Enough of scandals, I say. Let’s take a “time-out” to have a look at the “beautiful game.” From my seat last night in the pub I could just see – over the tops of the heads of the drunks and wasters at the bar – the TV screen, which was showing the Poland Slovakia match. This was another glorious day for Polish soccer and although the canny Slovaks won 1 “nil” by tricking “our lads” into scoring an “own goal” you can only admire the plucky Poles. They played in the snow in a nearly empty stadium (one Slovak player ran back in to get his camera and take a snap). The fans boycotted the match as a mark of their disgust at the Polish football union. In the few bleary-eyed minutes of the match that I saw, the State Television cameraman skillfully kept the angle low so there was no sign of the empty terraces. The roar of the crowd seemed strangely undiminished, even though there were only about 4,000 people. Some of the lessons learned in a propaganda state or not easily unlearned. The snow, the football union says, kept them away.