STAMPING GROUNDS follows the Liechtenstein national football team through
their defeat-strewn qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup.
Drawn in a group
with Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and mighty Spain, it was hard to see
the principality's part-time players scoring even one goal, never mind adding to
its meagre international points total.
So what motivates a nation of 30,000
people and eleven villages to keep plugging away despite the inevitability of
defeat? Travelling to all of Liechenstein's qualifying matches, Charlie Connelly
examines what motivates a team to take the field dressed proudly in the shirts
of Liechtenstein despite the knowledge that they are, with notably few
exceptions, in for a damn good hiding.
Sampling the delights of Liechtenstein's capital, Vaduz, such as the Postage
Stamp Museum, the State Art Museum and, er, the Postage Stamp Museum again,
Connelly provides an evocative and witty account of the land where every year on
National Day the sovereign invites the entire population into his garden for a
glass of wine.