According to a post on the official FC Tokyo website, a chair in section 57, row 15 (located behind the home goal) was found to be broken following the game. The damage came as a result of strong force on the back of the chair, which caused the clasp that connects the seat to the pole underneath to break. The location of the chair can be seen via these photos posted with the announcement:
Section 57 is the domain of the LA12 supporter group, as seen in this photo from last year:
Based on that, the person responsible was probably in row 16, standing with his foot on his chair (in row 16) and his other foot on the back of the chair in front of him (the chair in question in row 15). I would imagine that the damage wasn’t from vandalism, but rather from heavy jumping throughout the match as supporters are wont to do.
The announcement goes on to say that should the person responsible not step forward before the gates open for the next home match (3/21 vs. Montedio Yamagata), an area of that section including the broken chair will be blocked off from entry.
For what it’s worth, I was in row 15; my seat was 3 or 4 to the right of the broken chair if you’re looking from the perspective of these photos. I’m about 80% sure I know who was sitting in that seat… obviously I shouldn’t speculate in case I’m wrong, but if I’m right that person wouldn’t have been responsible for that sort of damage.
In any case, this sort of thing is disappointing especially in light of the fact that fans were allowed for the first time in over a year to stand in the walkway area in front of the seats. I’m not quite sure how large a section the team would block off in the event someone doesn’t come forward in the next two weeks, but I hope that someone does take responsibility for their actions and allows the team’s supporters to continue to show their strength behind the goal area.
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