During this summer one of the greatest disgraces in modern football slowly, yet inevitably, carried Wayne Rooney away from immortality toward almost certain ruin. The conduct and criminality of his agents surprised no-one, but what really angered me was the journalists who accomplished Stretford's scheme. Unless you take the time and trouble to sift through the numerous reports and opinions across the broad spectrum of independent Everton fanzines you'd think he was sold for £30m.
He wasn't.
During these events there was just one journalist who was noticeably pointing out the actions of Rooney's agent, advisors and "friends"/colleagues. The same man who 15 years on still thinks it relevant to talk about Hillsborough, and writes about the modern game with reason not opinion.
David Conn is a cool guy, and I've exchange emails with him about the Rooney saga. He's written countless articles on the little clubs that the London press couldn't give a shit about, and at last his book is available. Called The Beautiful Game? any footie fan needs a copy. Evertonian Mickey blue Eyes reviews it here. Burn the Sun.
More worrying than the immaturity of a 19 year old who has too much too soon was the racism which blighted the game. The reaction of the governing bodies needs to be strong - let's not forget that if this had happened in Britain we would have been expelled from Europe, NATO, the Kyoto agreement - to send a message to fans: if you insist on being racist, then you will not see your team play ever again.
If I was being really cynical, I would say that the FA and the England team are glad to have this to hide behind. They were outclassed by the Spaniards, but instead of Sven having to dodge calls for his head, he can join the rest of the idiots who run our game in decrying Spain.
Posted by: wyska | November 19, 2004 at 12:06 PM
Without wanting to excuse the unsavoury behaviour of the crowd in the the Bernabeu stadium, race-awareness is quite country-specific. The fact is that the two largest minority groups in Spain are from Latin America and North Africa, and therefore "racism" means racism against those two groups.
A similar case can be made about the UK: the term "chinaman" is often used to describe a chinese-person and "jap" is used to refer to things/people Japanese. Beyond mere language/naming, it's not uncommon for ethnic chinese people to hear kungfu fighting noise made towards them.
Two wrongs, of course, don't make a right (or was it two Wongs don't make a White?)...
Posted by: SL | November 19, 2004 at 03:23 PM
Another bit of football news:
"Socrates set for Garforth debut"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/funny_old_game/4025193.stm
Posted by: SL | November 19, 2004 at 03:41 PM
Regarding the Spain game, check out The Obscurer:
http://obscurer.blogspot.com/2004/11/spanish-lessons.html#comments
Posted by: AJE | November 19, 2004 at 11:46 PM