OCCUPIED COUNTRY

I Hear the Sound......

Well, there you go. My first - and last England game. Over the years I've attended many live football matches. Some of them have been quite "hairy" (eg Man City v Millwall 1999 and many Manchester derbies over the years), some of them have been frustrating (Man City v many 2nd division teams 1998-1999), some have been glorious (Newcastle v Man City May 1968) and some have been extremely funny (Man City v Arsenal 2000).

Last night was a first though.

I had, of course, heard of the particular following England seems to attract, but I had naively come to believe that the more Neanderthal supporter had, perhaps, finally got the message that they are not welcome. Sadly this is not the case. No sooner had we taken our seats last night when some Burberry-capped low-life stands up, arms outstretched to "encourage" his mates and sings at the top of his voice:

"I'd rather be a Paki than a Turk".

Later we were subjected to renditions of "No Surrender" and other shite from the racist twunks all around us.

Now I bet you're asking "did anyone stand up to them ?" Well yes, a few told them to shut up but it really was risking your wellbeing to do it.

A few of you may be asking "what about the stewards ?" Yes.......What about the stewards ?

As the national anthems were sung before the game (Leichtenstein's melody is exactly the same as England's incidentally so I had to endure it twice), we had been provided with white and red cards to hold up to form a huge St George's flag. As the game got underway and rapidly descended into sheer boredom, people started fashioning aeroplanes out of the cards and sending them winging down the stands to the edge of the pitch. Everyone was doing this, young, old and, *ahem*, middle-aged alike. It was pretty much the only entertainment any of us had.

Now this really upset the stewards. Apparently any one throwing one "could've had a child's eye out" and consequently they were threatening expulsion and the rest to anyone they caught doing it. Sod the racism - let's get these aeroplane-throwing scum out of the ground.

As we were leaving, I picked a plane up and sent it on its way whereupon I was addressed by a smug I've-got-a-special-earpiece-in-my-ear-and-a-fluorescent-coat man who, like all the other stewards had a fascination for "child's eyes". Next to him was a shaven-headed intimidating man-mountain who - I kid you not - glared at me with an utter contempt and hatred. His very being trembled as he waited for a chance to chop me in half or something. Very, very frightening.

Yes, I know the planes could have had child's, adults and God-knows who else's eyes out, but for crying out loud it's a bloody long shot isn't it ? I can't help but think it was just an excuse for some easy "aggro". I also can't help but think that should they ever attend an England match, they would be sat with their mates singing "No Surrender" and the rest.

All in all not a very pleasant experience and certainly nothing like any other football match I've ever attended.

Later as we boarded our pre-booked minibus, another gang of the Burberry and Stella brigade attempted to intimidate us into giving them lifts. "Yeah....of course climb in" we didn't say. This, once again resulted in the predictable threats and intimidation.

I was thinking of going to Portugal for the Euro 2004 Championship, but now I just hope for the good people of Portugal's sake, that we don't even qualify.