Finale Dahoam

With the Champions League Final 2012 to be played in Munich at the Allianz-Arena between the ‘home team’ Bayern Munich and Chelsea, another Anglo-German footballing encounter is set to take place tomorrow. Here is some of the press coverage in the paper’s pre-match writings.

The Hundred Years’ War

Just like the Hundred Years’ War between France and England (1337 – 1453) the sporting relations between England and Germany as well as England and France could equally be described as Hundred Years’ Wars. Just like their historical blue print, the Anglo-German ‘Football war‘ or the Anglo-French rugby rivalry are not constantly contested conflicts rather they flicker from time to time and there are periods when these ‘wars’ will appear to be hot instead of cold, i.e. ahead of a football or rugby match and in the aftermath of these. Most of this will happen in the media, where all sorts of language is used to describe the events on the pitch in most the bellicose manner. That the language to describe football matches contains martial terms and phrases, makes it even easier for writers and journalists to paint a picture of war and conflict.

Retraction

When I posted that Geoff Hurst admitted that his second goal in the World Cup Final 1966 has NOT crossed the line, it was with a big pinch of salt and it sounded as though it was a belated April’s fools joke. However, he has retracted on the same day, admitting that it was a set-up in accordance with Blue Square Premier, an online betting company. Hurst’s retraction can be found here and on another platform here.

It was a goal, wasn’t it?

Regular readers of this blog will certainly know or at least have an idea who is the originator of that quote. Sir Geoff Hurst, only scorer of a hat-trick in a World Cup Final does not stop to reiterate that the ball for his controversial second goal has crossed the line despite being disproved by scientists. It came as a surprise therefore that he recently announced that the ball had not crossed the line and that he was thankful to the Russian linesman that day, Tofik Bakhramov. The clip of his ‘confession‘ can be seen here.

No Sleep ‘Til: The Best of MCA

A very nice piece to remember Adam Yauch aka MCA of New York’s finest Beastie Boys

No Sleep ‘Til: The Best of MCA.

29 April 1972: England – Germany 1-3: 40 Years After

This match went down in German sports writing as the ‘Miracle of Wembley’. Quite why is unknown. This match however, should be marked as the watershed between England and Germany when it came to football. It was the first win of a German team on record at Wembley in a competitive match. It was the third defeat of England against Germany in a row. All these things should have given English football something to think about. Albeit it didn’t. England and Germany went in diametrically opposed directions.

5000

Thank You!

This blog started in June 2010 to accompany my academic writing about the Anglo-German rivalry. Since then, there have been more than 5000 clicks on this page. Which means with 50 posts there have been 100 clicks on each post on average. There is certainly room for improvement but nonetheless it is a small achievement. And a reason to say thank you to all who have clicked in the last 20 months. And a reminder to keep on visiting this blog and tell your friends and colleagues about it.

source of the image can be found here

Anglo-German meeting May 19, 2012

Due to Bayern Munich‘s success in ‘typical German manner’ (quote: Gary Lineker, Sir Alex Ferguson et.al.) i.e. penalty shoot out, against Real Madrid in last nights Champions League semi-final, there will be another Anglo-German meeting taking place at Munich on May 19. Accidentally, it will be a football match. This has happened on a few occasions in the past and not always have the coverage and the football been adequate. It is hoped though that this will not be the case on May 19 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, where the final of this year’s Champions League will be staged.

Special Relationships

The possibly best known ‘special relationship‘ in modern history is between the United States and the United Kingdom. This blog is about the ‘special relationship’ the UK and Germany have enjoyed over the last 60 and more years, particularly on the football pitch but also on other field such as music, the press and literature. This post however, will look at recent press outpourings in Germany about a poem published by Nobel laureate Günter Grass in which he heavily criticized Israel and thus shed a light upon this special relationship.

The Royal Visit and 404: Press Review 9 March 2012

The last comparative press review of some of England‘s daily newspapers in September 2011 saw questions raised about England’s colours and contained some remarks by Jeremy Clarkson that were off the mark. Friday’s saw all papers examined focussing on three major topics: The Royal Visit at DeMontfort University Leicester and the city, the war on terrorism which saw six British soldiers killed and Manchester’s football clubs, United and City almost getting knocked out of the European competition.