An Old International
football at the crossroads with culture and history
In an interview with German weekly paper Die Zeit the project manager Stefan Klos (not the former German goalkeeper!!!) and an architect Joachim Schares involved with the World Cup bid for Qatar 2022 answered a few questions regarding the bid and the decision making process. Of course they sound very convinced about their work and obviously they must have done something right, otherwise the bid would have failed. Nonetheless, in hindsight it reads like a propaganda speech for the Qatar bid and the interview could have well been recorded before the winner was announced on 2 December in
It’s almost Christmas and the time has come to take stock of the season so far, most notably the European Cups for which qualification kicked off in June, when the focus of many was on the World Cup.This is now six months ago and of course there is a lot to write about as a lot has happened. There will be more than just this single post on European football over the next two weeks. The first part will look into this week’s Champions League last group games, next up will be the smaller European Cup, i.e. Europa League and the last bit will feature the Leagues of England, Germany, Spain, France and Italy not necessarily in that order.
Two recent visits to Parc des Princes brought up the question about the pricing of tickets and the direct result of that as well as the causes for this. Certainly €40 for a Europa League match does sound okay if it doesn’t mean to be seated in the upper stands but in the better seats of the Tribunes Presidentielle or Paris. But paying that price for a seat high up in the stands seems a bit over the odds given that the attendance against Marseille only three days after the Dortmund game was 40000 and the prices being increased due to the category of the game as a top game of the league. PSG seem to be adamant to rid themselves of certain groups of fans who in the last years brought media attention for all the wrong reasons. Hooliganism and fan groups fighting each other which led to the death of a supporter and even shots were fired in the surroundings of the stadium; a scenario last associated with a football stadium during Pinochet’s rule in Chile.
Certainly the aim to the exclude those people from the ground is worth every effort in order to make football enjoyable again without fearing for your dear ones or your life. Abolishing the season ticket system too appeared to be a good idea to stop hooligans attending and being in a position to start trouble. If this really works, remains to be seen, as it is still possible for these people to get to games, although not to their traditional places in the Boulogne Kop or the Auteuil end. Whether or not it s good thing that they mix with the ordinary crowd is to be watched as ordinary football fans might feel threatened or harrassed by people looking for trouble. As a result the stadium appears to be quiet when PSG are playing. Football fans do’t seem to trust the new found peace at PSG and certainly want to see where this policy is going. If it works it will still need a few years to create what is to be called a fan scene that is mainly concerned with football and not fists. In the current climate this appears to be a difficult task at hand as football since last summer’s World Cup in South Africa and the mutiny of the players have certainly not helped the image of football, which isn’t by far the most popular sport as compared to England or Germany, and the people attending. The other reason being the economical situation which isn’t rosy either, which certainly affects many people who would otherwise not think twice and get a ticket. Thus demanding €40 for a group game in the Europa League appears to be a lot of money. If the aim is to make Parc des Princes a ground with a cracking atmosphere, wouldn’t it have been impossible to offer discounted tickets in order to draw more people in, maybe even convincing those who have become estranged over the last few years to return? I’m not asking for tickets to be thrown away cheaply for a fiver or a tenner but for special offers that don’t work on the basis first come first serve, such as those which have started at €12. Instead there should be a reasonable pricing policy for games that won’t be crowd teasers such as the Europa League game with Dortmund earlier this month. It is not too difficult to work out a plan in order to draw in spectators with affordable ticket prices to make the Parc des Princes an atmospheric ground to go to and attending a match a special occasion. Who knows, in a few years the shadows will no longer hover over the ground and this period in the club’s recent past will be confined to the history books.
On a mild autumn November evening Paris St. Germain took on Borussia Dortmund to secure their place in the knockout stages while the visitors from Germany needed a win to keep alive their chances for European football after the winter break. A match for two teams that do not boast the big names in their squads and which are aiming for European glory in the ground that saw the first ever European Cup Final over fifty years ago. By that time PSG has not even been founded while Dortmund won their first national title. Read more →
After a short excursion into history last week, it is time to have a look at Europe’s top football leagues as the international break gives everyone a little breather. The World Cup is a thing of the past and now considered a trip down Memory Lane for many. Therefore it is time for taking stock of the first part of the season after the first European matches and more than a handful of domestic games in all of Europe’s top five leagues, i.e. Germany, England, Spain, Italy and France…
This is a short note on the man who signed his match reports for the Manchester Guardian with the byline An Old International. Not a lot can be said about Donny Davies, only that he was a footballer, cricketer, a teacher and after his active career a journalist with the Manchester Guardian from 1932 until his premature death in 1958.
A promising fixture between the up coming team from Britanny, Stade Rennes currently third in the table and the french capital’s stalion PSG, sitting in mid table in seventh position and hoping to close in on the teams in the top spots. However, Rennes being unbeaten in the league were certainly aiming for the top spot, which they could have clinched if they took the three points with them. PSG one could expect a slight fatigue after a mid-week trip to Sevilla which saw them victorious and thus their confidence surely on a high. It turned out that it was a fairly open game that could have won by either team if they showed some menace. Which, however, that did not materialize. This was a game where there was no offside and only one yellow card for a diver that should have been a penalty for Rennes. Rather, it turned out to be a rather leisurely stroll in the park on a sunny sunday afternoon and 28000 people came to watch it.
Paris, on European duty during the week looked tired at the start conceding space and the ball to Rennes for the opening twenty minutes. Eventually they got themselves into the game and started some promising passing around the defence of the Bretons, only to be denied by too many dribblings (most notably Guilly), which gave Rennes time to sort their defence and stalling PSG’s move. Once the team from Britanny got the ball, they too started quick and fluid passing moves only to be denied by the Parisian defence. Thus a game developed that mostly drifted between the areas, with few chances at either end. Towards the end of the first half one began to feel that a goal for Rennes was coming, it was just a question of time. Half time interrupted their momentum. The second half started with PSG pressing but it came to nothing as again the defence of the visitors stood. On the other side, it was the same picture. Rennes looked promising in midfield but in the so-called final third of the pitch, nothing was produced that looked convincing or even posed a threat to the PSG goal. In the end, it was a deserved draw as both teams seemed to look tired with seventy minutes gone. What both teams seem to lack is a central midfielder or holding player that takes control of the game and instigates their attacking movements. For Paris, Nenê is playing too far on the wing to control a game sufficiently. Mvila, a newly selected French international, could just grow into that role, provided he proves to be more consistent throughout a match.
This was a nice game to watch, provided you’re not infected by the English Premier League where speed is the main ingredient followed by the show of effort of the team and the individual players and the final result of the match. Yet, it looked as though both teams agreed beforehand not to score or at least not to hurt each other too much. Chances were rare, there were only a few shots on target and only a handful of corners.
After starting a blog for anything related to Germany and England, this is now my second blog which i will use for match reports of all the matches i occasionally go to. It won’t be many, no worries! Mostly they will be in Paris as i’m currently living there. However, these won’t be regular posts, as i’m not going to every match played by PSG or Paris FC. If you like what you read, feel free to say so.
an old international