Category Archives: Sports

Soccer Riots in Britain

Soccer Riots and British Character

New York Times, May 18, 1986

Brawling is as British as shepherd’s pie. Murder isn’t.

One year after the Brussels soccer riot and on the eve of the World Cup in Mexico City the British national character takes center stage.

On May 29, 1985, fifteen months after moving to London from New York, I watched a live broadcast of British soccer fans running amok in Brussels before the game between Liverpool and Juventus, from Turin, Italy had even begun. When it was over, the body count was 39 dead and hundreds injured. Continue reading

Wimbledon Olympics 2012

Bum’s Rush

by Robert Liebman

Good afternoon. Have a nice day.

The police may have been trying to tell me something, but a simple No Tickets Available sign would have sufficed.

The London 2012 Olympics opened with glorious pageantry soon followed by controversy, especially over empty seats.

The Games ended on a note of euphoria, and the empty-seat sagas seem to have been completely forgotten. Continue reading