Articles from When Saturday Comes. All 27 years of WSC are in the process of being added. This may take a while.
Adam Brown explains why attendances are falling
The empty seats at the FA Cup Semi- Finals and the fiasco – there is no other word for it – of Euro ’96 ticket sales, suggest that our clubs and the FA can’t go much further down the track of hiking up the prices without the embarrassing rows of empty seats becoming a regular feature of our football. Football now is too expensive and in danger of losing touch with reality.
Olympic football is becoming increasingly important. Matthew Brown reports
When the final score of the first women’s Olympic football final was flashed up on the stadium scoreboard in giant golden letters just minutes before Michael Johnson’s medal ceremony, the crowd roar almost rivalled the one which erupted when Johnson flashed through the 200 metres finish line earlier in the evening. The world’s most popular sport has had a strange, and sometimes strained, relationship with the world’s biggest sporting event, just as it has with the world’s most powerful nation. Until now. In Atlanta, Olympic football may, just possibly, have become an international competition significant enough to bridge the yawning gap between World Cup Finals.
A view on the media and public reaction in France to Euro '96. Neil McCarthy reports
Two big news stories in France before Euro ’96 were Mad Cow Disease and the arrest of football hooligans in Birmingham and Newcastle. Some suggested that the shaky relationship between Britain and the rest of Europe coupled with England’s hooligans were a recipe for trouble.
What will be the lasting effect of Euro '96 on the culture of England fans?
So, the parts of England where most of the domestic trophies go finally saw some competitive international football for the first time in thirty years. England played well in a couple of games and might even have won it. Most of the visiting supporters seemed to enjoy themselves and German fans celebrated in Trafalgar Square after the Final without there being a riot. Things went so well, in fact, that the FA have announced that it intends to mount a bid for the 2006 World Cup.
A view of the media and public reaction in Portugal to Euro '96. Phil Town reports
While the hopes and dreams of 20 million Portuguese worldwide crumbled during that second half capitulation against a 15-man defence and Poborsky, I’ll wager the most disappointed of all were the handful of advertising executives in Portugal who had, it seemed, set so much store on the national team going all the way.