Italia!!! Italia!!! Italia!!!
A good solid start to the tournament for one of Team Weltmeisterschaft’s favourites. The stadium at Hannover was also very cool, generously dispensing great views from all around the bowl. The noise was intense with continual cheering, at no stage could you hear anything from the pitch itself. The coolest old gent from Italy was sitting just in front of me, turning up about ten minutes before kick off he leisurely made his way down the packed row and then on reaching his seat took a moment to wipe it down before assuming his imperious position. During play itself he then gave continual advice to the players on everything from who to pass to through how convincing he found their acting (sorry FIFA – simulation). One moment we all joined in was Pirlo’s masterful shot. For this we had the perfect angle for to be astounded as the ball ducked, weaved and somehow held its line to cushion into the right side netting.
So it turns out that all of FIFA’s efforts to stop scalping have worked out to pretty much nil. Right from getting off the train we were being offered tickets and as Grader was lacking, we were interested in making a purchase. When ordering the tickets we had had to enter so many personal details that were to be matched to the ticket; what we didn’t think of was just ordering as a company as one genius Brit had. Thumbing his nose even more by calling it something decidedly dodgy like International Ticket Holdings or something. So it was to my surprise that just on kick off I received a text from the G man that he had joined me inside having previously decided that the €150 equated to about six people to the reception. So I hope that you aren’t near the bottom of the list, though a couple of you might be saved as he got it for a hundred.
Getting there felt like just commuting inside the same city. The S-bahn station is just at the end of Tobias’ street which is two stops from the Hauptbahnhof (central station) and from there a simple seventy minute trip down the road. All extremely smooth and comfortable. We did get a taste of the dark underside of German efficiency on the way back when a Ghanaian guy who was sharing our booth and who didn’t have a ticket, he said he’d had his wallet stolen, raised the ire of the conductor who was visibly and audibly seething with frustration and impatience. Probably not the easiest trip for him though, a packed train full of people returning from a football match, 1am and probably more than a few trying to get away without a ticket.
I hope all of the cities are as well laid out for their games. The centre of town in Hannover was a nice ten minute walk from the fanfest and then from there about another fifteen to twenty to the stadium. It created a great atmosphere with everyone walking down the one road to get there with banter, songs and drumming flying back and forth. One of the more genius sights at the fanfest was the complete lack of customers at the Budweiser tent. Plenty of the good stuff was being poured at other booths but none of it officially sanctioned. I really don’t know why they bother, who would choose a Bud over even the cheapest, nastiest German offering. You’d have to look pretty hard for the latter as even widely criticised Astra, a local Hamburg beer, is not too bad.
So it turns out that all of FIFA’s efforts to stop scalping have worked out to pretty much nil. Right from getting off the train we were being offered tickets and as Grader was lacking, we were interested in making a purchase. When ordering the tickets we had had to enter so many personal details that were to be matched to the ticket; what we didn’t think of was just ordering as a company as one genius Brit had. Thumbing his nose even more by calling it something decidedly dodgy like International Ticket Holdings or something. So it was to my surprise that just on kick off I received a text from the G man that he had joined me inside having previously decided that the €150 equated to about six people to the reception. So I hope that you aren’t near the bottom of the list, though a couple of you might be saved as he got it for a hundred.
Getting there felt like just commuting inside the same city. The S-bahn station is just at the end of Tobias’ street which is two stops from the Hauptbahnhof (central station) and from there a simple seventy minute trip down the road. All extremely smooth and comfortable. We did get a taste of the dark underside of German efficiency on the way back when a Ghanaian guy who was sharing our booth and who didn’t have a ticket, he said he’d had his wallet stolen, raised the ire of the conductor who was visibly and audibly seething with frustration and impatience. Probably not the easiest trip for him though, a packed train full of people returning from a football match, 1am and probably more than a few trying to get away without a ticket.
I hope all of the cities are as well laid out for their games. The centre of town in Hannover was a nice ten minute walk from the fanfest and then from there about another fifteen to twenty to the stadium. It created a great atmosphere with everyone walking down the one road to get there with banter, songs and drumming flying back and forth. One of the more genius sights at the fanfest was the complete lack of customers at the Budweiser tent. Plenty of the good stuff was being poured at other booths but none of it officially sanctioned. I really don’t know why they bother, who would choose a Bud over even the cheapest, nastiest German offering. You’d have to look pretty hard for the latter as even widely criticised Astra, a local Hamburg beer, is not too bad.
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