20 east

I wrote over there about the British tabloid, The Sun, hiring Polish journalists for their Polish language Euro 2008 edition.

I was thinking the Polish journos were in for a shock and might need to brush up their jingoistic headline skills.

How wrong could I be!

The photomontage in Super Express of Poland’s Dutch coach, Leo Beenhakker, clutching the bloodied heads of Michael Ballack and Joachim Löw provoked outrage in Germany and threatened to overshadow the match between the two group B teams on Sunday.

The picture ran alongside the caption: “Leo, Give us their heads,” arguing that Poland, which has never beaten Germany, had waited too long for a victory over its neighbour. The image followed another tabloid’s take on the rivalry, which showed Ballack wearing a Prussian helmet and recalled a 15th-century battle in which Teutonic knights were defeated by the Poles.

As if to prove just how cutting edge my keyboard is, you can read all about that “15th-century battle….” in this very blog! Mind you, I’m pretty sure they didn’t start wearing helmets like that until well after the 15th-century. Tabloids were never ones to let historical facts get in the way of a bit of sensationalism.

Looks like it is the Sun editors who are going to need help, not the Polish journos. I hope all this tabloid nonsense doesn’t turn out to be more fun than the football. We’ll find out soon enough I suppose.

My money’s on – Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany & Croatia (with a side bet on Russia and Turkey). I’d like to see Poland do well, same as I’d like to be a millionaire. How about you?

EDIT – and here is what the Polish Sun looks like. I notice the words – plotki, sensacje & kobiety – apparently it does have a Polish page 3 girl (yummy!). It’s going to cost 50 pensów, just over 2 zloty.