrowly escaped relegation in the
inaugural year of the J2, and managed to stay
up in 1999 as well, the poor attendance and
lack of club revenues eventually took their
tool, and Kyoto was relegated in 2000.
While Kyoto was forced to regroup, in some ways
its relegation to the J2 in 2001 may have been
a blessing in disguise. Kyoto was able to concentrate
its energies on building a solid base for the
team, and with a lower level of competition
to face, the club was also able to get its financial
condition back in order. Though many of the
top players left for other teams, Kyoto still
retained a core of talented young players that
provided a solid base on which to build a team
for the future. Kyoto hired Gert Engels, who
was formerly the coach for Yokohama Flugels
in their final two years as a team, and he proved
to be a master at developing young player talent
and motivating his team. This allowed the Purple
Sanga to return to the J1 division after just
one year of demotion. Unfortunately, in one
area the team did NOT benefit from demotion.
As a team that has always lacked grassroots
support and a large fan base, the team's attendance
levels fell even further as a J2 member, despite
the fact that the team is now winning matches,
Nishikyogoku Stadium remained a lonely place
to play in 2002.
But
the Purple Sanga achieved some remarkable results
in 2002, finishing fifth in the league over
the entire season (sixth place in the first
stage and seventh in the second stage), and
then capping its year with a run to the Emperor's
Cup final. With their surprise victory over
the Kashima Antlers on New Year's day, Kyoto
won themselves a new level of respect and admiration,
as well as a piece of silverware to start them
off in the new year. Hopefully this success
can finally get Kyoto fans to begin supporting
the team a bit more enthusiastically in 2003.
Kyoto lost some key players in the off-season,
particularly Park Ji-Sung, who left for PSV
Eindhoven. Gert Engels has proven his ability
to get a great deal out of his players, and
Kyoto have the youth and energy needed to spring
some upsets on top teams. They probably lack
the depth to maintain their performance over
an entire stage. However, as was the case last
year, Kyoto could very easily claim silverware
in one of the cup competitions.
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Kyoto
Purple Sanga
Info
Stadium:
Nishikyogohu Stadium
Honours:
Emperors
Cup Champions: 2003
QUICK
FACT
The
word "Sanga" is a sanskrit term
meaning "group" or "club".
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