FootyNotes will be at the greatest show on earth in 2010, live and unleashed. We will take you through the lighter side of life at the World Cup. In our countdown, relive our adventures at previous World Cups. Check out our Korea/Japan travels here.
THE ARGENTINIAN TIMMY MALLETT
Germany 2006 will be a challenge. Hostel prices have been jacked up 300% and to get around this vast country may require the use of a pretty expensive train network. My budget however is largely to get tickets for games, so campsites and beds like mortuary slabs are the order of the day. My first stop is Hamburg, where horn-tooting Ivorians are amusing the locals ahead of an exciting match against Argentina. I end up in a 15-bed dormitory hostel and pretty much all of us – except a very old oriental businessman - are following a benefits-reliant Argentinian-Swede, whose dressed like Timmy ‘Mallett’s Mallett’ Mallett at a Bob Marley concert , around Hamburg’s late night hot spots. He is searching for something called Bongo Disco and a Canadian among our party remarks that this experience was not in his, ahem, expectations for backpacking across Europe. Needless to say, Timmy falls asleep, I lose my camera and the Canadians remain non-plussed as day one of the 2006 World Cup sees Germany and Costa Rica exchange a lot of goals.
BREAKFAST A LA HERCULES
Bohemian Berlin is wrapped in patriotic fervour as I enter the city, having witnessed a fantastic game between Ivory Coast and Argentina. The main drag in the city, which hosts the main civic institutions as well as the Brandenburg Gate, is now a huge outdoor ‘fan park’, where thousands will gather, in particular to watch Germany try to win the World Cup. But this city, with its strong history of exhibitionism, hedonism and avant-garde art, is a touch suspicious. Some of the Germans I meet are a little concerned about the patriotism as this is a country by no means ‘at one’ with practices such as flag-waving and the like. For me, it is not too much fun living on the breadline. I have found myself in giant fan-tents which sleep around 20 supporters. Mercifully, there are just three other supporters in my tent. In fact, the camp is half empty, most fans have thought better of it. Having enjoyed a few minutes of sleep, I console myself with the thought of a free breakfast. Sadly, what I am greeted with is more like the sort of thing that falls from a Hercules jump jet rather than the culinary dreams of Gordon Ramsey. A rump of bread and a scribbling of what looks like butter ill have to keep me going, but the splendour of the Olympic stadium soon lifts my spirits. The stadiums are packed and almost every country seems to be well-represented. The Germans are putting on a show too: one fan park offers cuisine from every country playing in the World Cup. Togan football may not be great but I can report their curries are marvellous. My final night in Berlin is spent in bar which resemble something out of a David Lynch nightmare. Strangely-shaped people, twisting to odd, fragmented music. It’s good to know boho Berlin goes on amid football fever.
SOUTH KOREA FANS LOVE THEIR BED
Leipzig is a picturesque city in eastern Germany and thanks to the joys of a backpackers’ website I now have my own room. The arrangement is that I am supposed to stay on this guy’s couch but he has given me his room and treated me to a free cycle tour of the city. The World Cup is still in a good mood. By night, I watch France draw with South Korea. South Korean supporters, to use football parlance, do not get the credit they deserve. They sing with a loyalty and passion to rival Liverpool or Celtic fans. But, perhaps because their songs are not located in folklore or historical myth, they do not have the reputation of say the Dutch, Irish or Scots. It may also be because they all go straight home to bed after the game.
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