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From Chelsea To Israel
Tense times at the upper end of the British Premiership. Manchester United and Chelsea are vying for the title, while both clubs will be playing in the final of the Champions League in Moscow later in the month, the first time two UK sides have appeared together in Europe's top club event.
The Israeli manager of Chelsea FC Avram Grant knows that while (as Bill Shankly famously said) football is more than a matter of life and death, there are greater concerns.
Grant wrote a moving letter to readers of Israeli newspaper Maariv on his visit to Auschwitz concentration camp. He led his team onto the pitch before the crucial Champion's League semi-final wearing a black armband to mark the date: The eve of Holocaust Day. The following morning, he set off for the camp.
His letter, reproduced here in the Daily Mail, is a moving record of his family's journey from Europe, to the camps, then to Israel. As a boy, Grant was horrified by his father's screams as he was haunted by memories of the carnage.
It's definitely worth reading. Nice to see someone in the British football world has a sense of perspective.
