Final Standings
JAFA Japan X-League X1 Super 2021
Pos | Team | W | L | T | Pct | PF | PA | Net Pts | Streak |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Panasonic Impulse | 7 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 271 | 60 | 211 | W7 |
2 | Fujitsu Frontiers | 6 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 217 | 113 | 104 | W1 |
3 | Obic Seagulls | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 155 | 61 | 94 | L1 |
4 | IBM Big Blue | 3 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 223 | 249 | -26 | W3 |
5 | Nojima Sagamihara Rise | 3 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 148 | 153 | -5 | W1 |
6 | Tokyo Gas Creators | 2 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 112 | 237 | -125 | L1 |
7 | Elecom Kobe Finies | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 115 | 172 | -57 | L5 |
8 | All-Mitsubishi Lions | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 220 | -196 | L7 |
Playoff Schedule
JAFA Japan X-League X1 Super Playoffs 2021
Match Day Semi-Finals |
---|
(Semi-Finals)
38 - 31Panasonic Impulse vs IBM Big Blue |
(Semi-Finals)
17 - 10Fujitsu Frontiers vs Obic Seagulls |
Match Day 75th Rice Bowl |
(75th Rice Bowl)
18 - 24Panasonic Impulse vs Fujitsu Frontiers |
Regular Season Schedule
JAFA Japan X-League X1 Super 2021
Note: # Forfeit (0-20)
Week 1 Recap
Week 1 in the new Era of Japan X-League kicked off on Saturday, 4 September with Fujitsu Frontiers defeating Nojima Sagamihara Rise 49-17 and Panasonic Impulse winning by a landslide 71-0 against Tokyo Gas Creators. The following day, however, the single game played was much closer, in fact the match-up between IBM Big Blue and Elecom Kobe Finies ended up a 26-26 tie. The other match, to be played on the 5th September, between All-Mitsubishi Lions and Obic Seagulls was postponed.
Weeks 2-6 Recap
The big match-up between the two undefeated teams after five weeks went the way of Panasonic Impulse as they narrowly defeated Fujitsu Frontiers 26-20 to move to 6-0. Frontiers now have to regroup for another crucial top-of-the-standings game with Obic Seagulls shocked Elecom Kobe Finies 38-21 (both Fujitsu and Obic stand on 5-1) in the final week of the regular season. Kobe dropped to 2-4. In the other game that was crucial to playoff hopes IBM Big Blue defeated Nojima Sagamihara Rise 32-28 to move to 2-3-1 and in good position for the fourth playoff spot.
Week 7 Recap
Nojima Sagamihara Rise defeated All-Mitsubishi Lions 40-3 on the Saturday in a game with slim hopes for Rise to reach the Playoffs. Nojima finished 3-4 on the season and All-Mitsubishi 0-7. The Rise were eliminated from Playoff contention by IBM Big Blue’s 34-26 victory on the same day versus Tokyo Gas Creators leaving Big Blue 3-3-1 on the season and in the Playoffs and Creators finished 2-5 with their slim hopes of making the playoffs dashed by the loss. Elecom Kobe Finies finished the season with five straight losses after a 7-52 thrashing by Panasonic Impulse who took homefield advantage into the Playoffs after finishing the season 7-0 and on top of the 8-team X1 Super. In the week’s big game Fujitsu Frontiers narrowly defeated Obic Seagulls 14-13 to leave the Frontiers in second place on 6-1 and Seagulls in third on 5-2. Both Frontiers and Seagulls meet again in the Playoffs with Fujitsu having homefield advantage.
Semi-Finals Recap
Panasonic Impulse defeated IBM Big Blue 38-31 in a shootout to reach the 75th Rice Bowl on 3rd January 2022 where they will meet Fujitsu Frontiers after the Frontiers’ 17-10 victory over Obic Seagulls. Panasonic Impulse go into the Rice Bowl as favourites after a perfect season up to this point and having handed Fujitsu the Frontiers’ only defeat of the season, a 26-20 game back in Week 6 on November 13. Panasonic’s win over IBM was not as big as their regular season victory over the Big Blue, which ended 65-13 in a blowout. Fujitsu’s win over Obic was not as close as the 14-13 game which the Frontiers won in Week 1, but was similarly low-scoring.
Rice Bowl 75 Recap
Fujitsu Frontiers, playing in their 9th Social Championship game in a row, won the 75th Rice Bowl 24-18 against Number 1 Ranked Panasonic Impulse. The Frontiers had won four Rice Bowls straight from 2016 to 2019 but 2020 was the year of Obic Seagulls. 2021 again saw Fujitsu take the title of not just Working People (Social Championship – X League) but the Rice Bowl, this year the sole ownership of the X-League Social Championship (College Champions no longer compete for Rice Bowl) [23, 24] . Of Irish interest in the game is a player by the name Brennan – an Irish surname from Ossory, now Co. Kilkenny [25, 26]. Brennan played Wide Receiver for Panasonic Impulse, making at least two receptions [24].
For a full Match Report and Scorers please click on the Game in the above Playoff Schedule.
To View Footage of the 75th Rice Bowl, please see this link on Mike Tackett’s You Tube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihsYDoKDUg [Accessed 4 January 2022]Reference: [23]
[23] Mike Tackett’s You Tube Channel (2022) Rice Bowl 75: Fujitsu Frontiers vs Panasonic Impulse (2022) watch?v=AihsYDoKDUg [Accessed 4 January 2022][Actual Reference at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihsYDoKDUg ][Accessed 4 January 2022]
About the JAFA Japan X-League X1 Super 2021
The Japan American Football Association is the National Governing Body for American Football in Japan. The X-League is the Top Level Social League (Businesses) and from 1984 to 2020 contested the Rice Bowl with the College Champions. However, due to the Social Champions winning 11 Rice Bowl’s in-a-row in what was increasingly a mismatch, the X-League has taken over in 2021 sole ownership of the Rice Bowl (Japan’s Super Bowl). The Rice Bowl has been played since 1947 and Japan is one of the four to five Major Gridiron Football countries in the World, along with USA, Canada, Mexico and Germany.
REFERENCES
IMAGES
[1] X-League (2020) logo_xleague [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/logo_xleague.jpg [Accessed 7 March 2021]
STANDINGS
[2] X-League (2021) Standings [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/standing [Accessed 13 December 2021]
[3] X-League (2021) Score [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/score [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[4] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 1[Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-1 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[5] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 2 [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-2 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[6] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 3 [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-3 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[4] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 4[Internet] Available from:https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-4 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[5] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 5 [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-5 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[6] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 6 [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-6 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[7] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 7[Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-7 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[8] X-League (2021) Schedule / Results Section 8[Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/schedule/2021/2021-x1-super-autumn-8 [Accessed 30 November 2021]
[9] X-League (2022) Rice Bowl 75 [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/feature/ricebowl75 [Accessed 4 January 2022]
[10] X-League (2021) Fujitsu Frontiers [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/fujitsu [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[11] X-League (2021) Obic Seagulls Profile [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/obic [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[12] X-League (2021) Panasonic Impulse [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/impulse [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[13] X-League (2021) Elecom Kobe Finies [Internet] Available from:https://xleague.jp/team/elecom [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[14] X-League (2021) IBM Big Blue [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/ibm [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[15] X-League (2021) Tokyo Gas Creators [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/tokyogas [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[16] X-League (2021) All-Mitsubishi Lions [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/hel-lions [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[17] X-League (2021) Nojima Sagamihara Rise [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/team/rise [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[18] UC Davis Aggies (2013) Jimmy Laughrea [Internet] Available from: https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/football/roster/jimmy-laughrea/1198 [Accessed 7 March 2021]
[19] UC Davis Aggies (2018) Jimmy Laughrea-9150487 [Internet] Available from: https://ucdavisaggies.com/images/2018/5/18/9150487.jpeg?width=300 [Accessed 7 March 2021]
[20] Japan Times, Hiroshi Ikezawa (2020) New Obic Seagulls Quarterback Jimmy Laughrea adjusts to fatherhood and preparing for unique season [Internet] Available from: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2020/06/07/more-sports/football/new-obic-quarterback-jimmy-laughrea-adjusts-fatherhood-preparing-unique-season/ [Accessed 7 March 2021]
[21] X-League (2021) Official Score [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/standing#001 [Accessed 14 November 2021]
[22] X-League (2022) Fujitsu wins 6th Rice Bowl in 2 Years [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/news/27801 [Accessed 4 January 2022]
[23] Mike Tackett’s You Tube Channel (2022) Rice Bowl 75: Fujitsu Frontiers vs Panasonic Impulse (2022) watch?v=AihsYDoKDUg [Accessed 4 January 2022][Actual Reference at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihsYDoKDUg ][Accessed 4 January 2022]
[24] X-League (2022) Fujitsu wins Japan’s newest rice bowl for the first time in two years after defeating Panasonic [Internet] Available from: https://xleague.jp/news/27812 [Accessed 4 January 2022]
[25] Geo Geneology Blogspot (2021) Surname Map of Ireland [Internet] Available from: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_113fxT1SuFI/TBWY-7CEqSI/AAAAAAAAAFk/p52N4tTBoXs/s1600/irish_large.jpg [Accessed 4 January 2022]
[26] Library Ireland (2022) O’Braonain [Internet] Available from: https://www.libraryireland.com/names/ob/o-braonain.php [Accessed 4 January 2022]
Icon References
[27] X-League (2021) fujitsu [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/fujitsu.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[28] X-League (2021) obic [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/obic.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[29] X-League (2021) impulse [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/impulse.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[30] X-League (2021) elecom [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/elecom.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[31] X-League (2021) ibm [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/ibm.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[32] X-League (2021) tokyogas [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/tokyogas.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[33] X-League (2021) hel-lions [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/hel-lions.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
[34] X-League (2021) rise [Internet] Available from: https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/xleague/images/team/icon/rise.png [Accessed 4 August 2021]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to John Gunning (Japan Times and American Football international).
ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 4 January 2022
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021-2022
You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.The Logos, Videos and Photos used in this article remain the property of the organisations and individuals which own the copyright and are used here for educational and information purposes only.