A change of attitudes in Italy could provide some useful lessons for football's oldest tournament. Matthew Barker explains

Much has been made in the press recently about falling attendances in the FA Cup, with concerned reports warning that the grand old competition is on the wane, its status increasingly devalued as an unloved irritant for clubs who prize the Premier League above all else. The temptation is to draw a parallel with its continental counterparts, the Coppa Italia and Copa del Rey.

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Jonathan Wilson reports from the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations where he found the football disappointing but the organisation worse

Remember 1990? Remember Cameroon capping a decade of African development by pushing England to the limit in the World Cup quarter-final? Remember the general assumption that African football was emerging into the mainstream and that African nations would soon be challenging for the tournament on a regular basis? Since then, despite the increasing prevalence of African players at top club sides, more teams from the Asian confederation have reached the last eight than from Africa.

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Howard Pattison ponders the etiquette involved in watching a Premier League football match and worries where it is all heading

A young man was invited by his employer to attend the fixture between Manchester United and Aston Villa. Their seats were in a home section of the ground, even though the young man supported the visiting team. Aware of his predicament, he watched the game in near-silence, careful to make only comments that were either objective or altogether non-committal. When the time came for Villa to score, he showed a foresight that was not evident in the United defence, recognised the imminent danger and took decisive action by sitting on his hands. Another Villa fan sitting nearby, less aware of the situation, instinctively threw his unrestrained arms joyously into the air and was immediately ejected from the ground.

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Harry Pearson delves into a book containing allegations of football bribery on an international level

Declan Hill is an award-winning Canadian investigative journalist. The Fix – Soccer and Organized Crime was published in Toronto in 2008. So far no UK publisher has taken on this detailed account of match-fixing across the globe. There is good reason for this.

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In a game between fellow Championship strugglers, Simon Hart watches the away side continue their poor travelling form, while a debut for the home manager and a hard-fought win sees optimism bloom in Yorkshire 

“Normally you’d get 18 to 19,000 here for a Peterborough game but we’re expecting 24 today – a couple of wins on the bounce, a new manager, there’s a feelgood effect.”

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