Gascoigne puts his foot in his mouth again

PAUL GASCOIGNE opened his mouth on Sunday. Italian television viewers gasped, the media were scandalised, his club were angered, and the whole affair landed in Parliament. For his response to a question, straight into the camera, had been a loud and fruity belch.

Gazza, the star of Lazio football team, was unhappy at being dropped from the side for Sunday's match against Juventus which ended 1-1. Lazio players are refusing to talk to the press, with whom they are at odds.

Italians know Gazza sticks his tongue out at television cameras, has sworn at a TV team and pulled down the shorts of a fellow player in public. But his reply when asked how he felt about his exclusion proved too much.

'A man who does such things is considered a savage,' one sports commentator remarked. He 'has set a new record - for vulgarity' said the Rome daily Il Messaggero. 'The next move must be made by society which cannot permit such lapses of taste.'

On behalf of society, a neo-fascist member of parliament, Giulio Maceratini, tabled a question yesterday to the minister responsible for sport, Margherita Boniver, asking 'what measures she intends to take to protect Italian journalists' from such behaviour.

The episode 'demonstrates the level of upbringing and civic sense of a football champion who seems to be unaware of the most elementary rules of civilised conduct and sets an example that certainly cannot be recommended to the younger generation', he wrote.

Mr Maceratini, whose party has never been famous for Anglophilia, also wanted an 'evaluation' of 'this episode of courtesy from Albion'. He suggested Gascoigne be fined. Lazio yesterday decided to do just that, but did not say by how much.

Lazio want Gazza to stay, page 30