The Archive

India is a potential superpower of Asian football, but huge support has not been matched by dynamic leadership on the subcontinent. Dan Brennan reports

Last month Brazilian goal-machine Barreto scored the only goal in a fiercely fought local derby in front of 120,000 fans. Next month he will be lining up against Shevchenko. He plays not at the Maracana or the San Siro, but at the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta, where his team McDowell Mohun Bagan were taking on East Bengal in the opening game of India’s sixth National League season. While cricket may hog the media limelight and the sponsors’ money, in many parts of India, such as Bengal, Goa and Kerala, football is the main sporting obsession. In one half of India’s second city, Barreto is a cult figure.

Read more…

Pitch invasions and missile-throwing are in the news again. Andrew Turton reflects on the events in Cardiff that kicked it all off

Every few years, the FA Cup comes up with a shock result, the sort of scoreline that almost invites the double-take. Well, there’s a new one to add to that list after the incredible scenes at Ninian Park on January 6, when Second Division Cardiff City beat Premiership leaders Leeds United.

Read more…

In the aftermath of the controversy over Neil MacNamara, Mark Rowe argues that new legislation will do little to improve club stewarding while the pay and training attached to the job is so poor

So what if Neil MacNamara, the minder of Sam Ham­­mam, turned out to be a convicted football hooligan? I would argue it would have made a better front page headline in the Sun if Sam’s minder had not had a criminal record – bearing in mind that one in four British men born in 1968 had a conviction by the age of 25, and every event security manager needs at least some staff who are not afraid to mix it.

Read more…

Recent incursions that sparked alarm in the media are trivial (so far) compared to the trouble that led to fences going up in the 1970s. Mike Ticher looks back

While “friendly” pitch invasions had been relatively common for decades (Kenneth Wolstenholme was famously unconcerned) the late Sixties and early Seventies saw a rash of high profile incidents that eventually led to the erection of fences at almost all big English grounds.

Read more…

Strength in depth – quantity over quality?

Amid the general admiration for Bobby Robson’s achievement in taking Newcastle to the top of the Premiership table at Christmas, it was widely asserted that he did not have a strong enough squad to make a serious challenge for the championship. That may well be true. However, Newcastle currently have no few­er than 40 players under contract who are considered near enough to the first team to be given a shirt number.

Read more…