The Archive

No Asian footballer has cut it at the highest level yet, but Matthew Brown thinks that could be about to change

Cultural success in Britain was celebrated earlier in the year with the publication of a list of the top 100 Asian businessmen and a flurry of newspaper articles on the country’s Asian millionaires. In December, 2nd Generation, the ‘style mag for Britain’s Asian youth’ celebrated the end of its first year with a list of 1997’s best bands including well-known names such as Asian Dub Foundation, Cornershop and State of Bengal.

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Roger Titford gives a unique insight into the proposals for league reform

On December 11th, the Football League Working Party On Structure published its report on the five options for the future structure of the League. By giving each name option the name of a planet, and adding in some extraneous guff about giving points for half-time leads, they attracted a huge amount of (largely) negative publicity and very little critical analysis.

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Richard Mason and Christoph Biermann study two countries where there is a significant gulf between big and small clubs

ITALY
In overall charge of the whole game in Italy from top to bottom is the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Gioco Calcio) under its president, Luciano Nizzola. Although the FIGC is the umbrella, the various leagues are and always have been separately administered. Serie A and B are run from Milan, Serie C 1 and C2 from Florence, and Serie D from Rome.The other categories are run by regional or provincial committees. Separate administration means that they have their own referees, their own disciplinary committees and procedures, their own version of the Coppa Italia.

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Colin McPherson recalls his horror at taking a friend along to a Scotland game

The end of the Cold War; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the collapse of the Soviet Empire. What could all these great and momentous events have to do with my most humiliating night watching Scotland attempting to play football? They were the reasons for my embarrassment.

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Don't judge your opponents before the match, warns Jeffrey Prest as he remembers the embarrassing defeat suffered by his university team

“It’s a theology college,” said our captain, and the mood among Cripps Hall Thirds visibly lightened. We had lost often that season, yet narrowly enough to believe that just one thumping victory would be the enema for our potential.

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