The 14th All Japan Seniors (over 50) Football Tournament, determining the national champions amongst 16 qualified senior teams whose players are over 50’s, will get underway on 27 June in Fujieda, Shizuoka. 

Prior to the Tournament kick-off, Yamanashi Master’s Legend (Yamanashi) ‘s representative GENMA Yoshiki talked about the attraction of senior football. Yamanashi Master’s Legend has beaten Toyopet Club (Tokyo), who were the champions of this Tournament for the last 2 consecutive years, in the Kanto Area Qualifying Round.  

――What made you become serious about senior football?

Genma: I used to play seriously in a registered team when I was younger, but when you enter mid 30’s, your fitness can’t be enough to keep playing for the team. At that time, there were 5 teams whose players were over 35 years old.

Apart from them, Yamanashi Master’s Legend was launched in 2003 as a team, which focuses on national level football matches. So I had played for a long time before becoming 50 years old; it is more like we have made another team to compete at the top level in senior football. 

――What makes senior football attract people?

Genma: There are 2 things: one is that we can enjoy playing football even at a senior age. It is very nice that you can play with your teammates whom you have known for many years. The funny thing is everybody in the team believes that they are the better ones with better fitness amongst their teammates.

The second one is that we can enjoy serious competition. If you keep constant training, one day you can play equally with the former top players, in that sense, your past match experiences does not really matter. 

When you look at the younger category which is for over 40’s, there are more and more former J. League players and others who had once played for strong school teams. I expect senior football for over 50’s will be more excited when they are old enough to play in our category in the future. 

――In the future, competition level in senior football can be higher?

Genma: I have heard that only 6 of the 16 teams have played in the Tournament for 2 consecutive years. I assume that competitions in each local area have been getting tougher. We have that kind of competition in Yamanashi, too. 

Our team welcomes those who are into playing football, and we had very passionate teammates; they eventually left the team to make another team to try to beat us. If you know about your opponents well, that is the team’s advantage and I think there is at least one person in a team who is keen to collect the opponent’s information. Data collection should be a part of our competition! 

――So everyone is very passionate to play football?

Genma: Yes they are. Since they are very much into football, they don’t want to lose any matches. People over 50’s were born in and around 1962 and it was a time that local sports clubs were encouraged to be established, so most of us have experience in playing some sports when we were young kids. Considering that, they have sense of competition when they play sports. I expect there are many teams will do their best until the end of the match during in this Tournament. 

The 14th All Japan Seniors (over 50) Football Tournament

Date: 27-29 June, 2015
Venues: Fujieda Sports Complex Park, Fujieda Shimin Ground Soccer Stadium, Chugai Pharmy Manufacturing Company Limited Fujieda Ground (Fujioka city, Shizuoka)
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