Footballing joy - or your money back

When 600 football fans made the 760-mile round trip across Germany last weekend to see their team, the magnificently named FC Energie Cottbus, humiliated 4-0 by FC Schalke, it was almost too much to bear. Their sixth defeat in seven games left the little club from the former East Germany on the verge of relegation and their loyal fans crying into their steins.

For once, though, it seemed that the players also shared their pain, and the following day the club announced that the team would refund the cost of the tickets for each of the poor souls who had the misfortune to sit through the match.



Apparently the players genuinely wanted to make amends for a performance that a club press release - headed "SORRY" - described as "pitiful". And, true to their word, the great payback began in earnest yesterday, with the reparations all coming from a pool paid into by the squad and being sent to the long-suffering fans.

But this kind of generosity is a dangerous thing. Indeed, if it were adopted more widely, the implications for football could be seismic. Imagine FC Energie's away support at the next game. There could be 10,000 there, maybe more, all travelling in the hope that the team will, in all likelihood, get thumped again.