Not The Harlem Globetrotters

Watching France's inept performance against China in St.Etienne last night I couldn't help thinking back nearly forty years to the annual visit of the basketball legends the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters used to appear at the old Empire Pool, Wembley and stage a series of demonstration games where they usually whopped the asses (as young people would say) of some poor sods. Well last night France played for the first hour or so as if China had turned up just to be France's patsy's. Thuram, Vieira, Zidane and Makelele played as if they couldn't care less, and when they realised China weren't going to roll over and have their bellies stroked, the French struggled to put two passes together.

It was interesting listening to the reaction of the crowd who whistled, jeered and generally gave Les Bleu's a hard time. A couple of weeks ago Thierry Henry was complaining about French supporters booing the national side, well you know the answer to that one don't you?



A real Globetrotter - the one and only Meadowlark Lemon