New camp a dream come through

MATTO ORANDO’S gone down in history in Japan. As have his team-mates Robbi Kureano, Damien Dutt, Dinn Kieri and Anderi Oburian.

In the fine tradition of host countries claiming foreigners as their own once they attain hero status (Bono’s been a Brit for years after all), the Japanese are doing their best to give the Irish soccer squad a distinctly oriental flavour.

The players were officially welcomed to their new training camp in Chiba city in the coastal surburbs of southern Toyko yesterday with a reception in a specially created Irish Village in the grounds of the team hotel.

In a metropolis where space is at a premium — hotels occupying 50 storeys and millions of cubic feet in air space have ‘gardens’ the size of bird baths — the people of Chiba have given over an entire marquee, part of a car park and the entire bird bath to the Irish.

The mayor of the city turned out formally to greet the squad, putting behind him for the occasion a 777 million yen public works tender bribery scandal that has rocked the Chiba Prefecture.

Locals and ex-pats from various countries were invited to join in the jolity and translations of Spirit of the Gael were passed around so the Japanese could follow a rendition by specially imported Irish songstress Lorraine O’Reilly.

The players, although exuding gratitude, looked bewildered by the fuss. Possibly that was down to the 642 portraits that children from local elementary schools had drawn of them and pinned to the marquee walls. Each young artist had faithfully copied a player’s photograph from the World Cup programme, only occasionally exercising artistic freedom to add a beard or make Mick McCarthy’s hair stand up even more than it already does.

Some had also faithfully copied the names. Others had clearly done the best they could from the oral instructions of a well-meaning drawing teacher. Hence Matto Orando, goalscorer extraordinaire.

The players’ own faces will be staring down at them for the next fortnight in the Irish Village where they can also enjoy Irish music (we look forward to Celtic Ken and the Tokyo Pipe Band), stands selling Irish-ish goods (tea-towels extolling the virtues of herbs being an example) and Irish grub (although alongside the soda bread you can get fried camembert with raspberry sauce — which as we all know is served by the best bean an tí from Buncrana to Boolavogue).

It’s all done with the best of intentions. Media following other national teams say the cities hosting their training camps are positively monastic in comparison. In Chiba there were people lining the long drive to the Igane Seaside Park to await the arrival of the players for their daily work-out.

They cheered and waved tricolours as the team bus approached and kept it up long after the vehicle disappeared from view up to the pitch from which the general public were kept at a good half mile’s distance.

Young Richard Dunne hasn’t had a game yet but already he’s a superstar: “It’s very strange. People always say Irish people give you the best welcome but I have never sampled anything like this before in my life. People clap you going into the hotel. They clap you going down to dinner.”

If going to dinner is precarious, so is having your image on the team bus which the hosts have painted all over vivid green with Boys in Green splashed along the sides along with giant pictures of the players in action.

Unfortunately, a formal team shot on the back of the bus had to have one high profile no-show painted over and poor Kevin Kilbane lost an arm in the process.