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EUROPE February 27, 1999 VNN3187 Glen Hoddle Gets Srila Prabhupada's Books BY IRG - (EUROPE) ENGLAND, Feb 27 (VNN) — I don't know how aware the rest of the world is about the 'Glen Hoddle' incident here in the U.K. For a full week the media comprehensively covered this as their prime story. The Prime Minister Tony Blair got involved and the sports minister was often also referred to. The whole issue was even brought up in the Houses of Parliament by the opposition leader William Hague. The tabloids were in total uproar, English football could have hardly expected more publicity if they had have won the World Cup in France last year. At the centre of this unprecedented journalistic storm was the rather unassuming England Soccer Coach, Glen Hoddle. Most people outside of the U.K. have probably never even heard of him. Although he was certainly one of England's most gifted soccer players. What caused this maha-media-uproar were the aside comments which Glen made to a journalist from the London Times. Seemingly the journalist after conducting a soccer interview with Glen asked him about some reports he had heard concerning Glens personal beliefs. Unwittingly, Glen began to preach to him about his personal understanding of reincarnation, which the reporter misconstrued. Then without Glen's authorization the reporter splashed Glens comments on the front page of the Times, of course all the other newspapers then followed suit. Glen had explained that disabled people are such due to their karma, perhaps even from a previous lifetime. The tabloids ran front page pictures of disabled people with captions such as, "Was this person Attila the Hun? Or Adolf Hitler in his past life?" and numerous other such poignant captions. Due to the media hype disabled people were made to feel offended by Glen's words of truth. Such intense condemnation from a press preoccupied with the lower modes of nature, eventually forced Glen Hoddle to resign from his position as England Soccer Coach. However, he showed those with perception that he is a man of integrity for he never rejected his understanding of reincarnation, though he was being forced to do so. Rightly stating that he was not saying something new, since half the worlds population believed in reincarnation. In fact he told the press that reincarnation answers a lot of questions and makes a lot of sense. He was obviously deeply hurt by all the concocted allegations made against him. His supporters were pointing out that Glen has actually raised huge amounts of money for disabled charities, so how could he be misconstrued as being vindictive. As a sankirtan devotee who has distributed lots of Srila Prabhupada's books throughout the U.K. I find it very uplifting that such a high profile personality as Glen Hoddle is willing to stand his ground for a fragment of the absolute truth, even at the cost of his job, which he obviously relished with full vigor. It was in the aftermath of this melee that I thought to send him some words of support and of course one of Srila Prabhupada's books. I received his reply today which I thought to share with you all. Dear Madhusudana, First I would like to thank you for your letter of support - it was so uplifting to know people understand and see beyond the written word of the press. My time spent as England Manager was rewarding and a fantastic experience. No one can take away the immense pride I felt at qualifying and taking our players to the World Cup. The letters I have received prove that so many people form their own opinions despite the indoctrination of the tabloid media. My beliefs form the foundation of my approach to life and to have them misinterpreted is not only an insult to me but more importantly the disabled people it offended. Thank-you for taking the time to write. God Bless (signed) Glen Hoddle (see also news story at: Sportingnews) Comment on this Story This story URL: http://www.vnn.org/europe/EU9902/EU27-3187.html
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