ABSTRACT
'They're crazy these Romans!' Such is the exasperated cry of France's best-known cartoon character Asterix the Gaul, when confronted with the strange, uncivilised and, quite simply, un-Gallic behaviour of the Roman invaders of his country. Asterix first appeared in 1959 in issue number 1 of the weekly magazine Pilote before starring in his own albums, published by From 1967 he has been the principal character in numerous full-Dargaud length, animated films and, in 1989, a theme park devoted to his adventures was opened at Plailly. The social and cultural significance of Asterix and of his bemused attitude to foreigners is great in France, as Larousse indicates: 'The adventures of this little Gallic warrior ... put on full view the French national stereotype.' 1 Bemusement and exasperation, tinged with pity and fascination, when faced with the uncivilised comportment of the significant foreign Other (who has the misfortune of not being French) may, indeed, be felt to be part of this stereotype. 2 It will be interesting in the present chapter, then, to explore the ways in which football writing in Le Monde and Liberation, representatives of the 'quality' daily press, constructs the identities of two of France's closest and most important foreign neighbours, England and Germany, neighbours with whom she has had, to say the least, somewhat problematic diplomatic and political relationships.
