At last, some relatively encouraging news from Birmingham, England: the latest disorder at the city’s most important soccer stadium, that of Aston Villa, was caused not by the local, but by the visiting, fans!
Moreover, the visiting fans were Swiss, those of the BSC Young Boys of Bern. When the home team scored, some of them threw things on to the pitch, hitting one of the Aston Villa players on the head, and then threw punches at the police. English hearts swelled with patriotic pride that it was not only their own spectators who behaved badly!
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Of course, every silver lining has its cloud. I thought of the dialogue between Hamlet and Rosencrantz, when the prince asks Rosencrantz for news:
Hamlet: What news?
Rosencrantz: None, my lord, but that the world’s grown honest.
Hamlet: Then is doomsday near.
Today, the dialogue would go:
Hamlet: What news?
Rosencrantz: None, my lord, but that the Swiss have rioted.
Hamlet: Then is doomsday near.
Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images