A Welshman in Milano: Conspiracy Theory.

mercoledì, giugno 23, 2004

Conspiracy Theory.

No sooner is there someone (il Presidente del Consiglio, Silvio Berlusconi) complaining that his defeat in an open competition has been "rigged" by competitive 'players', than another conspiracy is announced with a claim by Italian soccer federation president, Franco Carraro, to excuse the failure of the Italian football team to get their act together and actually play football well enough to stay in the Euro2004 competition. Yes, maybe I'm being a little harsh about the team as a whole, as there were several players that actually did play consistently good football. But, and this is a big but, there was a singular lack of team spirit and barely any show of the kind of patriotic spririt which any national team must have if it is to succeed on the sports field. Totti being suspended for spitting was a sad indictment of Italian luck in football - with players earning more than the majority of Prime Ministers and other world leaders, is it any wonder that they have the ability to overreach their importance. The fact that footballers are not usually considered to be amongst the brightest or best educated representatives of their country doesn't seem to get in the way of them expressing their views of the world (often amounting only to a view of their own self-importance) to the world press making themselves look like complete and utter fools into the bargain.