Step by step

Euro 2012: it does exactly what it says on the tin

In the hours before kick off against Ukraine, the England fans, just like eight days before when we played France, congregated around the Golden Lion pub. The pub is situated in the city centre with a giant Lenin statue adjacent. What the Russian revolutionary would have made of it all is anyone’s guess.

The most intriguing aspect was certainly the few Ukrainians, some making their regular walk home from work that they may have been doing for a decade or more, daring not look in the direction of the English supporters for fear of reprisal.

Then there were others that would just come and watch, almost like children on their first day at the zoo. There are obvious comparisons but I will let you draw your own.

The atmosphere both in and outside the stadium was a good one, though the home support was less fervent once England scored.

And the away support? Well behaved, respecting the Ukrainian national anthem, which I know should be a given, but is often flouted at Wembley.

There is one thing to add that intrigues me about England fans: what is all this about ‘England til I tie’? As if an England fan is going to suddenly wake up tomorrow and discover he’s Icelandic.

Anyway, it is a pity that both host nations have exited the competition at the group stage. Talking of the group stage, this is now at an end and despite England’s best efforts, the tournament has yet to garner a goalless draw. Perhaps Italy are the ideal opponents for the Three Lions to break that record.

This tournament has rightly been heralded as one of the best for many a year. However, it might be a good idea to wait until it is over before bestowing such an honour as tournaments are generally defined by its knockout stages and there will be plenty of opportunities for Greece, England and Italy to yet turn this competition into a forgettable stinker.

Now it is back to Kiev for England’s quarter final but when and how have yet to be decided. It would be great to hold fire in Donetsk until Saturday night’s quarter final between France and Spain that is here at the Donbass Arena.

However, the Ukrainian transport network is doing its best to conspire against me. There is only one train to the capital on Sunday morning and that is fully booked. There are murmurings that many locals, call them touts if you will, have bought up all the tickets and trying to sell them off for a huge profit. If so, there is something that the authorities should do about this. This is extremely unlikely as they have slightly bigger fish to fry. Namely the £2.5 billion in state funds opposition leaders claim was illegally awarded for no-bid contracts for Euro 2012. Confused? Read more on this topic from the experts:

Talking of off the pitch misdemeanours: when is someone going to get a grip at UEFA? I know it has been mentioned aplenty but the moral outrage to the pitiful fines dished out for racism compared with the £80,000 fine for Nicolas Bendtner flashing his sponsored pants is fully justified.

Mixed fortunes

Support: The fans in full voice against France

Taking an elongated route through Istanbul, I thought I would not meet so many England fans en route to the Ukraine. How wrong I was.

They packed out the sports bar at the airport, as they watched Ireland get beaten by Croatia.

The flight was, to put it positively, boisterous. To put it negatively, though, some of the fans’ abuse of the flight attendants was shameful.

England fans tend to reach both extremes. Having photos taken with the police as they exchange pleasantries and gifts brings a smile to the face. Seeing fans shout sexual and racial abuse towards anyone who gets in their way undoes all the good work of the majority. 

After all the build up surrounding racial prejudice in the Ukraine, it came as a surprise to hear the first chants of this nature coming from an English contingent on the flight over from Istanbul.

Anyway, on the day of the game things were much calmer throughout the industrial town of Donetsk as most of the support decided to chill out in the shade provided by the huge tents in and around the fan zone.

The rest congregated at the Golden Lion pub where they mixed well with the French supporters who had braved the conditions to enter into the zone where they knew the England fans would hang out. ‘Where were you in World War II’ chants were shouted across the bar whilst the French riposte of ‘Ooh ah, Cantona’ bemused this observer.

As the crowd left the English pub the first sign of trouble reared its ugly head as half a dozen Russian fans (The Russian border is just 100 kilometres away), wearing CCCP t-shirts, charged through where the England fans were walking and attacked an equally small group of supporters, proceeding to kick and punch some whilst they struggled on the ground. The incident was over in a matter of minutes and no one, thankfully, appeared seriously injured but there was the disturbing sight of policemen stood watching as the events unfolded.

The stadium was conveniently located just fifteen minutes on foot from the town centre and once inside the Donbass arena the English contingent soon found their voice. It was great to hear their support of the new England manager with frequent chants of ‘Roy Hodgson’s barmy army’ but the chalk and cheese element returned with other songs about ten German bombers and ‘We’re going home in a coffin’, in reference to Sol Campbell’s comments.

The game passed by fairly peacefully. Of course there was a delirious response to England’s goal, before realism returned when Samir Nasri equalised for the French.

And this in itself paraphrased everything you need to know about English football fans. Delirium followed by realism. Optimism followed by pessimism. Good humoured followed by poor taste. Welcome to Euro 2012.