A Claret in Germany


A Claret in Germany

By TheLongside.co.uk
July 6 2006

With the World Cup coming to an end, for England at least, we thought we would share with you the experiences of messageboard poster theultimatewarrior's story of his time out in Germany.

A Claret in Germany
By theultimatewarrior

We arrived in Cologne on the Friday night prior to England's first game against Paraguay in Frankfurt. The hotel had a good mix of fans from different countries, but the majority of people in the hotel bar that night were English.

Saturday morning saw everybody up early as the excitement of the game built with every minute, the World Cup had kicked off the previous evening with both Germany and Ecuador winning… but the main event was today!

We caught the fast train from Cologne to Frankfurt Airport (approximately 45 minutes), and from the airport terminal we caught a train into the centre. This train was direct from Amsterdam and was packed with England fans, many of whom looked extremely rough following a heavy session in Holland.

Frankfurt train station was heaving with England fans, German police and a very large number of British Transport Police. We made our way from the station to the old square in Frankfurt, approximately a 15 minutes walk away. There were numerous bars en route that were selling cans, which was handy, and every single one was packed with England fans. We knew we'd reached the old town when we spotted 'The Sun' bus with their glamour girls posing on the top of the double-decker.

The atmosphere was buzzing around the square with England fans drinking, singing, kicking footballs around and not a policeman in sight, or the slightest hint of trouble (this will no doubt not please our press). The old square was just a minute’s walk from the River Meine, where Frankfurt's 'Fan Park' was.

Here was a selection of bars, merchandise stalls and even a ferris wheel. The most impressive feature of this area was large double sided screen, in the middle of the river, which was to show the game to the tens of thousands of England fans (sat on both sides of the river) who did not have tickets for the game.

Fortunately we had tickets and made our way up to the ground via the city’s very efficient underground system. The ground is next to the airport, out of the centre and on the edge of a very large forest. After going through the security checks (took around 20 minutes to get through) we came to the machine that read your ticket and gave you the red light if your ticket was a forgery, or a green light if it was OK.

A couple who were two places in front of me tried their tickets and only got a red light. After a couple of attempts they were frog-marched away by some stewards. I was in tatters at this point after buying my tickets through ‘unofficial’ means, and kept my eyes solely focused on my mate who was in the next queue but ahead of me, when his ticket gave a green light it was one of the BEST moments of relief in my life.


The ground itself was excellent, our seats were behind the goal England were defending in the first half, next to the Paraguay fans (no segregation and not a hint of trouble once again). The game itself was pretty dire but there is something special watching England in a foreign country, seeing the fans completely take over the relevant city and stadium.

The following day we were fortunate enough to get tickets for the Portugal and Angola game in Cologne. The ground there is similar to Frankfurt in the sense it is out of the centre and in a woodland area. Portugal had probably 15/20,000 fans inside the ground with Angola having around 3,000 supporting them (great effort I thought). However, the whole of the neutral area of the ground was firmly behind the African nation who were playing their first ever game in the World Cup.


The game started with what would have been the quickest goal ever in the World Cup had Pauletta taken his chance. Portugal scored a few minutes later, and with the Angola defence all over the place a record score looked a distinct possibility. Angola, to their credit, upped their game and their work rate alone could have seen them snatch a draw on another day (they did though manage a draw against Mexico in their next game).


After the game we went back to sample the seamingly never ending bars in the city centre. Cologne didn’t have a specific fan park area, but numerous big screens in the squares around the centre, with various concerts on, Ronan Keating was due to play there last week. One screen was next to the stunning cathedral that dominates the skyline and it was quite a surreal experience watching a game with the dome in the background.

After leaving Cologne our next stop was Berlin ahead of the Brazil v Croatia game. The ‘Fan Parks’ in Frankfurt and Cologne were impressive, but the one in Berlin was simply unbelievable. It stretched from the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column, approx a mile and a half away, with one big screen after another, numerous bars, entertainment, a beach had been shipped in.

We watched the USA v Czech Republic (yes everyone there was against the Americans) and then the Italy v Ghana game that evening, which I would guess saw the best part of a quarter of a million people on the street watching the game.


Brazil v Croatia at the Olympic Stadium, Berlin

Next door to the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag, where a 1/10th replica of the Olympic Stadium has been built. Inside was another big screen to watch all the games. The Olympic Stadium itself is on the west side of the city and only a couple of miles from the centre. The area has been well preserved since they had the Olympics back in the 1930’s.

The ground itself has been renovated inside, whilst the outside appears to be the original stone used to construct the stadium. You may notice on TV that the ground isn’t complete behind one goal. This is because Hitler’s tower, where he used to watch the games in safety from outside the stadium) is still there to overlook the ground!

The game itself saw Brazil win 1-0, although it will be best remember for the non-performance of former Golden Boy Ronaldo. We left Germany the following day and it was sad to leave. The atmosphere throughout each city/stadium was superb with football fans from all over the world interacting without the slightest hint of trouble.

If you get the chance to go to South Africa in four years you should take it as there is nothing quite like it in the sporting world.

Many thanks to theultimatewarrior for sharing his story with us.

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