Dear WSC
The article on the FA Cup’s longest tie (Draw to a close, WSC 298) reminded me of what I believe is still officially the longest single match between two English sides – the second leg of a Division Three cup tie between Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers on March 30, 1946. After extra time, the score stood at 2-2 – which was also the score following the first leg. Having checked with the local authorities, the referee let the game carry on until one team scored, the original Golden Goal. After 203 minutes and with darkness setting in, the match was finally brought to an end. The story goes that fans left the match to go home for their tea and returned later to carry on watching. The replay at Doncaster was won by the home team 4-0. This might not be quite as impressive as the longest football match ever, which I believe currently standards at 57 hours. This epic encounter between Leeds Badgers and Warwickshire Wolves in 2010 was played to raise money for charity.
Alan Bredee, Enfield
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Stories
The Spanish national team are preparing for Euro 2012 with a series of taxing, but lucrative, friendlies. Dermot Corrigan explains
It was understandable that many England fans would happily celebrate last November’s 1-0 win over the reigning world and European champions at Wembley. There was, though, at least some recognition that Spain have not been at their best recently. Since winning the last World Cup, La selección have qualified for the summer’s Euro 2012 finals with a 100 per cent record. But they have also lost 4-1 to Argentina, 4-0 to Portugal and 2-1 to Italy in friendlies, while also drawing with Mexico and Chile. A number of reasons have been put forward for this, including less motivated players, highly motivated rivals, inter-club politics and the idea that extra substitutions helps opponents counter Spain’s tiki-taka style. A further factor should be added – money.
Cameron Carter looks at the stature of the Europa League’s coverage on Channel 5, while Roy Keane tries to make it as a pundit
Some job descriptions change so gradually, the subject barely notices they are being exploited. This phenomenon, known in business circles as “task curving”, explains why the ashen-faced train manager punching your ticket is also the voice telling you “carriage haitch will not platform at Dawlish” and the figure humping boxes of Carlsberg onto the buffet car at Exeter. Channel 5 make the most of their staff in the same way.
The money that added flair to Manchester City’s functionality has put Barney Ronay in a quandary
Imagine how boring being a billionaire must be. Not so much the process of becoming a billionaire, which is presumably studded with the thrill of ticking off those billionaire-entry marks: beachhouse-overload, mistress-profligacy, servant-saturation. But just being a billionaire, sealed within your own frictionless seven-star world, conveyed by helicopter gunship from lobby to suite to private island. This must surely be quite dull.
Paul Joyce studies how the Berlin Wall divided the city arbitrarily and changed the lives of clubs, players and fans
Although post-war Germany was divided into two states in 1949, football clubs on both sides of the border were determined to maintain sporting relations. Despite political tensions between capitalist West Germany (FRG) and the socialist East (GDR), numerous cross-border friendlies took place on public holidays in the early 1950s. These proved massively popular with supporters on both sides of the divide. In October 1956, 110,000 East German fans filled the new Leipzig Zentralstadion to watch 1.FC Kaiserslautern, whose team contained five players from West Germany’s 1954 World Cup-winning side, beat SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt 5-3.