Japan Press Weekly

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2018 April 4 - 10 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Baseball world should tackle problem of outrageous jeers

It has come to light that during a professional baseball game between Chunichi Dragons and Hiroshima Toyo Carp, some Dragons fans jeered at the Carp by saying, “Drop an atomic bomb on them!” This matter has become a social problem.

The slander was made at the Dragons-Carp game held on March 31 in Hiroshima. A few male supporters of the Dragons shouted, “Drop an atomic bomb on the Carp!” and one of them posted a video of this act on Twitter. Facing strong criticism from baseball fans and other Twitter users, the man on April 2 tweeted an apology and deleted his Twitter account.

It is obvious that what they said went far beyond the range of acceptable remarks and was socially unacceptable. In the first place, the Carp is a symbol of Hiroshima’s rehabilitation from the 1945 A-bomb attack and has always been so regarded by local residents. The outrageous outburst was intolerable also from the view point of Hiroshima citizens’ feelings.

Expressing a deep regret over the act of a group of its fans, the Dragons on April 4 started to call on the audience of its home stadium to refrain from making such insulting remarks. Concerning the possibility of taking action against the jeerers, the Carp said that it is difficult to do so because there is no way to identify and contact them.

It is not so rare for people in the audience to hear yells making fun of players or ridiculing the opposing team. If there are jeers insulting or humiliating players or containing socially-inappropriate expressions, something should be done to remedy the situation.

On the other hand, it is of some concern that the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization issued no comment or statement on the issue. The whole baseball world should think again what kind of manners are suitable for spectators of the sport.