You could still get away with a bit of old-fashioned, moronic racism back in 1990. "I'll only get into trouble if his mother's back home watching the game sitting up a tree," blabbered enlightenment beacon Ron Atkinson (off-air) after calling a Cameroon player "absolutely brainless" while commentating on their match against England. Big-but-not-clever Ron ran out of luck 14 years later for a similar clueless outburst.
- Ireland gaffer Jack Charlton also sailed close to the racial wind when he was asked which of the Egyptian players had caught his eye. "I couldn't tell you – I don't know any of their names," he said. "There was the guy with the beard, the dark lad in midfield, the little dark lad who played centre midfield, the very coloured boy, and the boy who played up front." Stick that in your Panini album.
- At the opening ceremony, FIFA President Joao Havelange and the President of the Italia 90 Organising Committee both thought that the other official was meant to make the first speech. As a result, no oratory took place, saving everyone 20 minutes of tedium.
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