Monday, July 10th, 2006
Time’s up!
So that’s it then for another four years. A final game and a final post. This is Battersea Park to Munich spliced together for you all. It still rather roughly edited and still needs voiceover — we’re working on it…
South Africa next time… Watch out!
Posted by Christian
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
Time to get up
So then, on with our imaginary chronology of The Ball. You may remember that it checked in to a hostel in Erfurt and fell asleep. Well, eventually, it awoke from its slumber and bounced on to check out the fervour of our German hosts as their team played Poland in the group stages.
The Ball bounces on
As with the England game in Nürnberg, I found my loyalties divided. As I said in that post, my mother’s from Germany, while my father was born in Poland. So which side should I support? Perhaps it was my English upbringing that made me inclined to support the underdog — in this case the Poles — but my desire to party with the crowd after the game strongly favoured the Germans. I decided to remain as neutral as I could.
My support was as finely balanced as The Ball
I was also nervous about being in the midst of such a large and emotionally charged crowd — especially since it seemed that a few neo-nazis had slipped in past security and were chanting slogans at the back of the hall. It’s impossible to blame the Stadtgarten for this: the security folks could only check the contents of people’s pockets or bags — not the prejudices in their heads.
It was a very important game for the Germans (for the Poles too of course), and the temperature in Erfurt’s Stadtgarten rose as the game progressed without a goal from either side. Thankfully, the event passed without incident, and the delight of the crowd as Germany found the net in the very last minute was a joy to behold.
Uproar at the Stadtgarten
With the Poles now out of the competition and the Germans now certain to progress, the crowd began to sing their hearts out, brimming with confidence that their team would go on to reach the final.
Wir fahren nach Berlin…
For the sake of the atmosphere in the host nation, I sincerely hope they do make it to the final. Who knows, perhaps they might even meet an invigorated England in that game at the Olympic Stadium? It would be the stuff of legends — and it’s almost too much to contemplate and too much to hope for.
Posted by Christian
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
Phil’s still cracking on at dawn
While The Ball sleeps on in Erfurt, there’s just time for a short interlude while Phil explains the secrets of German curtains… at the crack of dawn, just when he needs them most.
Posted by Christian
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
Okay, time for another “behind-the-scenes” look at the life of The Ball in Germany. Phil and I arrived in Erfurt from the Opening Ceremony in München to find that Andrew’s Spirit-of-Football project had run into horrendous sponsor problems and that most of what they had been planning had of necessity been cancelled. So, no beach football for them or us. Schade.
But all was not lost — Andrew recommended that we stay in the Opera Hostel, which, like the World Cup itself, had just opened. What a top recommendation that proved to be.
The Opera Crew
We were made to feel welcome beyond anything that we expected, and this little video is our homage to the wonderfully friendly Dixi, Sany and Jens. We wish you all the very best for the future. May the Opera thrive.
For those of you wondering why the video is in German — there are a couple of reasons. One is that The Ball necessarily speaks the local language (if not perfectly, then at least fluently) and the second is that we wanted to produce something for our hosts — not just you English-speaking lot. You want a translation? Then go and learn German! 
Posted by Christian
Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
Flags hanging in the Hauptmarkt in Nürnberg
Andrew, Phil and I headed to Nürnberg for the England v Trinidad and Tobago game to see what kind of atmosphere these two sets of fans brought to the city. Actually, that’s not quite true — Andrew had a ticket for the game — it was Phil and me who were the tourists at the football zoo. I’ve already written about the “Trinnies”, so I’m going to leave my observations about them to stand as they are.
This was going to be my first experience of England fans abroad, apart from the Quarter Final in Shizuoka, where it seemed the Japanese had wisely put the stadium as far from any inhabited area as possible. When I started writing this, I had no intention of adding to the literature detailing how xenophobic and insensitive England fans are. Nonetheless, it has still not been easy for me to write down my observations. This is why.
I’ve always had ambivalent feelings about supporting England despite it being my country of birth. At school I was bullied for having a German name. My mother was born in Hamburg, but as she’ll confirm, even her “German-ness” is questionable. Moreover, my father was Polish with American and Slovakian parents. The fact that my surname actually means something in German is accidental, but this didn’t prevent the bullies from calling an eight-year-old a “Nazi”. Why would it?
In the past, I used to fear any football match between England and Germany. I watched the Euro 96 encounter in a pub in Bristol, and, when Germany won, a few drunken lads piled outside and smashed the windows of a VW because it was a German car. They then went on to hospitalise a Russian guy who happened to be walking past because, well, you tell me why. Anyway, despite this dark history, I was prepared to give it another go and see if anything had changed — both in the England fans and in myself.
Posted by Christian
Monday, June 19th, 2006
Andrew, Phil and I went to Nürnberg to check out the city during the England v Trinidad and Tobago game and found a city of two halves
Trinibagan drummers strut their stuff
On the one hand the Trinibagans dancing, laughing, playing and inviting everyone else around them to do so too. Check out the video to see what I mean about the beauty of their music and the warmth of the crowd towards them, if not for Phil eating his sweetcorn! I could be wrong, but the drummers look curiously Indian — I wonder if the Brits moved populations of Indians to T’n'T the same way they did to Fiji.
You’ve got to hand it to them
Anyway, on the other hand we have the England fans… Ah yes, England fans. I was going to write about them here, but I’ll spare the wonderful Trinbagan fans and musicians that fate.
Posted by Christian
Monday, June 19th, 2006
Andrew kisses the badge
And then shows Phil that he prepares for the England v Trinidad and Tobago game in other more unusual ways.
Posted by Christian
Monday, June 19th, 2006
Phil just can’t tear himself away from the beautiful game…
UPDATE: thanks to the Phantom Fouler for pointing out that it’s almost impossible to make out the title of the book that Phil fell asleep reading. So here the spoiler — it’s Hunter Davies’ I Love Football…
Posted by Christian
Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Izzy plays the flute for England
It’s not so easy being on the road sometimes. I miss my partner Anna and her daughter Izzy — I can’t wait to see them again. In the meantime, this little video keeps me smiling. I haven’t forgotten about your flag either, Iz…
The shrub at the bottom of the garden
Before I left for Germany, I’d been thinking the shrub in the picture above might be better somewhere else in the garden. Anna sent me this picture of it flowering with bright blue flowers — as she had promised it would — so I’d look kindly on it when I return. Judging by the picture, I guess it’s fine where it is — for now! 
Posted by Christian
Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
Andrew Aris
We’ve settled in Erfurt in Thüringia to recover from the stresses of travel and video-blogging, and to meet up with Andrew, whom I met when I came over to Germany just before Christmas. He’s been organising a project here that’s also called Spirit of Football and contacted us when he found that we had the domain name. We immediately recognised our common attitude to the beautiful game — and so here we are to hang out and enjoy the football.
Stefan Beutel, Rot-Weiss Erfurt manager
Andrew invited Phil and me to his club, Rot-Weiss Erfurt, to have a kickabout, to meet the manager and have a chat about all things football. What we didn’t expect was that Stefan would also be a sharpshooter from the penalty spot.
I stand no chance
And, of course, if you kick The Ball, you have to sign it…
Stefan signs The Ball
Posted by Christian
Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
St Pauli — not PLC
In which we encounter the friendliest supporters we’ve met — as Trinidad and Tobago play a warm-up match against the unique St Pauli. Watch the video to find out why.
St Pauli’s in Hamburg, by the way
Some pictures for those of you who might be having trouble seeing the videos — perhaps your connection isn’t fast enough or perhaps you haven’t installed Quicktime yet. Either way, here you go:
One of our tickets to the game
We are warriors! The St Pauli crowd gets into the music
The St Pauli Sound supporters’ turntable mat
Radical through and through
But there’s a common cause — having fun
Courtesy of the St Pauli Sound Supporters
Find out more about the St Pauli Sound Supporters at their website…
Posted by Christian
Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
Blinded by the light
Posted by Phil
Monday, June 12th, 2006
Beto keeps it up
Outside the Opening Ceremony is the usual media circus — more camera crews and presenters than you can shake a football at. In the midst of this electronic feeding frenzy was one Adalberto Sanchez, world record holder for bouncing a football on his head. His record is two hours, if you’re thinking of emulating his feat.
One of the features of South and Central American supporters is that they often buy the shirt of the host country as a show of goodwill. Watch Beto as he puts his Deutschland shirt on whilst bouncing The Ball on his head!
Posted by Christian
Monday, June 12th, 2006
We arrive at the Opening Ceremony
The gathering has started.
The end of The Ball’s journey
For us, the journey has finished — at a particularly attractive wasteland outside the stadium in Munich — but for all the teams that take part, the journey has only just begun.
Let’s play football!
UPDATE: We’ve got promises to keep, so I’m adding to this post — sorry that it took so long for us to get this picture of you up on the site, Philipp. Here it is now:
Philipp — a little star
Posted by Christian
Thursday, June 8th, 2006
The things that divide us
We cross to the east at Point Alpha…
Christian at work
…and realise that east and west are just in our heads.
It’s the Opening Ceremony today. A time to make friends. Bring it on.
Verld Kupp!
Posted by Christian
Thursday, June 8th, 2006
Gymnasium Martino Katharineum
We go in search of the first game of football in Germany — reputed to have taken place in this grammar school in Braunschweig.
Posted by Christian
Wednesday, June 7th, 2006
As the World Cup approaches, bakers whip up football fever.
While Chris scoffs his ball…
I eat my goal
Check out England’s victory at the 2006 World Cup in the video accompaying this entry!
Posted by Phil
Wednesday, June 7th, 2006
A quick behind-the-scenes look at how we get this site together while we’re on the road. Believe me, it’s not easy.
Our office
The trouble with this blogging thing is that doing and publishing both require time, and we just don’t have enough to give to both. So we muddle our way through, aware that one of them will suffer.
I usually work in my sleep
So we grab what time we can to edit and write — in this case after dinner in a cafe, as you can see. Ah, this gonzo journalism lark… how much easier it would be if we’d decided to simply write about what we’re doing — video seems to take so much more effort to produce that text.
Right, I’ll stop complaining now.
Posted by Christian
Wednesday, June 7th, 2006
The Crack
Well, we did eventually manage to have a bit of a knock-about in Ieper, but not the full-scale game that we had hoped for. Instead, we found Glyn, Peter and Matthieu playing keepie-uppie in the field next to our campsite. As so often happens when it’s underway, The Ball quickly became a source of fascination and a little puzzlement. Once we’d explained what it was all about, Phil and I donned our KVK Ieper shirts and joined in the kickabout.
The Team
Posted by Phil
You are currently browsing the archives for the Video category.
