High life
Foul play
Taki
Mind you, football back then reflected society, and Greek society was still very conservative. Most players had brought their families to Athens and lived with their parents, the latter acting as guardians of morality as well as the club's curfew. Need- less to say, things ain't what they used to be. Especially in England. All last week I was amused to read about the 'new barbar- ians', the overrated and overpaid brutes who have besmirched the national game. The headlines sounded good but had noth- ing to do with football. As I said before, sport and the people who practise it reflect society, and it's society that's sick, not sport.
I think it was around 1994 or so when one night Charles Glass, the American broadcaster and writer, a blonde by the name of Linda Evans (no, not the Dynasty star, a much younger version) and I walked into a trendy club somewhere near South Kensington. The place was packed with hundreds of young people clamouring to get in. The boss took us to the bar where we ordered some drinks. That is when a famous footballer, standing there with a friend, grabbed Glass by the lapels, and screamed that Charlie had spilled beer all over him 'But even if I wanted to, I couldn't have,' said Glass; 'I've been waiting for my beer since I came in.' It was obvious that the footballer was spoiling for a fight, a fact that made us all uneasy. He continued to insult Charlie, however, and when we finally got our drinks Glass turned around and rather bravely spilled his glass all over the bully and said to him, 'You've been accusing me all night of doing this — here you are, at last.'
The guy was not only taken aback, he screamed to high heaven, '0i, you've spilled beer all over me, you f*****.' That is when I stepped in between them, apolo- gised to the footballer and told him Charlie was a writer, not a fighter, and let's forget the whole thing. He mistook me for a softie and went for my neck. I twisted his little finger back rather hard, and, just as he let go with a rather loud ouch, Linda Evans came from nowhere and kneed him right in the noogies. It was a very funny scene. A professional lout-footballer holding his you-know-whats, screaming at a mini-skirt- ed blonde who had come to the aid of two older men. That is when two enormous bouncers grabbed the guy and told him he was out of there. 'But she kicked me in the b****, he kept arguing while he was escorted out.
Although both the owner and the bounc- ers acted impeccably towards us, 30 years ago this kind of client would not have been allowed inside a place where, well, perhaps not so polite society, hung out. Two New York Yankee super-stars, Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin, both of whom I met and became friends with during the late Fifties, were attacked by a drunk at the Copaca- bana nightclub. Soon after Billy Martin was traded away to Kansas City. His crime was having gone to the Copa, a place where drunks and shady characters hung out. See what I mean about changing standards. Today, Martin would sue and win millions.
As I write, two black superstars of the National Football League are up for mur- der. One for allegedly shooting and killing his pregnant girlfriend, the other accused of wasting two men at a club following the Super Bowl. The NFL commissioner has defended the violent nature of NFL players off the field by saying it 'reflects society'. At least over here football stars have not as yet murdered anyone. I guess we should be thankful.
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