Together at last
Team Weltmeisterschaft is together at last. Skinner and Downo had left the Hamburg brigade in limbo by chasing a false dream of getting Korea-Togo tickets. If any of you watched that game and saw the screaming hordes of frenzied asiatics you would realise the true futility of this. They were productive in making some friends while away, two apparently top rate British guys who we will hopefully be meeting up with again in München.
Before then however it’s time to leave Oriana in peace to study for her exams and take a temporary break from WM second round action and head to Kobenhavn and one of the original Zeelands. WM 2nd round action reminds me about Wednesday night when Germany played Poland. This is probably the biggest game in this group, lots of nice historical rivalry and even better not confined only to the football field, no need for details here hopefully you are all fully up to date on your history. This was the game when the German public really started to think that maybe they had a team that could do well in the competition. When Neuville scored with only a couple of minutes to go the 67,000 people in the fanfest went absolutely mental. One of the genius ironies of this game was that both of the German strikers were born in Poland, it seemed that neither wanted to score against their home country either. Germany had looked the better team throughout the game with Poland apparently forgetting that the object of the game is to score. Now they are out so doesn’t matter.
It is not surprising that this was the first time we’ve seen any untoward behaviour. The Polish fans were very aggressive in both appearance and attitude and despite the huge numerical disparity more than a few of them were obviously looking for fight. Pretty arrogant really, surrounded by people who hate you and standing there insulting them. And so it was no surprise that midway through the second half the packed crowd was forced apart by a phalanx of fully kitted out police who, after a brief show of defiance from the foolish Poles, proceeded to dish out a good old fashioned beat down and drag them out.
For this next story please refer to photo album. We think it must have been one of the Reeperbahn’s quality institutions who decided that they needed to cash in on the football mania. What better way to do this than to get one of your employees, some black, red and yellow paint a national flag and a photographer. Take all of the above to a guaranteed mass of people and bingo front page for your prospectus or maybe new signage out front.
After the game was over the Reeperbahn was unbelievable, hordes of people and innumerable cars with flags streaming behind and horns blaring slowly making their way down too. It had taken us quite a while to exit the fanfest as you might expect and so the street was already thronging, but even after a walk up and down including a kebab stop people were still pouring out of the gates at the same rate as when we exited.
So after that distraction shall we turn back to Kobenhavn. This Deutsche Bahn Weltmeister pass is turning out to be a most prudent investment. Only having to pay from the border makes it feel like a very cheap trip. In planning the trip I had always loved the idea of the four of us cruising around in the booths that you get with the table. And like so many things so far the reality was every bit as good as one could want, much laughter did ensue. A quote book has been started and while the title page does state that ‘what goes in the quote book stays in the quote book’ I think that some of the entries will be too good to lock away. Keep your eyes peeled.
For all of those who remember the good old days of SYC we discovered the source of one of the more peculiar group names. Turns out someone had been to Club 34 here and enjoyed it so much they wanted to keep the memory alive. Tim Chesney what were you doing down a street like that ;)
Both myself and Mr Michael Down have guide books that specifically state that at the City Public Hostel do not end up in the 75 person dorm. It seemed like good advice but on reaching the reception desk that the only beds they had left were in this room. No-one could be bothered walking anywhere else so we decided to try it for a night and see what happens. It’s a very weird thing walking through a door that says Beds 75-150 and into what is ostensibly a school hall. These people must be making a crap load of money ‘cos for the amount they charge there isn’t really much here, not even cubicles around the showers but that is an obstacle for another day and another report.
Before then however it’s time to leave Oriana in peace to study for her exams and take a temporary break from WM second round action and head to Kobenhavn and one of the original Zeelands. WM 2nd round action reminds me about Wednesday night when Germany played Poland. This is probably the biggest game in this group, lots of nice historical rivalry and even better not confined only to the football field, no need for details here hopefully you are all fully up to date on your history. This was the game when the German public really started to think that maybe they had a team that could do well in the competition. When Neuville scored with only a couple of minutes to go the 67,000 people in the fanfest went absolutely mental. One of the genius ironies of this game was that both of the German strikers were born in Poland, it seemed that neither wanted to score against their home country either. Germany had looked the better team throughout the game with Poland apparently forgetting that the object of the game is to score. Now they are out so doesn’t matter.
It is not surprising that this was the first time we’ve seen any untoward behaviour. The Polish fans were very aggressive in both appearance and attitude and despite the huge numerical disparity more than a few of them were obviously looking for fight. Pretty arrogant really, surrounded by people who hate you and standing there insulting them. And so it was no surprise that midway through the second half the packed crowd was forced apart by a phalanx of fully kitted out police who, after a brief show of defiance from the foolish Poles, proceeded to dish out a good old fashioned beat down and drag them out.
For this next story please refer to photo album. We think it must have been one of the Reeperbahn’s quality institutions who decided that they needed to cash in on the football mania. What better way to do this than to get one of your employees, some black, red and yellow paint a national flag and a photographer. Take all of the above to a guaranteed mass of people and bingo front page for your prospectus or maybe new signage out front.
After the game was over the Reeperbahn was unbelievable, hordes of people and innumerable cars with flags streaming behind and horns blaring slowly making their way down too. It had taken us quite a while to exit the fanfest as you might expect and so the street was already thronging, but even after a walk up and down including a kebab stop people were still pouring out of the gates at the same rate as when we exited.
So after that distraction shall we turn back to Kobenhavn. This Deutsche Bahn Weltmeister pass is turning out to be a most prudent investment. Only having to pay from the border makes it feel like a very cheap trip. In planning the trip I had always loved the idea of the four of us cruising around in the booths that you get with the table. And like so many things so far the reality was every bit as good as one could want, much laughter did ensue. A quote book has been started and while the title page does state that ‘what goes in the quote book stays in the quote book’ I think that some of the entries will be too good to lock away. Keep your eyes peeled.
For all of those who remember the good old days of SYC we discovered the source of one of the more peculiar group names. Turns out someone had been to Club 34 here and enjoyed it so much they wanted to keep the memory alive. Tim Chesney what were you doing down a street like that ;)
Both myself and Mr Michael Down have guide books that specifically state that at the City Public Hostel do not end up in the 75 person dorm. It seemed like good advice but on reaching the reception desk that the only beds they had left were in this room. No-one could be bothered walking anywhere else so we decided to try it for a night and see what happens. It’s a very weird thing walking through a door that says Beds 75-150 and into what is ostensibly a school hall. These people must be making a crap load of money ‘cos for the amount they charge there isn’t really much here, not even cubicles around the showers but that is an obstacle for another day and another report.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home