Poland football coach says sorry for 'sick' Euro 2008 tabloid war | Football | The Guardian

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Polish tabloid publishes picture of Michael Ballack's severed head
Published 6/6/2008 by Ollie Irish at Who Ate All The Pies
... severed heads of Michael Ballack and German coach Joachim Low, along with a headline demanding the slaughter of Germany at Euro 2008: "Leo, give us their heads!" Beenhakker said it was "mad, dirty and sick" and apologised to Germany, on behalf of Poland's squad. "We want to say sorry to the German people," he said. Germany's tabloid Bild responded by claiming that Poland had declared war against Germany and calling it "disgusting". And you thought the British tabloids were bad. [ Guardian Unlimited ]

The Polish Tabloid Decapitation Scandal
Published 6/6/2008 by Brian at The Run of Play
... That said, was it really necessary for the Guardian to tart up its coverage of the controversy by making it seem as though Leo Beenhakker willingly participated in the photo? He didn’t, of course: it was a doctored image, manipulated without his knowledge by the Polish Super Express. But he apologized anyway, because he found the picture sickening. From here it seemed like a large gesture, which is why it’s so strange to see the Guardian reporting the story by using ambiguous language (Beenhakker “landed in hot water” over the ...

Those Polish Tabloid Pics. Too Far?
Published 6/7/2008 at The Footy Blog
... Those Polish Tabloid Pics. Too Far? Posted by Joe Ross on June 06, 2008 It turns out getting Mel Gibson as a guest sports editor may not have been the coup Poland's Super Express newspaper thought it was going to be. National team coach Leo Beenhakker has had to take it upon himself to apologize to the entire country of Germany after the tabloid creatively photoshopped the severed heads of Michael Ballack and Joachim Low into his hands, even though Don Leo obviously had nothing to do with it. ...