WERE YOU AMONGST THE NEANDERTHALS LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT?

Last updated : 14 September 2003 By Editor

From an excellent piece by Simon Barnes in The Times

A merry song from the England supporters as we walked towards Old Trafford for the Liechtenstein game on Wednesday night: "Die, Turkey, die, Turkey, die, die, die!" And several times during the match, as a distraction from its not inconsiderable longueurs: "Stand up if you ’ate Tur-kee!" Almost to a man, they stood.

Many thousands — perhaps as many as the population of Liechtenstein — literally stood up to be counted as haters of Muslims. Have we learnt nothing? Of course not. We have learnt plenty. We have learnt to make our hatreds deeper and more bitter. A new match, a new Western-Islamic conflict. We can savour our hatreds with a much deeper relish.

Sport showcases this hatred in many forms. In cricket, England have long been at loggerheads with Pakistan. Hatred and resentment has been encouraged through the years. Ian Botham even went to court to pursue it with his famous ball-tampering case.

"Pakistan have been cheating us for 37 years," Tom Graveney once said. Trevor Bailey had no prejudice against Pakistanis, however: "I buy my newspapers from them." "An excitable kind of mob," Phil Tufnell summed up.

Imran Khan saw it differently after Pakistan beat England in the 1992 World Cup final:

"I knew God was on our side." Of course God is on Pakistan’s side. He is also on England’s side. He is also on Turkey’s side. It’s God that makes the whole damn business so poisonous.

England are the Manchester United of world football(although without the results). When anybody plays England it is an occasion. England invented the game, England ruled half the world with breathtaking arrogance. Every team wants to take England down a peg and (here’s the joy of it) most sides can.

I fear the worst from the Turkey-England game, however. I fear that there will be blood spilt in Istanbul that week. The only way to avoid trouble is to cancel the match. Why don’t they? Partly because it will be watched by millions; it is too valuable to cancel. And partly because if you accept that all hatred is for ever and behave accordingly, there is no scope for any change. The Northern Ireland Peace Movement, founded by two (apparently) ordinary women in Ulster, lit a candle that still burns.

Something else, too. Turkey v England may well turn out to be the most compelling sporting occasion of the year. The last match, in Sunderland, was full of vile racist chanting and wonderful, emotional football. The passion — all right, the hatred — made for an un-put-downable spectacle. And now the stakes have been raised: the doubling cube on the backgammon board has been turned to show 64.