Nagoya
Grampus Eight
Overview
Nagoya
Grampus Eight got its start in the mid 1950s,
as the company team of Toyota Motor. However,
the ties to its former parent have been greatly
reduced, and it is difficult to find any information
about the Toyota Motor club in any of Grampus'
official documents. Toyota was a reasonably
successful JSL franchise, and therefore the
team was included as one of the founding members
of the J.League in 1993. Grampus took its name
from an old British term for the gargoyle-like
characters on the top of Nagoya Castle -- the
city's most distinctive landmark.
The
official team name is "Nagoya Grampus Eight",
and a variety of reasons have been given over
the years for the word eight. Originally, some
suggested that it referred to the eight arms
of an octopus, but Nagoya adopted a killer whale
as its mascot, so this explanation makes little
sense. The official company website states that
it refers to the eight priciples of citizenship
in Nagoya City, but it is unlikely that any
fan can tell you what those principles are.
In general, the public and the press have come
to refer to the team as simply "Nagoya
Grampus".
Much
like the source of their name, Nagoya are a
very mysterious team. Grampus started out as
one of the weaker participants, but in 1995
and 1996, with Gary Lineker in the lineup and
Arsene Wenger on the sidelines, Nagoya fell
just short of a league title, and captured the
Emperor's Cup at the close of the season. Nagoya
fans hoped that their team might be able to
contend for a championships, but the year following
Wenger's departure, there was a sharp drop in
the team's performance.
When
the Yokohama Flugels disbanded in 1998, Nagoya
inherited many of their stars, and were tipped
by many to win the League. However, despite
an abundance of talent they were unable to gel
as a team. For the next three years, the team
was viewed as one of the preseason favourites
to win the title. Clearly Grampus had a great
many talented players, including national team
keeper Seigo Narazaki, former national team
volante Motohiro Yamaguchi veteran Yugoslav
midfielder and playmaker Dragan Stojkovic, and
naturalised Japanese-Brazilian striker Wagner
Lopes. However, the team always seemed to be
less than the sum of its parts. Nagoya have
won the Emperor's Cup on two occasions, but
have yet to win a J.League stage.
In
2001, Grampus made a start in reforming their
image as perrennial underperformers. Dragan
Stojkovic retired at midseason, and the addition
of dependable, "blue-collar" players
such as defender Keiji Kaimoto and volante Tomoyuki
Sakai, as well as Brazilian striker Ueslei and
Dutch midfielder Tarik Oulida, marked a break
from the team's past reliance on "star"
players. Although Nagoya finished third in the
overall standings for the 2001 season, they
seemed to play up to their ability much more
than in past years. Having established themselves
as one of the J.League's legitimate contenders,
Grampus are were hoping to take it one step
further, and capture the title that had eluded
them for so long. But after a strong start in
2002, the team suffered yet another collapse
during the second stage, and once again failed
to live up to expectations of its fans, finishing
a disappointing sixth over the course of the
season.
Given
their past performance, it is hard to see the
team capturing a title in 2003, but Grampus
do have enough quality players to finish high
in the rankings if they play effectively as
a team. At the end of the day, one has to describe
their prospects for 2003 as simply "a mystery",
just as has been the case throughout the team's
existence.
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Nagoya
Grampus Eight
Info
Stadium:
Mizuho Athletics Stadium
Honours:
Super
Cup Champions:
1996
Emperors
Cup Champions:
1995,
1999
QUICK
FACT
Mizuho
Stadium is the oldest facility currently
used by a J.League team. It was built
in 1947.
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