THERE has been much rejoicing of late in a little place called Spiesen-Elversberg over the football team’s sensational debut in Germany’s equivalent of the Premier League. They had the nerve to mark the occasion last weekend by defeating one of the big beasts of the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen.
Locals acclaimed it as a triumph for their village, a description which, at the risk of sounding pedantic, may be stretching a point given Spiesen-Elversbergh houses a population of 13,000. What cannot be disputed is that they earned the right to rub shoulders with the high and m...