Broadcast Sport - Numskull material merely sets up sequence of putrid programmes for blockheads. 

Raymond Travers. 
19 May 2002
Scotland on Sunday

ONE of the dispiriting things about the rash of pre-World Cup programmes beingscreened by terrestrial TV channels is their reliance on lurid subject matter to win audiences. Every week, there seems to arise a new documentary about England'snumskull following creating havoc in this or that part of the world, to the extent that you wonder if it is all designed to inspire more of the same appalling conduct in Japan and South Korea. 

If it does, more I-told-you-so documentaries would then be commissioned, and the television wallahs would be able to fill the schedules with similar guff. 

Cynical? How else do you explain the timing of a threepart series such as Hooligans: No One Likes Us (BBC2, Sunday), an undercover investigation into violent trends among the shaven-headed scum who attach themselves to the England team? 

The Beeb are not the only observers feigning outrage at football hooliganism: was there not an almost identical series from Channel 4 recently, when the evolution of thuggery in football grounds was also given a sociological going over? 

The BBC will argue that the public have a right to know about hooligan antics, because the behaviour, however iniquitous, is part of society's fabric. Fair enough, but they must surely know that the brain-dead minority who perpetrate such acts thrive on publicity. 

Apart from that, the whole subject of football hooliganism is a major bore. Enough is enough. 

Meanwhile, over at ITV, a different tack has been adopted in a bid to stir up jingoism before the World Cup kicks off. Devoid of the funds and imagination available to rival broadcasters, ITV - whose pursuit of the lowest common denominator makes their output largely unwatchable - have resorted to that hoary tabloid tactic: Kraut and Argie bashing. 

England's World Cup Showdowns is a three-part, Tuesday night series highlighting 

matches that, for one reason or another, were fuelled by controversy: England v Germany in the semi-finals of Italia 90, England v Argentina at the World Cup in France. 

One of the most distasteful by-products of international football is the foreigner-bating indulged in by cheap and nasty journalists, pandering to the pea-brains who cannot get old wars out of their head. Some Scots are guilty of the same preoccupations, but God save us from ITV's pundits when the Argies tackle Sven's boys next month. 

But then, out of the blue, emerged one of the most engaging World-Cup-themed programmes that this viewer, at least, had seen in a long time. The Game of Their Lives (BBC4, Monday) chronicled North Korea's unlikely feats at the 1966 tournament in England, and travelled to Asia to meet the surviving members of that engaging team, who famously dumped the mighty Italians out of the competition. 

For those of us who are still struggling to summon anything other than mild enthusiasm for the forthcoming finals, it was a reminder that some of the best moments of these events are the unpredictable ones. How pleasing it would be if, say, one of the Asian or African nations went all the way, toppling a few international egos in the process. 

North Korea's ageing footballers recalled their visit with affection, speaking frankly and with commendable humility about their exploits. It was moving stuff, and reminded us that football truly is a global game. 

It also reminded us that the corporation can still churn out quality stuff - BBC4, the digital channel, is crammed with thought-provoking material - when they are not caught up in ratings wars with rivals.