Wisden 2007 editor Matthew Engel comes over all puritanical

I love Wisden.  The current editor, Matthew Engel, is one of the greats of British journalism; and not just sports, he has covered every major field of journalism is his time.  So it is not for me to question the opinion of such a great and esteemed member of the established media self-congratulation circle.  But I'm gonna do it anyway..

The Notes by the Editor, for those unfamiliar with it, is seven page pontification by the Wisden editor in which he waxes about the state of our beloved game.

Engel has excelled himself this year, and it is a truly great piece of sports writing:  among other things he calls for Fletcher's head, he bollocks the ECB for allowing the County game to fall into such a desperate state, and he has a go at Radio 4 for their shoddy treatment of Test Match Special.  But then he goes and spoils it all by saying something stupid like:

"And yet English cricket's two brightest stars, Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen, have had their bodies permanently daubed with massive tattoos advertising their patriotism. In the case of the nouveau anglais Pietersen, there is a natural tendency to think he protests too much. But that isn't the issue. Both seem rather keen on showing them off, thus encouraging their young admirers to get their own tattoos, perhaps depicting attachments that might prove more transient.

My generation grew up in the 1960s and is, famously, rather a tolerant one. But tattoos were decidedly uncool when I was young, associated with drunken sailors who endured a lifetime of regret. Medical removal is still by no means infallible. I think that if sporting heroes wish to indulge in this form of self-mutilation, they should have the decency not to advertise the fact."

Really Matthew, have you also sunk to the level of disapproving of "the young" and their ways?  If so, there is no place for it in an otherwise excellent piece of writing.  What will he tackle next year?  Ringtones? People who shout too loud in pubs?  Those baggy trousers that show half the wearer's undies?  [lee calvert]