Don’t mention the War. Sell it.

I agree with everything you’ve written Jan. It wasn’t like this before the game 2 years ago but now we’ve got two tabloids here competing fiercely so they have to shock the audience in order to sell more. I don’t have any respect for Fakt or SE whatsoever, I remember that the former wrote something like “Don’t you dare come back home” on the front page after our game against Ecuador. After living for some time in Scotland and seeing the ‘quality’ of their popular press I don’t want this nightmare to happen in Poland.

Those are brilliant points about the nature of some journalistic outlets. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks tomasz for the extra info on the current competition between the two papers. I slightly changed the title of the post, to better reflect what all of this is actually about.

nice of you, jan, to mention the german owner of the FAKT, which also produced some shovinistic article in the context of the game. i’m not about blaming anyone else for the crap we’re witnessing, and what SE has given out is, still, miles more horrible. it’s just that these newspapers have so little to do with what normal poles think and feel, and the photo with the heads is – apart from its heinousness – a striking examlpe of this. it’s just so ridiculous and surreal that here nobody could take it seriously. still, it is embarassing…

This is really sick. Really.

Jan, there was a short report in one of the papers here today about Ballack being in the centre of this. And no, the article in question didn’t featured.

Anyhow, it really brought back some unpleasant memories for me. I don’t want to talk about it…

Alright, I will talk about the unpleasant memories. But I will let a link tell part of the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sale_of_Shin_Corporation_to_Temasek_Holdings

Two years ago, both Thailand and the Singapore national football teama were in the final of a football tournament (comprising countries from the South-East Asia region which Singapore is part of). Coming from Singapore myself, I was wondering how the Thai newspapers will react to our national team being in the final. On the football side of things, in the South-East Asia region, Thailand has always been a football powerhouse and we came in second. That I can acknowledge. Our local journalists who went to Bangkok covering the final (it was held there, the capital of Thailand) reported about that some politics was involved in how some of the Thai newspapers covered the final. It all comes back to the link I posted. Other than that, the general sentiments our journalists get in Thailand at that time was that the locals were optimistic of a win over our national team.

Diplomatic relations were at a low between here in Singapore and over in Thailand over that matter (the Wikipedia link). Even to the extent that when the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (who now owns Manchester City) was on a visit here back then, the Thai media kind of kicked up a fuss. Was it a personal or business visit for Thaksin, I had forgotten. But I understand since Thailand has a new prime minister, relations were restored. Thailand will always has a special place in my family, even though I have never been there yet. I mean, it’s actually where my parents spent their wedding honeymoon.

Footnote: Our national team won the tournament in the end eventually. One of the newspapers’ headline here after the match was something like ‘Football won’. At least politics never took centrestage in the end.

Wait, I think it’s the government in Thailand kicking up a fuss over Thaksin’s Singapore visit. Have to correct that.

The views of retarded tabloids are not the views of Poles with regard to our neighbours. We can always treat it as a Photoshop competiton though I wonder what Bild will come up with

diana: well, proves that these type of things happen everywhere.

Matt: well, Bild have surprisingly done nothing except for denouncing it as a scandal so far. And I hope it stays that way – at least until the match is over. Provoking negative emotions ahead of a football match, where Polish and German fans will flood the streets in Klagenfurt is just irresponsible.

Agreed that it’s in poor taste and once again tabloids are putting words in other peoples mouths. I’m sure most Poles don’t believe in any of this, but it does create a stir and heck, here we are talking about.

Jan, true. It’s always so sick. Which is why I has always believe politics and football just don’t mix with each other. An experience so close to home early last year really hit me on the effects of it. Which is why when I first knew the whole controversy out of Poland, it really brought back those unplesant memories for me (which at least has a happy ending).

Anyhow, as I was discussing about the tournament with my father, I couldn’t even bring it up to him when I was talking about the Germany-Poland match. I just stop short. I just said that it’s a tabloid controversy.

And my face almost white when I was watching ESPN Sportscenter Asia like on Thursday. We have ESPN’s Asian feed on the pay-TV here and they did reported about the controversy…with the photos. I have to get a newspaper to cover my face from what was shown on the TV screen. As far as I am concerned, at least the newspapers here didn’t publish those sickening photos. Only a report about Poland coach Leo Beenhakker apologising the entire matter. I would have really on the verge of vomitting if it happens.

‘Provoking negative emotions ahead of a football match, where Polish and German fans will flood the streets in Klagenfurt is just irresponsible.’
Yeah. Already what happened two years ago during the World Cup…I don’t want to talk about it.

i will miss england being in the euros but at least we do not have to put up with this type of reporting everyday, oh yes and also the shit pop songs that go with it.this piece even made the papers over here and the press were aghast about it. pot,kettle and black spring to mind.

I hope that whatever the result of the Poland – Germany match may be the
respective supporters will remember that all this is not about politics – not to speak of war – but about sports. And that those who will suffer defeat are not inferior but simply have lost in a sports event.

Posted from Germany

Habicht, agreed. If it’s my team which lost I will be sad definitely but at the end of it, it’s just a football match after all.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVvKJeTNiZz_mGHNhLJ3FFWTtW7A

It’s about clashes between the Germany and Poland fans last night. Why? I can still remember those news footages of what happened two years ago ahead of the two facing each other in the World Cup group stage. I was, horrified.

But then at least something good come out of the whole tabloid mess. Poland coach Leo Beenhakker yesterday personally met Loew at the stadium where the two nations will be playing each other (Klagenfurt’s Woerthersee Stadium) and apologised to him over what happened last week.

The link in question – http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080607/tsp-fbl-euro-2008-gpb-ger-pol-loew-beenh-47c0590.html

Those primitive papers give Poles a bad rap. No self-respecting Pole would purchase them (at least I hope). We can make choices and nobody as to purchase primitive crap.

I just noticed: Polish and Singapore flags are a mirror image of each other. Nice!