Dear WSC
As a student of Romanian language and literature (no, there aren’t many of us) I spend a lot of time in Romania and have become rather fond of Steaua as a result. Unfortunately, I was not in Bucharest for the visit of Aston Villa, and therefore had to watch the game on Channel 5. I spent it counting cliches. They started immediately after the opening titles ceased – cue shot of the Câsa Poprilor, which is not where Ceaucescu lived as Channel 5 told us; cue orphans; cue interview with a taxi driver (and I hoped he ripped Channel 5 off as Bucharest taxi drivers do most foreigners). Even worse was the predictably awful pronunciation of Romanian names. For the eight thousandth time, ‘Steaua’ is pronounced ‘Ste-au-wa”. As for the attempts by all involved to pronounce ‘Ciocoiu; (which should be ‘Chock-oi-oo’), I’m still laughing. Villa themselves must also be berated for their patronising ‘gifts’ of food and bobble hats to a Bucharest orphanage, thereby reinforcing all the stereotypes that Britons have vis a vis Romania, sure to be repeated during the World Cup . The Romanians’ economy is not as strong as our own, but the populace is not starving, and does not need charity. But perhaps Villa have now set a precedent, whereby teams from strong economic powers should bring donations for their poorer hosts. So, if Villa go on to play a German team later in the competition, maybe their opponents should bring food and clothes for the homeless of Birmingham?
Craig Turp, London SW20
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Stories
Australia have once again failed to qualify for the World Cup. Mike Ticher questions what will become of football in the country after their latest elimination
Australia have lost to some curious teams in their efforts to qualify for previous World Cups – Kuwait, Indonesia, Fiji – but France ’98 was surely the worst beating they had ever handed out to themselves.
Doncaster Rovers are going through a terrible time in their history, Ray Gilbert explains why
Doncaster’s residents found 1997 more than a match for Her Majesty’s notorious annus horribilis. The District Auditor blew his whistle on the gifts accepted by the nucleus of Labour members who have controlled local politics for years, and are now suspended. The new Doncaster Prison, Doncatraz to the locals, remained the privatisation flagship of the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation of Florida and has the worst record for inmates attacking fellow inmates of any prison in the UK. Doncaster College sailed on as the UK flagship of all that is wrong with Further Education colleges with a Principal widely accused of featherbedding himself. On top of all that we have Doncaster Rovers FC. The League’s worst team is dying as the Anton Johnson-led consortium riding to its rescue is kept waiting for the signatures of major shareholders Ken Richardson and the Dinard Trading Company of the Isle of Man.
Monday 3 For the second time this season a Premiership match is abandoned due to floodlight failure: West Ham have just equalized after being two down at home to Palace when Upton Park is plunged into darkness. "The electricans said they just couldn't get to the bottom of it," says Harry Redknapp, looking even more perplexed than usual.
Tuesday 4 Goals from Ian Taylor and Dwight Yorke take Aston Villa on to the Third Round of the UEFA Cup. Opponents Bilbao pull one back twenty minutes from time but fail to force the draw that would have taken them through. "Now we can look forward to going on our travels again before Christmas," says Brian Little. (And that was the best quote too. God, he's boring.) "We just didn't stick the ball in the net enough times," says Roy Evans, flashing that marvellous old boot room wisdom as Liverpool beat Strasbourg 2-0 but go out 3-2 on aggregate.
Dear WSC
All of the articles in the last edition relating to the events in Rome were very illuminating but I can’t help feeling that just about every one of your commentators, not to mention David Mellor and the FA, seem to have missed one vital point. Is it not the case that the Italian police (and for that matter, police in this country) should be told by their masters that if somebody has done something which contravenes the law of the land then they should be arrested and dealt with accordingly? If they haven’t then they should be left alone. The overriding image that has stayed with me since the match (apart from of course the dire football played on the pitch) was of police officers battering English fans in a frenzy of sadistic pleasure. In particular I remember watching, mouth agape, as about half a dozen helmeted meatheads set about one man who just happened to be caught behind their lines. The poor man curled up into a ball while they set about him with their truncheons. I don’t know what they thought he had done, but nobody deserves that sort of treatment, least of all from members of the constabulary. It seems to be a growing attitude amongst the authorities, the police, and some of your writers that if you go to a football match, then you open yourself up to a possible battering from the police – that’s just your bad luck. Let’s get this event into some kind of perspective. Police the world over like hitting people – that’s why they become police officers – and football matches (like picket lines) gives them the perfect opportunity. To my mind it’s as simple as that. The responsibility for the mayhem inside the ground belongs undoubtedly to the police authorities who clearly told their men to go and crack some heads. It matters not a jot whether other fans were drunk, abusive or whatever. The fans inside the ground were used for a bit of fun by the Italian police, which is something that should be deplored by everybody, not just football fans.
Jeffrey Lamb, Brighton