World Cup Fever!

June 9-July 9

For a month between June 9th and July 9th I left Freiburg. I lived instead in a monster that would rest peacefully in the mornings only to wake restlessly and writh, scream and shudder vigorously for two hour intervals at 3pm, 6pm and 9pm, and continue to be active into the night. The World Cup was in Germany, and nobody could escape the path of this rolling snowball (or perhaps, football).

Football jerseys (Trikots), flags and coloured socks (even special thongs!) were everywhere. Cafés became public viewing areas, in fact there was not a café, restaurant or pub in town not sporting the trademark World Cup big screens. In one local park lawns were replaced with tables and chairs, food and drink stands and one HUGE (10m by 15m) screen. People would trickle into the park in the hours before each game and flood out again afterwards to have a celebratory (or consolation) refreshment in town. Productivity plummeted as the German workforce tuned into the matches, and there was barely a conversation that didn't include the topic Klinsi, unfair refereeing, "where are you watching the game?" or bloody Italian divers!

Any time I wasn't spending with Timshel and Shelley (and even much that I was), or at Uni, was spent watching Germany beat Argentina, Australia draw with Croatia, the Côte D'Ivoire go down to the Netherlands or Italy diving. The Aussie games were of course the highlight and it was fantastic to pack out O'Kelly's Irish Pub with green and gold supporters for the games. I find it interesting how much more you're drawn to "patriotic" practices - wearing the flag or green and gold, shouting "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie", even singing "We're happy little vegemites" - when you're far from home.

Another highlight were the German games. After the victories (especially against Argentina), the streets in town filled up, car horns filled the air, roads were closed for the celebrating crowds and Freiburg seemed like a city of 500,000 instead of 200,000!

It was interesting that the day after the World Cup final, in the World Cup's host nation, there was not a German newspaper with Italy as the top headline. In every case the German "success" took priority.


I had many comments as an Australian who wore his nationality printed on a shirt:

After Australia-Japan
10 Minutes after the Australia-Japan game, in the German Literature Department office (and far from the nearest TV) from the secretary: "That was a great game, I was keeping up with it on the internet - Australia have surprised me" (not me)
Caravan Park stayer:
"You're from Australia? They are a very good team!"

After Australia-Brazil
Housemate:
"Shame about Brazil - Australia played very well"

After Australia-Croatia
Friend of friend, also housemate:
"That was crazy! Just CRAZY!"

After Australia-Italy
Random German on the street:
"Time to go home now!"