The Archive

Verona were the last team outside the provinciale to win a Scudetto. But, as Luca Ferrato explains, referees had a big say

The long-term significance
This was the last time to date that the Serie A title went to a provinciale rather than one of the big city clubs. “It’s a Scudetto on leave,” Gianni Agnelli, the owner of Juventus would comment, joining the one won by Cagliari in 1970. Verona’s triumph was a watershed between the domination of Juventus and Roma in the early 1980s and the AC Milan-Napoli rivalry at the end of the decade. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but this was also one of the few seasons in which match referees were selected by a random draw. Usually they are assigned to specific games by a technical committee, which has prompted claims that the big clubs get the officials they want, rather than those who might not be “pliable”.

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Cameron Carter sees that diving and simulation has become the BBC's current topic for discussion

The big topic on the BBC last month was diving and, in particular, how terrible and somehow foreign it is. During the last FA Cup quarter-final, Garth Crooks gamely attempted to turn a half-time studio debate into a political bear pit when the subject was introduced by Ray Stubbs. Some days later, on Match of the Day II, Stubbs seemed to get a little peevish when Graeme Le Saux and Lee Sharpe didn’t appear to treat his debate on Didier Drogba heatedly enough. At one point he jokingly asked Sharpe why he was smirking, in the way that someone jokingly asks you why you can’t get your own cup of tea. Stubbs is obviously of the view that there are some subjects one simply doesn’t joke about.

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Wednesday 1 England beat Uruguay 2‑1 at Anfield in their final friendly before the World Cup squad is picked. Darren Bent makes his debut, Peter Crouch and Joe Cole score. Scotland lose 3‑1 to Switzerland, extending their ten‑year run without a friendly win at Hampden. Northern Ireland beat Estonia 1‑0, Ivan Sproule scoring after 78 seconds. England’s World Cup group opponents Sweden lose 3‑0 to Ireland, while Paraguay draw 0-0 with Wales, Derby’s 17-year-old Lewin Nyatanga becoming the youngest ever Welsh international. Former Chelsea and England striker Peter Osgood dies aged 59.

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Steve Menary sees that teams on the continent could learn a great deal from the systems of fans' trusts we now have in the UK

The fans’ trust movement has so far been just a British phenomenon, but may not be so for long, if an investigation by the European Union into how football is run concludes that the continent can learn from the UK model. 

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Eighteen years after the last tournament in Germany was hit by hooliganism, the hope is that if it happens again it won’t involve the English. Mark Perryman reports

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas is not a happy policeman. Recently appointed as the officer in overall charge of policing England fans, in March he held his first press briefing in this role. Thomas rattles off the statistics he had provided the media with: “Five English arrests at England’s last nine games, just one at a match involving England at Euro 2004.” But the reporters weren’t interested. Instead they ran stories focusing on the disorder in Marseille at France 98, Charleroi at Euro 2000, respectively of eight and six years’ vintage, to preface their speculation for more of the same in Germany. 

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