Nihon Univ. to Remain Banned from American Football Matches

August 1, 2018

Tokyo- The Kantoh Collegiate Football Association at an extraordinary board meeting on Tuesday decided to continue to suspend Nihon University from official competitions over the issue of a violent hit by a player of the university in a match in May.

The decision made it impossible for the Nihon University Phoenix to compete in Top 8 league matches among eight universities in the Kanto eastern Japan region, which are set to kick off in late August.

Tuesday was the deadline for the association to lift the suspension meted out due to the dirty tackle in the Phoenix's May 6 regular match in Tokyo with the Kwansei Gakuin University Fighters, a team from western Japan.

The association decided on May 29 to ban the Phoenix from competing in official matches until the end of the 2018 season.

At Tuesday's extraordinary board meeting, 17 of the 20 members disagreed on lifting the suspension at an early date.

An investigation committee of the association has said that preventive measures submitted by the Nihon University team on July 17 are insufficient. It also showed expectations that Nihon University Chairman Hidetoshi Tanaka will reflect on the incident, take preventive measures and clarify plans for organizational reforms.

The committee said: "The issue of the dangerous tackle is associated with ethics and humanity of people involved in the sport. Coaches and players of the Nihon University team did not have enough understanding about that."

Yuji Kakizawa, head of the association, said that the Phoenix's absence from the upcoming league competition is "very regrettable."

"I feel strong resentment toward Nihon University's governance," he also said.

The association has expelled, Masato Uchida, who was Phoenix head coach when the violent tackle occurred, and Tsutomu Inoue, then assistant coach of the team, for instructing the Phoenix player in question to do a dangerous play that caused a Fighters player to suffer injuries. Jiji Press