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When two Maltese agree about something, even on the most trivial of all subjects, Heaven will be en fete!
In a world full of good, bad and indifferent people, opinions seem to be dictated by different factors not least by spin. Conclusions are conditioned by the impressive images dished out, even if these are generally somewhat distorted. A hidden agenda cannot be discarded.
Figures show that ‘Reality TV’ is extremely popular in many countries but who would believe the authenticity of most episodes of ‘Celebrity Big Brother’, ‘Survival’, ‘I’m a Celebrity’, ’Isola dei famosi’, ‘Big Brother’, ‘Campioni’ , ‘Grande Fratello’and similar pathetic productions?
Racism and poor performance
Recently, England played a ‘friendly’ match against Spain. A few facts and figures show that England were given a football lesson in Madrid. Spain won 1-0, had 13 shots at goal to England’s two, had 64 per cent possession, committed 10 fouls to England’s 20 as Ericsson’s side had three players booked, and Raul had a penalty-kick saved by Paul Robinson.
The game itself hardly meant anything at all as the main stories centred on racial abuse and the fact that a number of England players were subjected to monkey chants at the Bernabeu, and not on the pathetic show by Becks & Co. Racism is a dirty word and even the world’s football supreme Josep Blatter was shocked, so much so that he would have supported England’s players if they had walked off the field. Strange! These unwarranted incidents also reached diplomatic levels, as Tony Blair and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero exchanged notes. The reaction by the media and the players, particularly Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips is understandable, but it hardly explains England’s poor show and Wayne Rooney’s persistent and petulant fouling which even disgusted Ericsson who took him off before half-time.
Foolishly Rooney, 19, even swore at his manager and flung to the ground the black armband worn in memory of the former England captain Emlyn Hughes who earned one of his early caps for his country in the matches against Malta, during the seventies.
The furious Ericsson lost his temper and gave Rooney a half time dressing down. But no one questioned the Swede about England’s diabolical performance. It was only late this week that Sven admitted his over-rated lot were outplayed and thanked the Lord that this was not a competitive tie. “Spain could have had a bigger win” were the Swede’s words!
For two years at least England will not suffer a similar humiliation while the Spaniards will not have a chance of hurting the black boys, as the FA decided that no friendly matches will be staged, between the two countries. Meanwhile Arsenal’s skipper Patrick Viera wanted the Spain team-manager Luis Aragones to be sanctioned while Newcastle’s Jermaine Jenas who was also targeted in Madrid declared that “while the attitude at the Bernabau is unacceptable, it is a fact that racism is still evident in England.” But Michael Owen alleged the Real Madrid fans again hurled racist insults during the midweek Champions League tie with Bayer Leverkusen.
Banned
In the aftermath of the vitriol directed at the England black players in Madrid, Trinidad international Dwight Yorke who fathered a son from his relationship with the curvateous Katie Price known as Jordan, claimed he was the subject of racist taunts during the game with his former club Blackburn at Ewood Park. He had moved to St Andrew’s last August after two tempestuous years with Rovers. Birmingham’s boss Steve Bruce complained to the Football Association while the Lancashire police charged two lads in their early twenties .One pleaded not guilty but the other admitted the charge and will write an apology to Yorke! He was fined £1000 and banned from going to Ewood for five years!
Birmingham’s co-owner David Sullivan played down the incident even if emphasised that he will not tolerate such an attitude. He said that isolated incident “has been blown out of proportion”, stating that he heard nothing “but if two or three fans out of a 22,000 crowd made noises, then it is not the crime of the century.”
In keeping with the pattern, after the 0-2 defeat, Martin O’Neill of Celtic also accused Rangers’ fans of racially abusing Neil Lennon, who was also accused of insulting the Gers. Who to believe?
On the eve of the PSV-Arsenal midweek tie, UEFA referee Herr Fandel, foolishly suggested that an outbreak of racist abuse may force him to abandon the match. How much is abuse, in a crowd of 50,000? Three, thirty, three hundred, how many? One wonders what vile compliments were dished out by the PSV fans when Lauren and Viera were sent off! Arsenal were fuming about his leniency with the Dutch players.
Racism took top billing while other nasty episodes were somewhat ignored. In the qualifiers for Germany 2006, China, despite their 7-0 defeat of Hong Kong but were eliminated as Kuwait defeated Malaysia 6-1. A single goal difference proved decisive.
China had requested FIFA to stage these vital matches at the same time but no one had asked for an inquiry to find out why these two matches produced such heavy margins! Or why the Chinese cannot control doping, allegations of bribery, corruption, refereeing scandals and fixed results.
In 2001, a number of referees were given ten-year jail sentences but somehow these decisions did not serve as a deterrent. What’s news value? There are always two sides of the coin.
Spin is very fashionable!
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