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Japan: J-League- Ruy Ramos takes Kashiwa reins [Thu Sep 15th, 2005]
This was quite a big announcement in the Japanese football world: Ruy Ramos hired as coach for the struggling Kashiwa Reysol.
For recent converts to the delights of the J-League, the name Ruy Ramos may not mean an awful lot, but suffice it to say that he is just one of the most charismatic people in Japanese football history.
He came from Brazil and first played in Japan in 1977, way way before the J-league, in the Yomiuri Club (which then became Tokyo Verdy). While he was a player, he was one of the hottest things around, not just for the kind of performance he put on for the crowds, but also in the way he showed Japan how to express passion.
He was included in the country's Best Eleven countless times and was MVP, Top Scorer, All-Star, Most Spirited, Top Assists, part of a championship team, you name it.
In 1989, he changed his citizenship to become Japanese. In 1990, he played his first game under the Japanese flag. As Number 10, he continued to be one of the main members of the national team -- was part of the Tragedy at Doha squad in 1993 where Japan gave up a last minute goal and didn’t make it to the US World Cup.
This was the time the J-league got started, so he was a crucial persona in the changeover to professional football in this country.
Since retiring he’s been working in the media, working with football schools, giving talks, etc. This year he jumped back into the football scene when he led the first Japan Beach Football national team to Best Four in the World Cup held in Brazil.
Japan got a special invite, and Ramos had to throw a team together with little time to prepare. It was a wondrous result for the team, as the players were highly inexperienced -- their efforts won over the local Brazilian crowds.
Ramos came back to Japan and proceeded to get his coaching license, and has been looking for coaching work in the J-league ever since. When Verdy (Ramos’s club) was looking for a manager recently, Ramos’s name came up in the media.
The first word that most people think when they hear Ramos’s name is "passionate" -- in both the good way and the hot-headed way. Some may think he’s a bit too much, but his commitment and love of Japan and football in Japan is undeniable.
And though he may wear his passion at full force on his sleeve 24/7, his is the kind of personality we just don’t see in Japan anymore. There are plenty of better players since Ramos’s days playing, but there are very few charismatic personalities in the league now.
What I think Reysol is hoping to gain by signing Ramos is to influence the players to not be so quiet and so defeatist, to rile up some of the passion they have for the game. Inject a little of the Brazilian temperament and see what chemical reaction occurs.
He has been watching Japanese football for decades now, and even if he is a newbie at coaching he will be an interesting addition to the J-league. Ramos is completely fluent in Japanese (has married a Japanese woman) and will probably talk the ears off of any player who listens. He will probably be bouncing around the football pitch when he is 100.
Marie Waki
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