The ongoing debate about racism is good...

but I think that it is fair to look back and see

how much progress has been made during, in historical terms, a relatively short time"

CHANGING TIMES
Following the incident at Hillsborough, we have been revising our Membership policy. Because Aaron Cawley was not serving a current ban, he was accepted as a Club Member. Henceforth, if anybody gets any form of ban, they will be excluded for life from Club Membership. He or she can still come to Elland Road but will not have the right to buy a Season Ticket or buy a ticket for an away game - for life! One f nal thought on Mr Cawley, according to the police i evidence given in court, he claimed to have drunk several cans of lager, three-quarters of a litre of vodka and drank 7-10 pints of cider just in one day. Yet he was described as a 21-year-old unemployed labourer. He didn't seem to be an asylum seeker or an illegal immigrant so what does he do for money? Or was this justan excuse? He seemed pretty ft on the telly. i Following the Serbian ordeal which our English Under-21s endured last week, it led me thinking once again about the fiasco of the so-called organisation behind FIFA and UEFA tournaments at both club and country level. The philosophy seems to be as follows: every national team can become a member of UEFA if European, and worldwide in the case of FIFA. Each country has equal status and voting rights. This means for example that the USA has one vote; the Bahamas FA has one vote. Nearer home Andorra has one vote. England has one vote. The international tournaments make huge profits and shared out lavishly ensuring loyalty to the institution hierarchy. However, the side-effects are considerable with the season being cluttered up with meaningless games such as the recent Andorra home game which was watched by just 218 people. Mind you, the whole place only has a population of some 38,000 people. A standingjoke in UEFA is that if you are trying to reach the knock-out stages of the European Nations Cup, then it could depend on how many goals are knocked in against San Marino who has a population of less than that of Andorra. Meanwhile, the clubs pay the wages and get no compensation ifthe players come back injured. Still, it's a nice cosy set-up and a lot of fat cats have a great lifestyle in Zurich and Geneva, home of FIFA and UEFA respectively. While on the subject of Europe, I see that the EEC has decided to intervene in the proposed expenditure to convert the Olympic Stadium in Stratford into a football stadium and allow West Ham in paying a subsidised rent. Now everyone has their own view on Europe (mine is get out now!) but haven't they got bet er things to do? In t any case, every time I drive from Monaco to the airport, I pass a beautiful new 35,000 stadium being built by the city council for Nice Football Club. In Italy most grounds are owned by the local council and have been for years. Having said all that, I don't know why we built the Olympic Stadium in the first place, we could have used Wembley Stadium and saved a billion pounds which could have been used to reduce the National Debt! A reminderthatthe Junior Members Christmas Party and Annual Carol Concert Tickets are now available from the Ticket Office Counter - call 08713341992. Tickets are free for both events but must be pre-booked. One ticket per Junior Member for Carol Concert, four tickets per Member. Juniors can also enter a competition to win the place on Santa's Sleigh at the Carol Concert. They have to draw a Leeds United Christmas picture, A4 size, and send it to Lucas Kop Cat, at Elland Road on or before Friday December 7 - something to do in the half-term holidays! A briefreminder that the next Lorimer's Bar is on November 12. Tickets available from the Ticket Ofice f Counter, orbycalling 087133^1992. The ongoing debate about racism is good because the issue is being raised and discussed, but I think that it is fair to look back and see how much progress has been made during, in historical terms, a relatively short time. When I was an eight year old the world was very different and mat ers that are now complained about or t deemed as not being politically correctwere common place