Unusual images
NFL star picks up trash at World Cup stadium
June 15, 2026 – 5:00 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
These pictures have been around since Japan’s World Cup premiere: Samurai Blue fans collecting their trash in the stadium themselves. An NFL quarterback feels inspired by it.
Jameis Winston is considered a star without any airs in the rough NFL business. The fact that he obviously has his heart in the right place was once again evident after the World Cup game between Japan and the Netherlands (2:2) in Dallas. The 32-year-old football star quickly helped out with cleaning up the arena. As pictures posted online by the National Football League (NFL) show, Winston picks up trash in the stands after the final whistle.
There is a saying in Japan that can be figuratively translated as: “Leave the place as you found it.” And the Japanese fans at the World Cup game also adhered to this. Many Samurai Blue supporters put their own remains in plastic bags and did not leave this to the cleaning staff.
Winston, quarterback of the New York Giants, also grabbed blue bags and diligently collected them. He wore a Japan jersey with his name and the number 4 on the back. Winston held a Fox microphone in his hand – he is working as an expert for the broadcaster during the World Cup.
This is the background for the clean-up operation
Such scenes had already occurred at Japan’s World Cup premiere in France in 1998 and at all tournament participations thereafter. The Japanese learn this behavior in school, politics and history professor Koichi Nakano told the AP news agency: “Japanese sports fans who keep the stadium clean at international events basically behave in the same way as they did when they discovered the joy of sport as school children.”
Before the blue plastic bags were used for their intended purpose, the Japan fans had waved them back and forth while celebrating Daichi Kamada’s late equalizer (89th minute).
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Wiinston, who earns an estimated annual salary of $4 million with the Giants, was widely praised on social media for his commitment. Fans celebrated his action. “This man is always up for a good deed”; wrote one user. And another said: “It’s impossible not to like him.” “A man of the people,” wrote another. And finally, someone else said the ultimate praise for Winston: “Jameis is the future of America.”