Football fans and violence
According to 2011/12 figures, arrests of football fans are down 24% from last season. The Football Supporters Federation welcomed this news saying, “The overall picture is a very positive one”. Indeed, the total number of arrests stood at just 2,363 – a decrease of 726 from 2010/11. 74% of all matches passed without a single…
Racism, it is not just Serbia who has a problem
“I was just so angry and I found it hard to concentrate on the game” remarked Danny Rose, the England under 21 defender. Not surprisingly either. Throughout last nights game against Serbia, from the warm-up right through to the last few messy minutes, Rose was the focus of a series a racist chants. The abuse Rose…
A pissed off Arsenal fan at the Nou camp
I knew that my pilgrimage to the Nou Camp would not be easy. I’m Arsenal, always have been, always will be. Barcelona tends to piss off Arsenal fans, especially in Champions League finals. Throughout the trip I started to come to terms with the fact that this feeling (was it anger?) derived from the continued…
Mahmoud al-Sarsak – Palestinian footballer’s health is ‘deteriorating’
As the football season draws to a close most of us are sitting back waiting for a summer of football to begin. With less than a month now until Euro 2012 kicks off, football fans across the globe are gearing up for the tournament stocking up the fridge and pinning up the fixture lists. Here…
A response to Alan Davies
Alan Davies, “I feel that the Liverpool v Everton semi-final could be played on Apr 15”. I tend to agree The need to obtain justice for those who were taken from us on April 15th 1989 at Hillsborough is as important today as it has ever been. 96 people, fathers, sons and friends were taken…
The universal language of Messi
In the dusty streets of Jayyus in the West Bank, the language that children use cuts through adult constructed divisions. The names of Abbas or Netanyahu are alien. What rolls off the lips of the children here are the names of Messi, Fabregas and Puyol. Jayyus is a small farming community situated near the town…
The day I was ashamed to be a Cheltenham Town fan
We were 2-0 down. The collective voice had slipped out of our supporters. We were silent. Spurs fans responded in the only way they knew, to start mocking our silence. They finished with a collective ‘shhhhhhh’ to illustrate the resonating silence coming from us. What happened next shocked me. It shouldn’t have done, but it did. Someone behind…
We are Cheltenham fans – we have to be crass enough to dream
I cannot blame Mark Yates for trying to keep fans expectations low in the lead up to our 3rd round FA cup match against high flying Tottenham Hotspurs. The FA Cup has created a fever pitch atmosphere around the club in the last few weeks and the excitement levels are sky high. It is Yates job…
