In April of last year there was a fire at the FC Groningen stadion, after an ill advised p.r. stunt went out of hand. All sorts of safety measures turned out not to work, though fortunately nobody died. To prevent a similar incident, the club held a major exercise yesterday, together with fire services, police and several hundred fans playing the role of hooligans. The idea was to simulate a riot in which a fire broke out and then to evacuate the stadion. Several fans however went slightly too far in their role and started throwing rocks, rather than tennis balls, at the police…
Football
I knew there was a reason I liked them
When I started following the Premier League seriously last year for no reason whatsoever I started cheering for Middlesbrough, who were promptly relegated to the Championship…. Turns out I was right to support them:
Middlesbrough footballers have given their backing to thousands of steelworkers whose jobs are under threat.
The players wore Save Our Steel T-shirts on Saturday as they warmed up before their home game against Ipswich Town in the Championship.
Workers were welcomed to the ground and invited to march round the pitch 15 minutes before kick-off at the Riverside ground and fellow fans clapped in support from the stands.
Up to 4,000 Teesside-based Corus employees and contractors face redundancy after a consortium pulled out of a 10-year deal to continue producing steel from its Redcar plant, effectively mothballing it.
Corus multiunion committee chairman Geoff Waterfield said how important the club’s support was to the workers.
“It is long recognised that the steel industry is the heart of our community. The foundations of Middlesbrough and Redcar are forged and built on the steel families of this region,” he said.
“Likewise, Middlesbrough Football Club is and has been part and parcel of our community for generations.
In this age of multi-billionaires buying up clubs like so many subuto sets, it’s good to see a club recognise its local roots.
Fuck
Fuck.
As per usual then. Though it doesn’t help when the referee gives one Russian a second yellow card only to withdraw it after his linesman convinces him the ball had gone outside the line, when it hadn’t. But on the whole Oranje played its usual overconfident, lazy game.
Fuck.
Un-fuckin-believable
It’s at times like these that I miss Steve Gilliard, as I would’ve given my eyeteeth to see what he would’ve made of the Turkey-Croatia match. His blog was the best place I found on the net to talk football during the Worldcup two years ago and the previous Eurocup four years ago, and I miss the cameraderie of it. This game would’ve been great fodder for Steve and his commenters, something we would’ve relished liveblogging and discussing.
Because, wow, what a weird game this was. First we get some seventyfive minutes of Turkey playing the defense game, content to let Croatia attack and play all their balls back to the keeper, then they finally decide they have to attack and the game gets lively, but still ends in a goalless draw. In extra time the Turks played much stronger, getting various chances to score, only to see the Croats lob one in after their keeper made a stupid mistake, one minute before time. Desperately they attack, but Croatia intercedes and counters, turn out to be offside and some ten seconds before the end of extra time the Turkish keeper takes the free kick, gets it to
a Turkish attacker, who hands it over to his mate who shoots and scores. Penalties. Croatia misses twice, Turkey doesn’t and their keeper stops the last Croatian chance to stay in the game and turns from villain into hero.
Turkey’s through to the semi-finals, Croatia is gutted and going home after believing they had done it one minute before the end of extra time. What a game.
Three for three
The last of the group matches for Oranje and the least exciting, as we’re already through and the “b-team” is starting. First half was a bit hesitant, got better by the end, but still goalless by halftime. By then the other game, much more interesting than this one but you have to stay loyal to your own team, had already decided the Romanians’ fate, as the French got a penalty against and Italy scored. Once Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Robin van Persie scored in the second half it was all over. Romania couldn’t come back and Oranje remained unbeaten, but what a pity Italy got to go through instead; the Romanians deserved it more.
Seeing the Oranje “b-team”, though hesitant and awkward at first, still grow as a team during the game and seeing how good some of those lesser players actually are, gives me great hope for the rest of the tournament. We’re not just dependent on one or two genius players this time. We even seem to have a decent defense for a change!