This article is part of an introduction to the policies and activities of each Prefectural Football Association divided into 12 categories: ‘Seniors’, ‘Class 1’, ‘Class 2’, ‘Class 3’, ‘Class 4’, ‘Kids’, ‘Women’, ‘Futsal’, ‘Beach Soccer’, ‘Referees Committee’, ‘Facilities Committee (Environmental Maintenance)’ and ‘Technical Committee’. We hope you read this article through and become familiar with the various activities held across the country.
We will again introduce activities of “Class 1’ in this article.

*This article has been published in ‘REGIONAL NEWS‘ in the May issue of JFA news.

Activities of ‘Class 1’ (Tochigi Football Association)

SUZUKI Atsushi, Chairman of Class 1 Committee of Tochigi Prefectural Football Association

Under the title of ‘interaction with senior teams (Class 1)’

In Tochigi, the Class 1 Committee consists of four sub-committees with 39 board members: the Administration and Coordination Committee, the Competitions Committee, the Technical Committee and the Referees Committee. In the last fiscal year, a new president and vice-president, and the main board members (including four chairmen and a financial officer) were elected. These elections were something of a rejuvenation for our organisation.

Since 2013, we have clarified our goals through action plans for our committees. In the last fiscal year, we achieved results under the title of ‘interaction with senior teams (Class 1)’: organising better leagues; increasing attendance at committees for various cups; strengthening committees; hosting a football clinic by a J2 Club (Tochigi SC) instructor for registered coaches and players; and promoting our team to Kanto Soccer League. We will share two of those achievements in this article.

Firstly, we reformed our leagues. The Tochigi senior league consists of Division One (eight teams), Division Two (20 teams) and Division Three (separated regionally, 75 teams in total) in a pyramid form. Last fiscal year we reformed Division Two, focusing on raising the level of our leagues, in order to boost the competitiveness of Division One. Division Two used to contain 12 teams in two groups, but instead we held a round-robin competition with 20 teams. Based on the results of that competition, this fiscal year we have two league competitions in Division Two: eight higher teams and 12 lower teams. The eight higher teams play in the double round-robin tournament, which is the same format as Division One. This will automatically select two teams ready for Division One. We hope our teams will be promoted to the Kanto Soccer League through these changes. (Photo – The final of the Tochigi Governor’s Cup of the 47th Tochigi Prefectural Senior Football Championship. This doubles up as the qualifying round for the 94th Emperor's Cup All-Japan Soccer Championship Tournament. Yousai Club (Division Two) beat FootballClub Moka TwentyOne (Division One) on penalties.

Secondly, we revised our attendance rate target at committees for the various cups from 40% to 50%, which encouraged an overall improvement in this area. Owing to this change, the attendance rate for the Executive Committee, which meets six times a year, increased to 57%, exceeding our goal. However, there remains much room for improvement in terms of the attendance rate for the various cups. We will continue to improve by hosting competitions that are attractive for registered teams.