Reference to Hillsborough in pre-match intelligence points to negligence of French police in dealing with Liverpool fansThe truly shocking revelation about the disastrous approach of the French police at the Champions League final in Paris appeared in plain sight in the first, flawed official report into the near-disaster released last Friday. Perhaps unwittingly from the report’s author, Michel Cadot, an official working in France’s sports ministry, it illuminated most clearly so far why European football’s showpiece evening descended into brutality and chaos.The single sentence about police “intelligence” before the match has provided the first glimpse of an explanation as to why the officers were so tooled-up, and acted like self-appointed last-ditch defenders of civilisation rather than guardians of safety for...
A valuable World Cup legacy would be financial support for families of migrant workers who died or were robbed of wagesThe Football Association’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, made some interesting comments in response to questions about Qatar 2022 in a parliamentary committee hearing last week. Notable among them was the claim that the migrant workers whom the FA had met during “several trips” to Qatar, as well as “the NGOs on the ground”, were unanimous that “they want the World Cup to go ahead in Qatar”.According to Bullingham, who said the FA would brief Gareth Southgate and his players on the situation before Saturday’s match with Switzerland, the top request of workers and NGOs is that the FA “keep having...
European Super League protests showed us that when fans and players are on the same page, no one in the game can stop themRemarkably, the website is still live. Eight months after the European Super League disintegrated in an embarrassing fireball, you might think its founders would be minded to erase all trace of their hubris and humiliation. But perhaps that would be to credit them with too much competence. And so there it remains to this day: “The Super League is a new European competition between 20 top clubs comprised of 15 founders and five annual qualifiers.” Well, good luck with that.There is, of course, an alternative theory. After all, the Super League is still not quite dead in...
The game’s great dilemma is squaring the need for rich backers – no matter how unpalatable – with our longing for a football fix It has been another week of soul-searching for football. What is the game, what is it for and who does it belong to? With nine Premier League matches postponed in the past week and Dr Nikki Kanani, medical director of primary care for NHS England, suggesting that attending games is a needless risk, a return to reduced attendances, closed-doors matches or even a suspension have become distinct possibilities.The return to Project Restart protocols may be enough to quell the spread of the virus among players but if it is not, keeping going cannot be justified. Brentford’s...
Desperate perpetrators and drugs also blamed but report about day of ‘national shame’ cites collective failures“I am not in the business of individual blame. So if people are looking for a report that tries to make scapegoats of individuals you won’t find that.” So said Louise Casey of her comprehensive report into the events in and around the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium on 11 July. “There were collective failures that I identify and were clear. There are also mitigating factors that I describe in the report, in hindsight, as a ‘perfect storm’ that made that final so difficult to manage.”As the 129 pages are picked over, it seems unlikely Lady Casey’s words will stop people looking to hold...