JOSEPH METCALFE travelled to Istanbul in November 1993 to watch Manchester United play Galatasaray in the Champions League. Along with most of the other 183 United fans in his party he started rioting in his hotel the night before the match and was arrested by the Turkish police. The group was held in the local station before being deported back to Britain where newspaper headlines of `Scum' and `Thugs' greeted them.
That was the official story as reported in the British media at the time - only trouble is 74-year-old grandfather Metealfe and the rest of the deported United fans were in fact the targets of an attack on their hotel by a large group of Galatasaray fans and were subjected to brutal assaults by the Turkish police. After being dragged from their beds at five in the morning and locked in police cells for 30 hours without food, water or access to toilets, they were deported.
These and similar ordeals experienced by Leeds and Chelsea fans in Holland and Belgium last year were examined in Channel 4's `War Cries - Grandad is a football hooligan' on Tuesday night. None of the fans interviewed, least of all Metcalfe, much resembled your average Combat 18 member but it now appears that many of Europe's police forces make no distinction between genuine supporters and troublemakers.
In fact the only distinction made - and it is one encouraged by many English clubs - is between fans on official club tours and those who choose the cheaper option of travelling to Europe independently. The former are afforded some degree of protection while the latter appear to be targeted on their arrival by police who are told to expect trouble from anyone not on the official tour.
When the supporters featured in the programme complained to their clubs about their treatment when they returned to Britain they were told they should have travelled on the official tours. Ken Bates, the Chelsea chairman, told the press after the trouble in Bruges (where Chelsea were playing a Cup Winners' Cup match) that anyone not travelling with his official tour was a hooligan.
Metcalfe, a retired railway worker, would probably like to go to European matches with Halba Travel, a firm that organises many of Manchester United's official tours and, coincidentally, has Bobby Charlton as a director and shareholder. Unfortunately for Metcalfe, Halba's prices are beyond his means, as are those of Chelsea Worldwide Travel for most Stamford Bridge regulars.
Adam Thomas, the programme maker and presenter, claimed that what the English clubs really want is a monopoly on the lucrative trade of transporting fans to matches in Europe. This, however, is illegal under British and European law but an effective monopoly can be created if the clubs warn Europe's police to expect trouble from the fans travelling independently and make their trips so unpleasant that they'll find the extra £100 or so to go with the club next time.
When Joseph Metcalfe returned to Manchester with `deportee' stamped in the passport he had used since the 1950s to travel all over Europe in support of United, he contacted his local MP to see if he could do anything to help him. "You should have had more sense than to go to Istanbul, shouldn't you Joseph," was Sir Tom Arnold's helpful response.
Pete Sampras got about as much sympathy from the umpire of his US Open quarter-final match on Thursday as Joseph Metcalfe got from Arnold. Sky Sports had extensive live coverage from Flushing Meadow all week but few matches created as much drama as the four-hour, nine-minute epic between Sampras and Spain's Alex Corretja.
By the time the match reached the deciding fifth set tie-break Sampras, who was visibly ill, had used up his two allowed toilet visits. He struggled on and put up an heroic performance against the Spaniard, doubling over in agony after every point. Corretja and the crowd looked on in horror as the American began retching at the back of the court after one rally but the umpire, keen to stick by the rules, gave Sampras a code violation for taking too much time between points.
One wonders how the watching John McEnroe would have reacted to such insensitivity on the part of an umpire - his former doubles partner Peter Fleming certainly was not impressed. Fleming is Sky Sports' resident tennis expert for major tournaments and is fast becoming the Eamon Dunphy of satellite TV land.
"Hold it there," he roared as he analysed slow motion replays of Stefan Edberg's performance against Tim Henman. The Swede was duly frozen at the net and Fleming produced his electronic pen with which he drew lines on the screen to indicate Edberg's volleying options. What on earth would Dan Maskell have made of all this?
