Archive for December, 2007

Photo Daily | December 21 | England-Scotland Arrest

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 21st, 2007 • Category: Photography

To conclude our look at the interaction of the police and football fans this week, here’s a not uncommon sight — an arrest at an England-Scotland game.

Photo credit: colint544 on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.



The Capello Effect: Watching Them Watching Us

By Vanda Wilcox • Dec 21st, 2007 • Category: Media

Since it will take some time for the footballing effects of the appointment of Fabio Capello as England manager to become apparent, it is currently most significant as a media event. In Italy, the news has been greeted with almost as many column inches as in England (or perhaps that should be column centimetres, for […]



Photo Daily | December 20 | Czech Police

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 21st, 2007 • Category: Photography

No, those aren’t Darth Vader impersonators. According to the photographer, they’re Czech police after German football hooligans.

Photo credit: gumanow on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.



The Tower of Ryan Babel: Football, Language, and Translation

By Brian Phillips • Dec 20th, 2007 • Category: Media

In the global bazaar of contemporary football, in which a top-flight team is apt to have a Paraguayan striker, twin Hungarian left-backs, and a goalkeeper who was downloaded directly from the Internet (“JENS LEHMANN: Avg user rating: 3.2 stars. Estimated time to download: ~3 min. Note: This program has not been tested for […]



Photo Daily | December 19 | Watching the Crowd in Brazil

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 19th, 2007 • Category: Photography

Two photos for you today, as we continue our theme of the authorities interacting with football fans. The first is from Inter vs. Palmeiras in the Brazilian league, November 2007. The second (click the link below to see it) is a remarkably similar shot also from Brazil, as Grêmio took on Santos in June.



Sol Campbell: Abuse breaches our human rights

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 19th, 2007 • Category: World Football Culture

Do footballers have the same rights in the stadium that they have in the street? Sol Campbell argues so, as he told the BBC’s Today programme today:
If this happened on the street, you would be arrested. This is the 21st century and this is a human rights situation where sportsmen and managers are trying […]



David Conn on Investigative Journalism in Football

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 18th, 2007 • Category: Politics and Economics

In the world of football, it’s a sad truth that for every shimmy by Ronaldinho on the field, there’s a deceitful twist by an agent somewhere squeezing out a bung; for every stepover by Ronaldo, there’s a corrupt businessman trying to make a fast buck out of the beautiful game; for every unexpected pass by […]



Photo Daily | December 18 | Espanyol Fans at Uefa Cup Final

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 18th, 2007 • Category: Photography

In the second of our police series this week, we see that sometimes football fans and the authorities can get on — here are Espanyol supporters being greeted by the Scottish police at the 2007 Uefa Cup Final at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

Photo credit: Len Scaps on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.



True Colours, Football Kits Illustrated

By Tom Dunmore • Dec 18th, 2007 • Category: World Football Culture

A few weeks we featured footballshirtculture.com in this space, and given the interest that generated, I thought I’d mention that True Colours has relaunched with a much improved site.
It’s the website of the books of the same name by John Devlin, a graphic designer who has produced two marvellous full colour illustrated studies of British […]