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Friday 30th September, 2005

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By CATHERINE ETOE

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... and another thing....

Typical isn’t it? You leave the country for a few days and when you get back everything you thought you knew is wrong.
Apparently, the football league that has brought me so much pleasure and pain over the years is so boring this season even my mother has insisted on telling me how dull it is.
Why? Because according to the press, fans and my Mam, the title is decided, the formations are rubbish, referees need glasses and we’d all rather be watching the cricket. Having attended a handful of Premiership games this season I can agree with all of the above. Apart from the bit about the cricket.
But that’s not the reason fans are giving the finger to the elite end of the game.
They’re doing that because virtually everyone involved in the top flight, from the show ponies on the pitch to the people who keep us away from them, have forgotten why anyone ever plays or watches in the first place.
Tell us something we didn’t know you say.
Well, I’ll tell you something I didn’t know and that’s how good football can be even if it’s the best of the best.
Over in Denmark, where I was staying when the nation’s love affair with the Premiership was fizzling out, I visited Brondby.
Here you have a top division team in the Uefa Cup and managed by one of the biggest names in the game, Michael Laudrup.
Were the fans allowed to sit on the grass watching the first team train? Or ask the players to pose for photographs on their way to the showers? Was the press allowed to chat to the players on their way to the clubhouse? Or eat a meal in the same room as the players? And did the tickets cost little more than a pizza and drink?
The answer to all of those is yes.
I suspect such civility is beyond England’s voracious press, over zealous fans and conceited players.
But maybe life wouldn’t be so very dull if it wasn’t.

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Look for vintage not barcode

WE are in the middle of a revolution in food. Farmers’ markets and small shops specialising in naturally produced and seasonal produce are challenging the supermarkets.
When it comes to wine, however, we are going in the opposite direction.
FULL STORY...

... and another thing....

Typical isn’t it? You leave the country for a few days and when you get back everything you thought you knew is wrong.
FULL STORY...

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