Sports Letters: Song of the Canary

Sir, Congratulations to Joe Lovejoy for finding the space in his report of the Inter Milan v Norwich match to mention the superb support given by the Norwich fans in Milan and our 'impeccable' behaviour.

Football fans normally only merit a mention when they've misbehaved, resulting in a distorted picture of the prevalence of football violence. In all three of our European trips Norwich fans found as much cause for pride off the pitch as on it. I'm pleased to report that, in Arnhem, Munich and Milan the excellent behaviour of the visiting fans was reciprocated in full by the home fans. On each occasion, our hosts were outstandingly friendly towards us.

I've always subscribed to the rather idealistic view that football should be a way of making friends, not enemies, and that you shouldn't need to sacrifice partisanship to establish friendly relations with the supporters of your opponents. Norwich City's European adventure has proved that this can be the case.

Yours sincerely,

KEN MASON

Sheffield

12 Decmber