Ugly Scenes

Dear NTV,

Those photos that you published in the last issue (NTV 258) of Rogic celebrating and Dembele scoring are brilliant. Not so much for the photos themselves – good as they are – but the background!

Those Sevvies behind the goal remind me of one of those giant paintings by Pieter Breughel. The closer you look, the more weird looking characters you spot and the more back stories you discover.

Among my favourites is this group:

The bewilderment of the guy in the cap and all of his fantasy bubbles popping at the same is matched only by the incomprehension of the staunch-looking fellow in the middle, trying hard to see some alternative future in the far distance where his team isn’t mediocre but failing miserably.

The sadness in the sunken eyes of the bald chap in the foreground epitomises the helpless despair of a man beaten into submission by one Moussa Dembele goal too many.

If you want to compare this to an original to see what I mean then look no further than this detail from one of Breughel’s masterpieces featuring a group of grotesque looking Flemish peasants watching a travelling circus pass through their village. I believe the original title is “Wat doet de keeper met Tom?”