Deep cracks appear along old fault line

Euro 2012 was supposed to bring east and west together, but boycotts and claims of racism threaten to overshadow the football.

Euro 2012 was supposed to be about changing attitudes. It was supposed to be about the west embracing the east, both sides getting to know one another a little better. It was supposed to be about the east proving it could host a major event; in Poland particularly the talk has all been of the years of resistance and opposition being over and this being a new nation that can create something of its own. Lech Walesa spoke of the need for mutual co-operation among the nations of Europe and of the tournament being an avenue for that.

Yet the first day broke not with fevered anticipation of Poland and Greece (not that that in truth, was ever likely), but with talk of racism and the boycott by western European politicians of games in Ukraine. In turn there is anger among Poles and Ukrainians about how they have been portrayed and rants from Ukrainian politicians about “Cold War politics”. If anything, the old suspicions are in danger of being confirmed.