Day 10 England v Russia

Euro 2016 Day 2

I woke up early on Saturday morning and had a coffee and toast (with three delicious types of marmalade) with my host Sabrina. AirB&B is such a great way to travel when you're alone as you have the guarrantee (well high probability) of some local company to give you good advice and from whom you can learn something of the local place you're staying. You just don't get that in a hotel. It's difficult too, when you're in a group as you're going to be pre-occupied with chatting among yourselves.

After moving rooms (an American couple were coming to Sabrina's for the match too - and I agreed to swap to make it more comfortable for them) I followed Sabrina's instructions and headed off to the old port to try to achieve my next goals - to buy a traditional Frenchman's outfit. You know the sort of thing... the stripey hooped navy blue and white shirt and a beret.

I arrived to find a happy party scene of thousands of fans (mainly English, but many Russians too) drinking and singing and joking. It all looked lovely. It crossed my mind how long these fans had been drinking already and, with still another seven hours to go before the match, what state they might be in later. Not my problem though. I am being a sensible "Victor" in this tournament. So, I sought and found a shop Sabrina had promised me existed, one that sold the navy type stripey shirts I looked for. The two in the shop knew exactly what I wanted and it was just five minutes before I was kitted out. I wore the shirt straight away and, after apologising for the drunken behaviour of the England fans, left to find a bar to watch the first game of the day, Albania v Switzerland.

Feeling French!

Happy scenes around 2pm at the vieux port. A massive suspended mirror provides lots of selfie opportunities

Ultimate Selfie

There has been a lot of talk about who was to blame for the incidents that destroyed this lovely, happy, peaceful scene a few hours later. A couple of things seem clear to me. There were hundreds of England fans there, a few Russians, French and fans of other teams were milling about too. It was a happy scene. All the England fans seemed in a good mood and were laughing and joking and singing. I did not detect any hostility. So, it seems unlikely to me that these fans would have wanted to start a fight. However, it is also true that they were already getting drunk and this was just 2pm. I can only imagine what they'd have been like three or four hours later. Apparently the 150 or so Russian hooligans who attacked later were not drinking, deliberately, so they could fight better. They probably waited for the England fans to get so tanked up that they had a soft target. Although this is, to me, a really sinister development in football fans and you have to blame the Russian thugs (and probably their very authoritarian government) for the violence itself, I do not think the English were blameless. It's not a good idea get pissed out of your head when abroad at the best of times, add to that the scenario of the terrorist threat that France has been exposed to, the likely nervousness of police and the presence of known violent thugs from Russia, and you have a cocktail for disaster.

I avoided the ones packed with drunken English fans and soon found a quiet one with a mix of fans. I order a local beer and sea bass. It didn't take long to become aware of intelligent conversation going on at the table next to me and we soon were chatting about football. 

Switzerland, as predicted, scored first against Albania in what seemed a pretty dull encounter and the score stayed 1-0 at half time.

At this point I interviewed James (Arsenal fan who is a judge) for my 4th interview (... more on these later!) What a nice, intelligent chap he is. He was travelling with his son and they were sat with another lone traveller from Southampton.

As the match ended 1-0 (despite Albania being down to 10 men after a sending off) it was time to move quicky. I still had to find and buy a beret, get back to the apartment, get changed and then get out again to watch the Wales v Slovakia game close to the ground I was going to later.

Allez!

The hat shop I was recommended was a little hard to find but once in, I completed the purchase of their cheapest beret and decided to wear it (and a big smile) as ]I marched back to the apartment in about ten minutes. Sabrina obviously now knew I was mad, but was quite impressed with me and we took a few photos before I slipped into my Wales shirt with ("Hughes 35" on the back - more on that later!) with my England shirt in a back pack. 

C'mon Wales!

I caught the metro and was enjoying the journey until a bunch of drunken English lads jumped onto the carriage and started chanting their silly songs. They clearly think they are being clever and funny tauinting Islamic fundamentalists "ISIS, where are you?" but it really isn't very impressive. Worse is the nasty anti-IRA stuff. How long now is it since the Belfast peace agreements? The jingoistic World war heroics is similarly pathetic. I stood next to two English (women) fans and we exchanged eyes rolled glances at each other as this went on.

Then, to find a bar. By this time, Gareth Bale of Wales had already scored and I was getting increasingly panicked as they all seemed to be full but I did find an outside one where I could just peer over a glass screen to watch a tely. So I did see most of the game. Wales looked pretty good in the first half. Eventually enough non-football fans had left their tables to allow me to be next in line to get in. I notice a couple of fans sat at a table with a spare seat and they kindly let me join them. Five seconds after sitting down, however, the chair collapsed and I landed in an embarrassed heap on the floor. Apparently the previous person to sit in it, a big Russian, had a similar fate. Keith, an Aberdeen fan from Glasgow, and a massive Scottish patriot (better, Keith!?), kindly swapped seats with me as he was a lot thinner and he could prop the dodgy leg up against the screen. 

So, you can see that, the train incident aside, my experience to this point had been great. Lots of happy fans being very friendly to each other and loving every minute. Slovakia got what seemed a deserved equaliser after a lot of pressure before Wales got a late winner. What an incredible start for Wales.

So, onto England's opener and what drama was to unfold...

Come on England! Please, let's have some luck for a change!

England v Russia

There was bedlam outside the ground, by the roundabout at the end of the Avenue du Prado. Again, England fans were singing (and drinking, of course) happily when we heard a loud crack from down the street, that must have been a tear gas canister going off. O - oh! The Russians are coming! How many people across Europe have been haunted by such a thought in the past, and here I was thinking the same thing.

It seemed a long way off (maybe 400m) but I made my way into the crowd, away from direction of the sound and found myself in the middle of a bunch very happy and very drunk England fans who were singing their new song...

Don't take me home

Please don't take me home

I just don't want to go to work

I want to stay here

Drink all your beer...

I was trying to learn the words when suddenly a guy near shouted "watch yourselves" and then I heard a bottle smash. This must have been just a couple of minutes after the sound I'd heard earlier, so the Russian fans must have come running down the avenue pretty quickly. I put my hands over my head and immediately walked quickly away from the fracas. Tear gas again went off and it drifted over to us - it was very unpleasant.

There weren't any stewards or police to guide us into the ground but through random trial and error and gossip, the fans tried to get through a tiny gate. I was one of many that did, but a few meters later, again with no officials in sight, the first to go through were now heading back waving their arms indicating there was no way though. So, we had to get back out again, as the bedlam was still going on a couple of hundred meters away. We asked a heavily armed policeman what was going on and he suggested  that we should go all the way around the ground to a big gate on the far side where there were security checks. The England fans, many very drunk, and now openly angry started chanting insults at Marseille and the police. 

At one point it looked like it could get very ugly but, amazingly, everyone got in in time for the anthems.

I even had time to buy the official program for the tournament. 

As you walk into the stadium you are confronted its magnificence. What a view!

The scene was set with all the flags and players lined up. Time for the anthems. Now I have to admit that I love the Russian anthem - however odd it might sound for the son of a Lithuanian to say so. I think it has the most moving patriotic melody of all the nations, and so I was looking forward to hearing it. Disgracefully, the England fans booed all the way through so I didn't hear a note.

I asked the lad next to me "Why are you booing?" He grunted "I'm an England fan. I'll boo who I want". Then, of course, we had the sound of 50,000 fans doing their inimitable version of our (comparatively dreadful, in my opinion) "God Save The Queen" - repeated several times throughout the match.

Anyway, despite all the fear and anxiety and aggression, the match began as if nothing had happened and I quickly got into the zone.

England played pretty well, especially in the first half. They carved out chance after chance and prevented Russia from almost any. But as the game went into the second half, still without a goal, I became increasingly frustrated and convinced that this was going to be another false dawn for England.

The main worry before the tournament, our defence, were superb, but oddly, Harry Kane was quite anonymous up front.

Finally, a goal. Eric Dier scored a superb goal from a free kick to make it 1-0. Could this be it? Could England finally get what they deserve and win an opening game? Time ticked by...

Slutsky made a couple of substitutions, big men up front.

With about five minutes to go, the Russian fans started behaving oddly. Firstly a firework was let off that seemed to reach the top of the stand, then a guy lit two fire crackers and appeared to hold them one in each hand for several minutes without any intervention. Then there was a loud bang. Play continued.

With seconds to go, Russia scored with pretty much the last touch of the game to equalise. Damn! Denied again. Not deserved.

Whatever feeling of gut wrenching disappointment I had at that moment was compounded by what happened next. The barely visible barrier between the Russian and England fans at the end of the ground under me had been pulled away and suddenly I got a view of what these "fans" are like. They started laying into the England (and neutral) fans next to them. These were not also thugs but simply fans, some women and children. The section cleared pretty quickly but (I found out later) the exits were patrolled by Russians behind the goal forcing many fans to try to escape by climbing over a fence.

Fantastic stadium. Great atmosphere. Spoilt by Putin's Yobs

I am going to cut and paste the text I sent to the BBC after the match, just to save time, here...

Dear BBC

I have just returned safely from the game and was keen to read you report of what had happened as it wasn't entirely clear from within it.

My observations are as follows...

I went down to the Vieux Port in the early afternoon as my French host told that would be a good place to buy some traditional French clothing items I wanted. When I got there I was quite shocked at the number of England fans there and how much they seemed to be drinking even by 3pm.

Much of the chanting was of course typical self-deprecating good humour like the song praying for England not going home early. But much of it, it has to be said, was ugly jingoism.

I didn't see any Russian fans causing trouble at this time. I successfully did my shopping and found a quiet bar to watch the Albania v Switzerland game before going back to my B & B to change into my Wales shirt for their match. I watched that closer to the ground deliberately so that I could go onto the Velodrome directly afterwards.

We walked ten minutes towards the city side entrance when trouble erupted. I just heard a guy saying "watch yourself" as the sound of smashing bottles started. The feeling was that the England fans were being rushed by Russian fans but I cannot confirm that as I immediately tried to get away from the mayhem.

As we approached the ground we were expecting to be greeted with security people checking for tickets but instead there was just a small gate through which a group of at least 500 fans tried to get through. There was some panic but it was mostly orderly. Once inside there were no staff advising us what to do. But those that got in first were now heading back saying that we can't get into the ground that way.

By this time more fans were trying to get in as others were trying to get out. In the confusion someone asked a police man in riot gear what was going on and he said he advised to go round the ground.

Incredibly this is what thousands of fans did. At one point it looked like it could get nasty as many England fans started to sing hostile chants about Marseille and the situation.  Amazingly all the fans managed to pass through this gate and security and get into the ground in time for the anthems.

The other ugly incident I witnessed was after the flares were lit in the Russian end if the ground. There seemed to be a lot of mayhem behind the goal and it quickly erupted into fighting which I have to say looked very one side. I saw Russian fans attacking people sat adjacent to them who quickly fled. When I saw this I and many England fans exited the ground.

Inside the ground England fans seemed to outnumber Russians by at least 10:1 but outside after the match the ratio was somewhat reversed indicating a fear from most of the England fans.

I cannot comment on the violence at the Vieux Port except to say the England fans had been drinking for hours.

But the violence at and around the ground seemed to me to be the result of Russian yobs, not English ones.

On the positives, it was still a great experience. The stadium is fantastic and there was a great atmosphere in the ground for all but the ugly stuff at the end.

I have two main observations to make, neither of them complimentary to football fans. I feel terrible doing this as I am tarred by the same brush. 

Firstly, England fans drink too much. Now I like a beer, very much so, but from what I saw, thousands and thousands of England fans were drinking non stop all day. This wouldn't be so bad if they were in isolated groups of 3 or 4. But put them into mobs of thousands and quite a strange kind of primitive group mentality seems to emerge that is very ugly. Suddenly in a big group it becomes "OK" to sing the most xenophic chants. Talk to an England fan on his (it's always a man) own and he may well be capable of appearing reasonable but put him in a large group and get him tanked up and it's a toxic mix.

Secondly, some of the Russian fans are very scary indeed. They make Millwall fans look like girl guides. I must admit I didn't hang around long enough to see them in action outside the ground but apparently a compact gang marched towards the England fans who were drinking (what else?) outside the stadium. All hell broke loose and bottles were flying and, according to one woman who was in a panic, knives were being used. The way they turned on the group of neutral fans next to them at the end was scary indeed.

Aljice

Marseille