Unit 20 football fans killed in stadium crush

This theme is dealt with in a lot of sources. The following citation is to illustrate this:

“At least twenty people have been killed during a football match in Ivory Coast.

The crush happened at the start of Ivory Coast's world cup qualifying match with Malawi as tens of thousands of people tried to get into the stadium.

It seems many fans - some who had tickets but many without - were angry when the stadium gates were shut. Police tried to keep the crowds back with tear gas, but in the panic the supporters were crushed against a wall and struggled to escape to safety. The Ivorian Sports minister, Dagobert Banzio, says there seemed to be more people outside the stadium than in it.

Banzio: 'Some spectators who didn't have tickets tried to force their way in. Unfortunately they broke down one of the big gates and in the stampede people were crushed'.

Those people are now being dealt with in the city's hospitals. The government is promising an inquiry into what went wrong.

Africa is no stranger to these kinds of incidents, but this is one of the most serious for several years. The national football association had told those without tickets to stay away, but thousands ignored that message hoping to see Ivory Coast's Europe-based football stars. The big attraction was local hero Didier Drogba who missed the previous round of qualifiers due to injury. He scored two goals in the five-nil Ivorian victory, but that has now been overshadowed by what happened off the pitch”.

The complete version of this text is at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2009/03/090330_witn_ivory_page.shtml

Assignments:

1. Read, listen and translate the text paying special attention to professional terminology.

2. Key words and expressions:

   • stadium - a large enclosed area of land with seats around the sides, often used for sports events

   • tear gas- a special gas used by some police and armed forces to control crowds of people. It hurts the eyes and causes them to water, hence the name 'tear'

   • crushed- pushed together very tightly - here, so tightly that some of them died

   • struggled- tried to do something, but found it difficult or impossible

   • force their way in- use physical strength to gain entry

   • stampede- when many people or animals suddenly all move quickly and in an uncontrolled way

   • is no stranger to- has experienced this kind of event before

   • The big attraction- the main thing or person which people want to see

   • qualifiers - football matches played in order to get into the main competition (here, the World Cup)

   • overshadowed - to overshadow means to cause someone or something to seem less important or less happy.

3. Give definitions to the following:

stadium, victory, football star, ticket, national.

4. Answer the questions on the text:

   • How many people have been killed during a football match in Ivory Coast?

   • When did the crush happen?

   • What is Dagobert Banzio?

   • What happened to Didier Drogba?

5. Put questions to the underlined words.

6. Speak on this issue adding extra information from other sources

UNIT 21 A WAR OF WORDS

This theme is dealt with in a lot of sources. The following citation is to illustrate this:

“At a recent conference, Salman Rushdie attacked the former Pakistan cricket captain and politician, Imran Khan, whose political fortunes seem to have been turning in recent months.

Mr Khan had been invited to the conference, but declined to attend when he heard Mr Rushdie would be there too.

Salman Rushdie hasn't been out of the headlines in India much in the past few months. When the organisers of the Jaipur literary festival abandoned plans for him to speak because of fears that protests by Muslim groups might lead to violence, Mr Rushdie called the move a "black farce" that stifled free speech.

A few weeks earlier Imran Khan used his appearance at the literary festival in Calcutta to accuse Mr Rushdie of "inflicting pain on society" through his writing.

And in a similar vein Mr Khan declined to come to this weekend's conference in Delhi. Salman Rushdie's writing, he said, "had caused immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe".

Salman Rushdie said he doubted that Imran Khan had ever read The Satanic Verses.

Warming to his subject, Salman Rushdie pointed out what he believes to be a physical likeness between Imran Khan and Muammar Gaddafi. "If you were to make a film about Gaddafi's life, and you wanted a slightly better looking version," Mr Rushdie said, "you might cast Imran Khan."

It was this comparison several English-language papers in Pakistan picked up as a headline for their coverage of the Delhi event.

The Express Tribune also published the result of a poll: 76% of its readers, it said, agreed with Imran Khan's decision to pull out of his Delhi speaking engagement. There has been no official reaction to Salman Rushdie's comments either in India or in Pakistan.”

The complete version of this text is at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2012/03/120320_witn_war_of_words.shtml