Setanta confirms J.League schedule for October

Setanta Sports Australia have confirmed their J.League schedule for October.

The news is good for fans of Shimizu S-Pulse, Kyoto Sanga, Vissel Kobe, Nagoya Grampus, Urawa Reds and Montedio Yamagata.

The games are as follows:

Saturday 16 October - Shimizu S-Pulse vs Kyoto Sanga @ 9pm
Sunday 24 October - Vissel Kobe vs Nagoya Grampus @ 10:15am - DELAYED
Sunday 31 October - Urawa Reds vs Montedio Yamagata @ 10:15am - DELAYED

Of course, October actually started last weekend when Setanta broadcast the Montedio Yamagata vs Gamba Osaka game.

Setanta Sports will also continue to broadcast the J.League Highlights Show each Thursday night at 7pm, so be sure to tune into that to catch all the latest action.

Whilst it is fantastic that Setanta Sports is broadcasting one game per week from the J.League, the choice of games, which I recognise is out of the control of Setanta leaves a lot to be desired.

Once again in October we are left with games between top clubs and bottom clubs, whilst many games involving two top clubs go un-broadcast.

For example, in Rd 26 (Sat 16 Oct) we are shown Shimizu vs Kyoto, yet that same weekend there are games between Urawa vs Cerezo and Albirex vs Nagoya that would be more attractive.

In Rd 27 we see Kobe vs Nagoya, but miss a classic between Kashima and Yokohama and then in Rd 28 we see Urawa Reds and Montedio Yamagata and miss out on Nagoya vs Cerezo Osaka or Albirex vs Kashima.

It is known to Asian Football Feast that there is only one game per week broadcast from Japan with English commentary, and it is commendable that they "share the love" by showing almost (if not all) the teams in at least one game across the year.

But when you're getting to the tail end of the Championship race, or even if there is just a big game taking place (Osaka Derby for example), you want to view the best action and unfortunately we don't always get that.

Don't even get me started on widescreen...