Thursday, September 4, 2008

I hate The Telegraph

"It is not easy to speak English in the Arsenal dressing room. The boss talks in French when he has discussions with players and only speaks English in team meetings. I do not feel that I am in a foreign country with all the French speakers around I am not in unknown territory. I have settled in very well."

- Sammy Nasri, from an awful Telegraph story

3 points today, before I comment on the above:

1. I'm going to Caerphilly. There's a big castle there built by a guy in the Middle Ages to keep another guy out of town. I'm hazy on the details, but it's supposed to be a big, big castle - the biggest in Wales. Should be worth a look.

2. I'm changing my mind about Cardiff. Apart from the rain, it's a funky little city. It's not big, but it's optimistic. It's a child of the Industrial Revolution, and parts of it are still full of dour, working-class terraces. But it's also relatively new, in that most of the current building boom has happened in the past ten years or so. It's a bit like a ghost town at the moment, because there's not enough people to fill all the streets, apartments and funky little boutique shops, but they'll come. Build it and they will come. It reminds me a bit of Geelong and their waterfront development.

3. I don't understand how anyone can approve of Sarah Palin running for Veep. Misogynists should be appalled because she's an underqualified woman - there are probably five men who have both the experience and the genitalia to do things proper. Feminists should be appalled because she's an underqualified woman - it makes a mockery of the ideals of the "sisterhood of the travelling pantsuit". What happened to the idea that you get the position because of your abilities, and not your gender?

But onto the quote.

It's from a Telegraph article with the headline "Arsenal's French-speaking dressing room leaves Theo Walcott lost in translation". And it has nothing to do with Walcott, and everything to do with how well Nasri is settling in. The story itself is the typical fluff piece about how well a player is settling into the club. No problem with that.

My issue is with the headline. This is terrible journalism. It's misleading. It's racist. And it treats its readers with contempt. It's got nothing to do with Walcott. It suggests that the Francophones are subbing our dear little Theo, purely on language. It insinuates that these foreign players are usurping places that belong to real Englishmen. And it presumes a readership that is xenophobic, ill-educated and gullible enough to swallow this tripe.

How do English newspapers get away with stunts like this?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess Telegraph will be getting some cool cash for writing such dirty things about us. Wenger obvious will not do that and I am not sure he is that stupid.

Antipodean it is been a long time you visited http://soccerfanbase.com hope all is well with you and your family.

Abbey

WEG said...

Hey Abbey,

It's difficult to get access to the internet while travelling, so I've limited myslef to the necessities (email, blog and Arse news). Haven't had much chance to do the rounds of Arse blogs. I'll be better later in the month. So maybe then.