Sunday, 26 August 2012
Monday, 20 August 2012
Friday, 3 August 2012
The Olympic Games
On Wednesday, my friend Will and I went to the Olympic football double header in Coventry. It was great. A new ground for me to tick off, two matches back to back, and four teams I hadn't seen before - what's not to like?
Olympic security - just put your bag inside another bag!
Will had his bag searched and then, just in case he wanted to smuggle some illicit firearms or CS gas into the ground, he had his backpack sealed inside a see-through binbag. As soon as we were through the turnstiles, these binbags could be removed and thrown in the recycling bin, though we did see some people who had got the wrong end of the stick and kept their belongings trussed up like this for the whole evening!
Will and me taking our seats.
The official crowd for the whole of the two games was given on the Tannoy as 28,652. Far more were at the first game though. After that finished, a lot of the Japanese support went home. I would guess that 25,000 watched the first game and maybe 17,000 watched the second game.
Japan 0 Honduras 0
Terrific atmosphere in the first game, but the football was fairly cagey and it ended goalless. Never mind; at least the crowd was enthusiastic.
Nippon! Nippon!
The very loud and very amusing Japanese supporters band, who did their best to whip the crowd up into some sort of fervour. They had quite an extensive repertoire!
Senegal 1 United Arab Emirates 1
The second game we saw had a more low-key atmosphere, but the football was much better, full of good attacking play and silky skills...and we saw some goals! Really enjoyed our Olympic experience.