POLITICS AND SPORTS The French stopped making crude make jokes about Romanians, before football matches, for fear of the European Union

Over the last 20 years, the football games between Romania and France have constantly led to scandals between the two sides, due to the constant stream of coarse ironies coming from the Hexagon supporters. The huge political debate caused by the expulsion of the gypsies caused the French to be more cautious with their ironies before the game of October 9th, which will be played on Stade de France. The changes in behavior become visible as soon as one views the official poster advertising the game. While until now, there would be obvious allusions to gypsies, this time the French opted for the highest sobriety, to discourage any allegations. Another interesting factor is the price of tickets to the game, which was raised in an attempt to weed out the undesirables. The cheapest ticket costs 20 Euros, which is 5 Euros more than the price of tickets to the rugby game between France and Australia, an athletic event which draws a lot of interest in France, and which will be played in the same arena, in November. The only event that is more expensive is the showing of "Aida", a grandiose event which brings together 500 artists. The French media has also avoided making any malicious comments so far, treading carefully around this matter.

A brief look at the history of what came before demonstrates that the current sobriety is totally unusual. The "media war" began in 1993, when during a game of the Cup Winners Cup, between Paris Saint Germain and Universitatea Craiova, Canal +, the TV station that broadcasted the game, repeatedly presented cartoons of the Romanian footballers, which depicted them as gypsies. One year later, during the World Championship of the US, the prestigious French agency posted the following headline: "Hagi and his gang of Romanians defeat Argentina and advance! The band led by Gheorghe Hagi knows how to play its tune. These fantastic gypsies could produce further surprises as well". This led to protests to which the French arrogantly replied that it had all been a figure of speech. At a preliminary game for the Euro 1996 championship held in Saint Etienne, the members of the Romanian team were called the "Gypsies from the Carpathians". One year later, Romanian supporters had one of their few attempts to strike back: "You call us gypsies? Look at your own team!"

A game in which Steaua was playing Paris Saint Germain was prefaced by the image of several chariots of nomads, another clear allusion. The friendly game held in 2002 between the national teams of the two countries, which was also played on Stade de France, caused another scandal. The organizers of the event created a poster in which the Romanians were represented by a gipsy violin player. These are just some examples of the bitter rivalry between the two sides. The security measures for next week"s game have been increased, precisely to avoid any unpleasant incidents.