Dear WSC
The revival of Lok Leipzig as detailed in your Germany supplement (WSC 231) is not quite the heart-warming story it might appear to be. FC United have been asked to play Lok in a friendly soon, but they are having reservations about doing so. The main problem centres on the fact that Lok’s support contains a significant fascist element. This is sadly not a new development in the region – extreme right politics have long been seen as a form of rebellion by disaffected youth in the former East Germany. However, there is little sign that the club themselves recognise this as a problem. The fact that Lok’s owner, now a successful businessman, was once the leader of the club’s hooligan fringe (albeit not a neo-Nazi) does not encourage hopes that steps will be taken to discourage the boneheads. As I understand it, the consensus in Manchester is that FC United will play in Leipzig but only if they are able to use the occasion to draw attention to grassroots anti-fascist campaigns in the former DDR. Whether this will be acceptable to the Lok leadership remains to be seen.
Tony Barraclough, via email
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Stories
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.
Cameron Carter gets more than an eyeful
Often technology, while improving the quality of one part of our lives, has an adverse effect on another. And so it is with widescreen television, because, while it allows us to see Alan Shearer, Alan Hansen and Gary Lineker’s arm and shoulder in one shot – wider than we’ve ever seen before – it also gives us the unholy spectacle of Shearer’s too-tight trousers in fuller detail than we could ever need. Watching the England v Argentina punditry in widescreen “cinema” mode, I could descry the exact lie of the man’s genitals, right down to the fact that he is clearly not of Orthodox Jewish faith. This detracted from my enjoyment of thousands of Argentina fans looking shell-shocked and, indeed, if I know in advance that Shearer is guesting again in the studio I shall make sure I am watching on the grainy upstairs portable. Also his trousers are shiny grey, like an employee of the Trumpton biscuit factory.
Cameron Carter struggles to see the funny side
It’s been a bit of a month for weak jokes. On September 15, John Helm interrupted his commentary on Bolton v Lokomotiv Plovdiv on Five to make a pun that is even now being investigated by forensic humorists in search of traces of comedic activity. John said: “Lokomotiv look rattled. Excuse the pun – Lokomotiv, rattled.” That was the entirety of his joke. Now we all know that his co-commentator that evening, Terry Butcher, is a brave lad who carries on playing when his head is broken, but even Terry bottled it when it came to asking for some form of explanation. Instead a wondering silence ensued until John returned to his day job.
The scuffle at St James' Park was anything but savoury, but let's not get carried away
If you look outside for a moment, it’s likely that the streets will be awash with children scrapping with each other in imitation of the fight broadcast from St James’ Park on April 2. Some will be pretending to be Lee Bowyer or Kieron Dyer, others will have been assigned the roles of peacekeeper Gareth Barry and bystander Lee Hendrie. Who knows where it may lead? When will footballers realise that they are role models whose every action, however stupid, will likely be mirrored by impressionable youngsters?