frbleus1-5, Exercise 2: Testing an anecdote

Model answer (check the details), using the "square posts" of Hampden Park 1976:

Evidence that supports it: photographs and film of the final showing the goalposts, reports that the shots hit the woodwork twice, and statements by the players and coach after the match.

Who told it and when: the phrase became popular in French in the years after the match, and most of the tellings come from journalists and writers looking back (check). The posts at Hampden were reported as square at the time in some accounts and not others, so the question is whether the story was reported on the night or added later.

What to want to see: contemporary match reports in L'Équipe and the Scottish press, the stadium's own record of the posts, photographs and film, and an independent account from someone present.

Conclusion: the posts were hit and the phrase is real, but the detail that the posts were square (and that this made the difference) should be treated as reported until it is checked against photographs and the stadium record.

Care: the same method applies to the borrowed shirts of 1978; check them against contemporary reports and the federation.