With new rules being implemented, Steve Parish questions how the game will be affected
New season, new rules. Can’t they leave them alone? Here we go again with more changes. The most obvious will be that the goalkeeper cannot handle the ball from a throw-in (from his own team), but can move for penalties, and that you can score direct from the kick-off. Others are just for “simplification and up-dating of the wording”.
The launch of the Football Task Force
So, there is going to be a Football Taskforce designed, according to the Sports Minister, to “right wrongs and get a fair deal for fans who are the lifeblood of the game”. Issues to be confronted will include increasing ticket prices, racism and relationships between clubs and their local ethnic communities and the difficulties of balancing the interests of supporters and shareholders when clubs float on the stock market.
Tuesday 3 Le Tournoi begins with a 1-1 draw between France and Brazil, whose goal comes from a 35-yard swerving free kick by Roberto Carlos, the sort that used to win cup finals in boys' annuals while the crowd shouted, "Lummee!" and "What's the youngster playing at?" Teddy Sheringham asks Spurs for a transfer, saying, as you do, "I am looking for a new challenge at this stage in my career." Iran break a World Cup goalscoring record, beating the Maldives 17-0 in a first round qualifier. So, Teddy, coach to the Maldives?
Wednesday 4 England beat Italy 2-0 with goals from Ian Wright and Paul Scholes (Ginger Rogers 'Em says the Sun, desperately). "It was an end of season performance by us," snarls Cesare Maldini, suddenly sounding like a man stuck at the wrong end of Division Two. "It'll be different in Rome – there'll be 80,000 screaming Italians for a start," observes Glenn. And if England lose, they could go into a playoff with, say, Croatia or Yugoslavia… we may yet see Jimmy Hill in a tartan tie next summer.
Dear WSC
I have just received the July issue of WSC, and cannot believe that you, along with the rest of the footballing media, have not spotted an unique footballing fact, as noticed by that great sage and philosopher, Mr Ronald Atkinson. Towards the end of the European Cup Final, the Holy One commented that Italy was going to have an unprecedented treble of losing clubs in European finals – Juventus, Inter Milan and, er, Paris St Germain.
Tony Blatchford, Bath
There has been a recent influx of African players into the Turkish league. David O'Byrne analyses their impact
We know all about the phenomenon of racial abuse at British football grounds and it’s tempting to assume that the same pattern exists elsewhere in the footballing world. In Turkey, where a resurgent economy has left the top clubs awash with cash and their fans eager for success on the international stage, the situation is complex but, on the whole, encouraging.