Too many gaffes
SIR: As an avid reader, I have always considered The Guardian newspaper as one of the best papers in the land, hence there are certain traits that one should not ordinarily associate with The Guardian news, like sloppy articles or editorial gaffes. It is in this wise that I wish to call your attention to a recent article in The Guardian of August 7, 2004 titled: "The Premiership is Here Again" by Olukayode Thomas. While his knowledge of football and enthusiasm for the resumption of the English Premiership is commendable, the article was replete with errors.
Many of the names of the Premiership players were so badly spelt that one wonders how much time the writer took to research the said article. For instance, the temperamental Frenchman and former Manchester United player, Eric Cantona, was rendered as Eric Cantana, and his compatriot and Arsenal's captain, Patrick Vieira was variously spelt as Patrick Vierira or Patrick Viera. Was Zola Giantrances referring to a soothsayer or to the Italian striker Gianfranco Zola And instead of Paolo Di Cario or Paolo Di Caniuo, I believe the player would appreciate the correct rendition: Paolo Di Canio. There is hardly any questioning of the people's impression of the French as lovers of things cerebral with their love for intellectual distinctions and contra-distinctions, and this could have influenced Thomas' rendition of Arsenal's French striker, Thierry Henry as Theory Henry, but was he questioning the moral integrity of the Dutch soccer legend, Ruud Gullit, when he referred to him as Ruua Guilty And arguably the most popular soccer player out of England, Real Madrid's David Beckham, had his name spelt as Berckam, while the latest pretender to his throne, Everton's Wayne Rooney is given us as Wayne Rodney.
If all these blunders and more are excused for let's say the seeming untenable reason of being foreign names, how does one begin to explain the fact that two Nigerian born players in the English Premiership, in the persons of Shola Ameobi and Ugo Ehiogu, could not have their names spelt correctly While we appreciate Olukayode Thomas' haste to make us news, that should not turn Ameobi's team, Newcastle into Newscastle.
I didn't mean to go hair-splitting and pin-picking, but too much respect for The Guardian would not allow me to let so much gaffes in one short article to simply slide, more so when such article are put on on the web for the world to read.
Chika Odinaka,
Lagos
