Football fans have, on the most part, been treated with disdain by politicians. The Football Supporters' Federation are now campaigning to make the laws fairer, as Bruce Wilkinson reports
Often in the firing line between the rights of the individual and the power of the state, football supporters are once again the first to feel the force of new legislation.
There are set to be some big moves and unhappy clubs in the January transfer window
With the transfer window flung open, some confident predictions have been made about likely January moves. Everton will fail to buy a striker from the Russian league and may have to settle for an ageing loanee from MLS, Sam Allardyce could be reacquainted with at least a couple of the overseas players he signed for Bolton and Shay Given will leave Newcastle, probably for north London. Given even took the unusual step of issuing a statement through his lawyer indicating that “turmoil on and off the pitch” had compelled him to seek a new club. Newcastle’s dismayed response to this was reported with some glee, with the Mirror claiming that Joe Kinnear had “hurled insults” when questioned about his keeper’s announcement, as if that were possible.
Simon Tyers is bemused at the football based talent show and bemoans the dumbing down of a national institution, BBCs Sports Personality of the Year
Top-class footballers have often been called upon to demonstrate their skills to the next generation down. This used to be mostly through cartoon-strip coaching advice in the weekly magazines. If a player became really famous he might be given 30 12-year-olds to instruct on television, as happened to George Best for one. It is therefore alarming, even accounting for progress and changing times, to discover that playing football in the street is now an extreme sport.
England's premier cup competition is starting to suffer in popularity as ITV and Setanta take the rights
On successive days in December, the sports pages carried several pictures of excited young fans reaching out to touch players. Firstly Japanese children in Ronaldo replica shirts greeted Manchester United when they arrived in Tokyo for the Club World Cup. The following day Blyth Spartans fans celebrated the FA Cup second-round defeat of Bournemouth; it’s unlikely that their green-and-white shirts are available anywhere other than the club shop and a couple of stores in Blyth town centre.
Goal celebebrations in Brazil are becoming ever more choreographed and controversial, writes Robert Shaw
One of the best-known and most imitated goal celebrations is Bebeto’s baby-rocking tribute to newly born son Matheus during the 1994 World Cup game with Holland. This season a different Bebeto’s post-goal antics were received with less popular acclaim in Brazil.