Monthly Archives: April 2013
Barca after Munich
Having travelled with and sat and stood among the couple of thousand-odd Barca fans at last night’s Champions League semi-final away match tie between their team and Bayern Munich, it is hard not to share in the feeling of desolation provoked by its outcome. The majority of these visiting fans in the huge impressive Allianz Arena stadium were in their twenties, part of a generation that has grown up finding in the success of their club and the respect for it worldwide one of the few genuinely positive aspects …
Thatcher’s funeral at street level
I was twelve years old when Churchill died. My father-a WW2 veteran- took me to the vigil outside his house and then got me to watch the funeral. I needed no persuading. I knew that Churchill had not only saved Britain from Hitler but helped liberate half the world from fascism. Earlier today my daughter left for work as usual, as did my wife, leaving me with grave doubts about whether I should take the morning off and go and watch Thatcher’s funeral live. In the end I decided …
Football and Pope Francis
The gift of a shirt of Spain’s national football team-signed by all its star players- given this week to Pope Francis by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is the latest reminder of the links that bind the beautiful game to the Vatican. Pope Francis is himself a self-declared football fan, with a dedication from his childhood days to San Lorenzo, the local club of the neighbourhood of Almagro in Buenos Aires where he was born. It is a club which owes its origins to the Catholic Church and which …
Buen ejemplo en La Romareda
On a weekend when Millwall fans trashed each other, Di Canio invoked his mother, and Newcastle fans battled with police , there were more pleasant scenes to be witnessed at Zaragoza’s La Romareda stadium. During the La Liga match between second from the bottom Real Zaragoza and top of the table FC Barcelona, aggression took the form of some taunting Viva Españas and occasional collective protest of contested referee decisions, thought to have been biased in favour of the visitors. In fact Barca showed how good a team it …
Di Canio and the UK: A Response to Simon Kuper
It is a pity that my former colleague Simon Kuper wastes most of his commentary – Football’s little problem on the right-wing’ on the Di Canio saga in today’s FT coverage on the football manager’s political sympathies and the national culture which nourished them. That Di Canio is Italian, a one-time player of one of Italy’s most fascist clubs, and a self-confessed admirer of Mussolini is well tread ground. Far more interesting in my view are the inclinations of certain representatives of English football within their national culture, …
