Open letter to USFJ-AFL coaches: Make Torii Bowl happen!

I can no longer sit idly by and watch the debate over the merits of whether the U.S. Forces Japan-American Football League's Torii Bowl should be played on Sunday, postponed another week or not played altogether, whichever happens.

All I know is, I'm afraid the spirit of cooperation, which was the backbone upon which the USFJ-AFL was founded in 2000, is apparently quietly disappearing from the debate. Much talk about who and what is to blame. Very little movement at this point toward finding an equitable solution for all parties.

To start, I'm all too aware that the mission comes first, that the USFJ-AFL's players are hired to defend the country, and that playing football is a pleasant diversion for those who play. But at the same time, competitive leagues demand serious solutions in tough times, and this very much qualifies as the toughest situation the league has faced in seven years.

Yokota, the North Division champion and the highest remaining seed based on head-to-head regular-season results, awaits the winner of Saturday's South Division title game between Joint Task Force and defending champion Foster at 6 p.m. at Kubasaki High School's Mike Petty Stadium.

That alone eliminates the 25th as a date for the championship game. July 31 at Yokota is out because its sports and fitness staff is supporting another event.

But another solution can be found. It has to be. It can, will and must be.

In past years, teams have reached out to help one another when the going got tough, everything from providing ground transportation to letting teams play on other teams' fields; it's part of the bedrock upon which this league was founded.

Part of the cooperation I mentioned above was demonstrated in the years that Yokota didn't have a field to call home. The Warriors played their home games one season at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, another at Yokosuka Naval Base.

If the coaches and commissioner Sean Dath can reach into that bag of tricks, or any ol' magician's hat, I'm sure a solution agreeable and equitable for all parties can be found. It may mean somebody hosting the Torii Bowl might not be playing it on their home field ... but at least the game will be played.

Otherwise, we'll be back to 2003 all over again, when a date could not be agreed upon to play the game, when bickering and name-calling ruled the day ... and the game wasn't played at all. Trust me; I remember those days. I remember the debate. I saved the e-mail thread, which included a plea from the league's first commissioner, Tim Buck, for civility and order to prevail.

It didn't.And it drove then-commissioner Joseph Howell out the door, hands raised in the air, going, "enough of this."

It led the USFJ-AFL downsizing to four North teams, Yokota, Atsugi, Misawa and Yokosuka; only by the solid presence of then-new commissioner Kyle Rhodus did the league remain alive.

Thank goodness, also, that the three Okinawa teams were able to find a home in the Okinawa Football League, but that lasted just two years, 2004-05, and only in the last year and a half have any new teams joined OFL holdover Kadena in the USFJ-AFL.

We cannot, will not, must not revisit 2003. Here's your chance. Work out the problem. Don't make matters worse by fingerpointing, blamegaming and other unproductive noise.

Nobody wants to see Yokota get a Torii Bowl victory by forfeit, least of all Yokota. "We've waited so long for this to happen. We're dying for this to happen," Warriors coach Selwyn Jones said.

Does anybody else? Didn't think so.

Work the problem. Get the game done. That's what we all want to see.

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