Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 March 2002 Issue No.578
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Message T-shirts out
ITALIAN football reacted in disappointment on Sunday at the new ruling which outlaws the exposure of message T-shirts by players, usually after they score a goal.
In this year's World Cup players will be booked should they celebrate a goal in such a fashion after the ruling by FIFA's international board that only blank T-shirts are considered an acceptable dress code.
In Italy footballers frequently lift up their jerseys after scoring to reveal a T-shirt with a message that can be political or personal.
And the general feeling was that a little bit of football tradition had died. Gazzetta dello Sport headlined: "The T-shirts have been silenced." It devoted half a page to the story while its principal rival Corriere dello Sport said: "Celebrations stopped, messages on T-shirts banned."
In Italy, players have used T-shirts to protest against French nuclear testing while Lazio's Yugoslav defender Sinisa Mihajlovic unveiled a shirt saying: "Peace, not war," when NATO started bombing his homeland.
Others unveil messages to their wives, children or in honour of a personal idol. Torino's Cristiano Lucarelli likes to reveal a picture of late Communist revolutionary Che Guevara, while Lecce's Alessandro Conticchio's favourite image is a garish T-shirt of controversial rocker Marilyn Manson.
Teams sometimes coordinate a T-shirt message to honour a comrade who is in distress, unveiling T-shirts after a goal encouraging a colleague facing a long injury lay-off not to lose heart. Brescia players recently honoured their team-mate Vittorio Mero who had been killed in a car crash the week before.
No more needy clubs
STARTING from 2004, soccer teams participating in UEFA club championships are to hand in a declaration on their financial status.
The new law, adopted by the UEFA executive committee, aims at preventing cash-strapped teams from participating in the competitions.
The national football federations are to give clubs playing in Euro cups guarantee obligations certifying their financial stability.
Beckenbauer might quit
GERMAN soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer has announced that he might resign from his Bayern Munich post as president. In an interview with German sporting TV channel DSF, the captain of the 1974 world champions revealed that he must concentrate on his work in the World Cup 2006 organising committee, which he heads. "I would think twice before nominating myself for the Bayern board elections in 2003," said Beckenbauer, who believes he will not be able to combine his reign at Bayern with his 2006 organising committee duties.
Diary deal denied
SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON has turned down a string of lucrative offers to write a World Cup diary of England's campaign in Japan and South Korea this summer.
Eriksson said he was not interested in emulating predecessor Glenn Hoddle, who was criticised after publishing a memoir of England's 1998 campaign in France.
"I have got, I think, 20 requests to do diaries," the England coach told the Sunday Telegraph. "But I have told the publishers I will not do that. I have already had a couple of chats about it with (FA executive director) David Davies, and have told him that I am not interested."
Eriksson also hinted that he would seek to deter any player from considering a book deal, saying that dressing room secrets should not be made public.
Museums want volunteers
THE EDUCATION, Science and Technology Ministry of Japan will ask national museums to recruit volunteers to help visiting sports fans explore cultural and sightseeing places during the World Cup soccer finals.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi revealed the government viewed the World Cup as "a rare opportunity for visitors to become interested in Japan and deepen their understanding of its culture."
The ministry is to ask four art museums, the National Museum of Modern Art and three general museums in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara, to seek volunteers to assist visitors during the finals. The ministry is looking for people who are fluent in foreign languages and have a good knowledge of Japanese art and culture.
It will also ask the museums to offer discounts or free admission to foreign visitors on presentation of their passports in an attempt to get them interested in Japanese art and culture.
About 380,000 soccer fans are expected to visit Japan during the finals, which kick off at the end of May.
Treat for hooligans
IN SAPPORO, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, potential hooligans at this summer's World Cup will find plenty of entertainment.
World Cup Promotion Office worker Katsunori Takahashi says there will be ample entertainment to keep the average thug out of trouble. "The people of Sapporo will entertain the fans with traditional Japanese flower arrangement and tea ceremonies," he says.
Certainly the stadium itself, a magnificent structure that from the air resembles a giant computer mouse, should calm even the most hardened hooligan.
Replete with retractable wall, it can be transformed from a baseball to a football venue by sliding the outdoor grass pitch beneath the 60m dome.
Other unusual features for non-Asian fans are the half-time match fare, which includes noodles, rice balls and beer, banned in many European stadiums.
Six thousand officers will be dispatched to matches in Sapporo, one for every seven fans in the 42,000-capacity stadium.
Of the three matches Sapporo will host, the most eagerly awaited is England's game against Argentina in the so-called Group of Death.

Hewitt cruises
WORLD No 1 Lleyton Hewitt trampled ninth seed Tim Henman of Britain 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday in the Indian Wells final to claim his first career Masters Series title. The 21-year-old Australian was at his tenacious and ruthless best, disposing of the 11th- ranked Briton in just 81 minutes to collect his second consecutive tournament win. The women's final on Saturday was almost as one-sided -- but with a twist. Daniela Hantuchova, an 18-year-old Slovakian in her first tour singles final, beat heavily favoured Martina Hingis 6-3, 6-4 to take the title.
(Compiled from wire services)

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