The Archive

In January the editor responsible for the creation of Roy of the Rovers, the most famous of all football comic strips, died. Neil Rose  looks at the life of Derek Birnage’s brainchild, while there have also been more recent developments in the industry

He lost his wife in a mysterious car crash, his left foot in a helicopter accident, eight of his team-mates in a Middle Eastern terrorist attack and in January Roy Race suffered further loss when the man who brought him to the world died, almost 50 years after Racey’s Rocket first slammed into the net.

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The once vibrant area of football comic publishing was at death's door through failing to keep up with the times, until Stuart Green's Glory Glory began to rival the long-serving Roy of the Rovers in the early Nineties. Frank Plowright discovers a new title in the football comic  world

I once helped produce a football comic. It was the early 1990s and, as co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman’s income was stratospheric. A lifelong comic fan, he set up Tundra Publishing to finance and publish projects comic writers and artists had always wanted to produce, but which no established company would take on. It would later turn out that, in most cases, there were very good reasons.

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Fans complain about everything these days

It may seem a bit churlish, given that fanzines generally and When Saturday Comes in particular started as and remain vehicles in which to voice concerns over how football is run, but we can’t help think­­ing that complaining has gone too far these days. Not over serious matters – the survival of clubs, the overarching influence of television, racism and the lack of a decent cup of tea at most grounds – but in the smaller details.

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Sunday 1 Arsenal are back on top after a stormy 2-1 win over Man City. Nicolas Anelka scores the latter’s goal in the 90th minute but is sent off before the re­start for a bundle in the goalmouth. Surprisingly, his sparring partner Ashley Cole is only booked. Chelsea just about stay in touch, needing a late winner from Glen Johnson to beat Blackburn 3-2. Sir Alex, mean­while, faces a decision: to climb down in his court case or finally file papers with the judge in Dublin…

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BBC coverage of the African Nations Cup fails to excite, reports Tom Davies

If there was a hint of desperation in the way the BBC hyped its first foray into covering the African Nations Cup, two years ago, there was at least a sense this year that it’s beginning to grow into the job. Of course, any broadcaster is hostage to the quality of the event and the 2002 ANC was a grim, joyless tournament whose dullness the Beeb couldn’t quite bring itself to admit, whereas Tunisia 2004, though patchy, greatly exceeded its predecessor for excitement and unpredictability.

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