UEFA President Michael Platini can without doubt be classed as one of the worlds best football players, but yesterday he scored one hell of an own goal. The decision to award the 2012 European Championships to Poland and Ukraine instead of Italy was based in the main on the latter’s problems with corruption and football violence. Just a minute, surely this is the wrong way round. Perhaps the following international news quotes can throw some light on the situation:
“54 policemen have been injured and 230 football hooligans detained after Saturday night disturbances in the streets of Warsaw. Over 30 policemen had to be hospitalized. The disturbances followed the first division match between Legia of Warsaw and Wisła of Kraków. “ http://poland.pl/news
“Several Scotland football fans have been injured after being set upon by a gang of local hooligans in Ukraine. Fans said up to 300 local youths launched an "unprovoked" attack on members of the Tartan Army in the country's capital, Kiev.” http://news.scotsman.com
“Krzysztof W., a Polish Football Federation (PZPN) observer and a suspect in the broad scale football inquiry, was detained by police from Wroclaw and Opole, south-western cities of Poland, on Thursday. Police officers from a special operational group detained 51-year-old Krzysztof W. at his place of residence. The man is suspected of taking bribes for favourable match results and opinions about referees", a police official told the PAP news agency.” http://news.xinhuanet.com
Whilst it can be argued that for economic reasons Italy doesn’t need the European Championships and Poland/Ukraine do, what price do we have to pay just for McDonald’s to get a foot hold in the old eastern block? Perhaps what is more worrying is that if Sepp Blatter (FIFA President) uses a similar rationale, we could see the World Cup being played in Iraq!
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