Soccer club Machida Zelvia files complaints over alleged defamation

Japanese professional soccer club Machida Zelvia said Tuesday that it has filed criminal complaints against people who it alleged had posted defamatory comments about its players and manager on social media.
The complaints were accepted by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to the club, which is in the J1 top division of the J. League.
The comments included those that called players and the manager “a big chunk of garbage” or “yakuza gangsters,” a lawyer for the club told a news conference.
The number of new comments believed to be defaming the players and the manager sometimes tops 1,000 a day, according to the lawyer.
On Oct. 6, Machida Zelvia, based in the city of Machida, in western Tokyo, established a contact point to seek information about online comments targeting its players and manager.
The club said it has identified those who posted some of the problematic comments.
The criminal complaints were filed against particularly malicious cases, it said. It is considering filing additional complaints and requesting information disclosure to find out who posted defamatory comments online.
Machida Zelvia head Susumu Fujita issued a comment on the club’s website saying that people who are slamming the club “have gone too far.”
“We will deal with defamation in a determined manner,” he said.