Play up and play the game

Date: 10/10/1996

It was supposed to be a 'friendly' tournament, but allegations and counter-allegations that the rules were being bent by unscrupulous teams set on securing victory at all costs abounded.

The team from Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti's cabinet, 'Mario's Angels', reportedly behaved in less than angelic fashion in their game against Budget Commissioner Erkki Liikanen's team - wearing studs (strictly against the rules) and allegedly throwing an extra ball on to the pitch at a crucial moment in the match in a bid to confuse the opposition.

No truth, we are sure, in the rumours that the 'angels' offered to lend their support to a proposal soon to emerge from the Liikanen cabinet if their opponents turned a blind eye to their antics...

More than a few teams also appeared to ignore the rule, introduced after some fielded teams with virtually no cabinet members in them at all last year, that there must be at least three cabinet members per 6-player team on the pitch at any one time - the Commission's own variation on the famous European Court of Justice ruling in the Bosman case concerning UEFA's three-plus-two rule.

A black mark, too, for João de Deus Pinheiro's cabinet, the only one not to field a team for the event.