The Red Planet Blog

Finalé

Sunday 9 July

How was the final going to compare with the fabulous 3rd place play-off (well the party anyway)?  It was never going to.  There was a decent crowd at the Fan Mile tonight, but not nearly as much atmosphere as last night.  At the end of the game, everyone dispersed really quickly.  A bit of an anti-climax really. 

So, as far we are concerned the World Cup Final was yesterday - and Germany won.  Well deserved too.

A couple of quick mentions - here's Rachel from Paraguay.  We got chatting at the game and discovered that she's studying in Edinburgh.

Next, and this is really cool, meet Miranti Hirschmann.  Miranti, originally from Indonesia, is a journalist based in Germany.  I sat next to her on the train from Munich to Berlin on 5 July.  Bearing in mind that there was the best part of 1/2 million people watching the game tonight, what would be the chance of us meeting again?  Well, quite a good chance apparently, because after watching the game for 10 minutes, I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was Miranti!

Anyway, our World Cup adventure is at an end.  We've had an amazing time and we've met some really lovely people on our travels.  For our very last clip here, Keir and I blagged our way into the Media Centre to do it.  Keir (dressed in his kilt) was stopped going in, so he just had a major go at the security guard saying "just because I'm dressed like this don't you dare think I'm not working". The security guard guard was so take aback he let us in!

Auf weidersehen - we hope you've had as much fun reading our blog as we've had making it!

Stu & Keir

Play this file (9.2 Mb)

Lee on Sky Sports

Sat 8 July

In case you didn't see it on Sharpey's Blog, Lee was on Sky Sports this afternoon being interviewed about the contentious subject of players diving.  I filmed the interview, but the most amusing thing about the experience was seeing Sky Sports "studio".  It was basically a garden shed, built on top of a block of flats overlooking the Berlin Olympic Stadium.  It was impressive in a British "I built it myself" kind of way, but it looked like the kind of thing that my Dad would make, insisting that "it does the job..!".

Here's the video that's on Sharpey's blog, with a few behind-the-scenes shots of the studio added, exclusive to this blog.

Stu ;-)

Play this file (46.4 Mb)

That "Bud" mystery

This bothered me for a while. You now know about the long running joke about me collecting cups for the €1 deposit. Well, have a look at the cup.  What or who is Anheuser Busch Bud?  I thought that Budweiser was one of the World Cup sponsors?  So, who is this interloper?

Well I knew that Anheuser Busch was the parent company that owned the Budweiser beer brand, but why do the cups say "Anheuser Busch Bud"?  Even the scoreboard says "Anheuser Busch Bud".  The trackside hoardings just say "Bud".
Well, here's the reason. Both the Budějovický Budvar brewery of the Czech republic and Anheuser-Busch have trademarks for the name "Budweiser".  It's all very complicated and you can read about it here. The long and short is that in some European countries, Anheuser Busch can't use the name "Budweiser" - in France, it's called "Bud", in Hungary it's called "American Bud" and in Germany it's called "Anheuser Busch Bud".  What a mess, and the dispute continues.

Anheuser Busch have tried on several occassional to buy the Budweiser brand name from Budějovický Budvar, but the Czech Government have personally intervened, considering it a matter of national pride.

To further add to the battle, Budějovický Budvar have released Budvar beer in America as Czechvar, except in Anheuser's Home state of Missouri, where it can't be sold.

So there you go. Bit of a nightmare when you're a global company, huh?

Stu ;-)

3rd Place Play-off - Germany Parties

8 July

3rd Place Play-Off: Germany v Portugal

This should have been a meaningless game.  Who remembers who came second in any World Cup, never mind third?

However, it was Germany's World Cup.  They had been fabulous hosts, and anyone who came out here for the World Cup fell in love with Germany and the people who welcomed them. Germany had discovered a sense of pride long lost. They wanted to party, and they deserved it.

The game was being played in Stuttgart, so it was vitually impossible for us to go (7 hours each way anyone?).  Who cared anyway, we were in Berlin, the country's capital and with an estimated 1.2 million people expected to turn up at the Fan Mile in Berlin's Tiergarten, that was THE place to be for the World's biggest party.

Tonight was the highlight of the whole adventure, and frankly one of the highlights of my life.

I couldn't possibly do it  justice by attempting to describe the atmosphere, but it was an atmosphere of joy and pride.  Germany won the game yes, but it was more than that.  The number of Germans who came up to us crying was amazing.  I can only compare it to the death of Diana, in which a nation had a cathartic experience and used it get rid of a lifetime of sadness and grief.

It was a totally friendly atmosphere, and everyone was the best of pals that night.  We partied until around 4am.  I can't imagine it being anywhere near as friendly if it had been English fans, I'm sorry to say.
Keir's brother Scott came out to join us.  He and Keir caused quite a stir with their kilts and had countless photograph requests.  As we Scots do, we have a great ability to attract fellow Celts, and before long we were surrounded by a bevvy of Irish lassies and a piper who even inspired Lee to start singing "Flower of Scotland".

Enjoy the piper, and enjoy the moment when Lee realises that he could have won a few bob with his uncannily accurate prediction of the final score of the game.

Stu ;-)

Play this file (17.2Mb)

Play this file (7.8Mb)

Arrival in Berlin

Fri 7 July

We're in Berlin.  I love Berlin, I only wish we had some time to take in the sights of one of my favourite cities in the World.

I have two things to share for you today.  First is the cool picture of me, Keir and Lee.  It was taken at the Potsdamer Platz, just round the corner from Checkpoint Charlie where a small section of wall remains.  By the way, do you know why Checkpoint Charlie was so famous?  It's because it was the only place where non-Germans could cross from West to East (and vice versa). For those of you who haven't been in Berlin in the last 10-15 years, you won't know this part of town at all, as it was once no-man's land, split in half by the wall, and thus a deserted area of rubble.  While building was going on in the 1990's it was the largest construction site in Europe.  I was in Berlin for Mike Oldfield's Millenium Concert in 2000 and it was still only partly built then.

The next picture relates to to an earlier post in which I told you about the unofficial 'fans song' of the World Cup "54, 74, 90, 2006".  Well, as the German people now realise, they're not going to win the World Cup, so Coca Cola offer them some consolation with this enormous poster suspended on a building in Potsdamer Platz.
As it happens, Sportfreunde Stiller have released an updated version of their song, also entitled "54, 74, 90, 2010" for free download.

At least Germany have the third place play-off to look forward to - traditionally the most meaningless game in football...

Stu ;-)

France v Portugal - a reunion

Wed 5 July

After missing the Germany v Italy match, I was offered 4 tickets for the France v Portugal game in Munich as a consolation. It was a great game in theory - France were playing really well, and a likely contender to win the tournament (and who wouldn't want to watch Zidane in the flesh), plus who wouldn't want to see Portugal get a slap after their dirty, cheating behaviour against England.

Problem is, we're in Dortmund and the game is in Munich - that's a big journey (6 hours on ICE). Even worse, though, is that it's an even bigger journey the next day to get to Berlin (7 hours on ICE).

However, I have a friend, Caroline, from my Shepherd's Bush days (for those of you in the know - "the German girl"), who by sheer chance had just written to me that day telling of her change of address in Munich.  So it must be fate I thought, and I bought my train tickets and headed for Munich.

Actually, Munich was one of the places I'd really wanted to go anyway.  It's home to the Munich Allianz Arena (and home to FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München), and it's a quite spectacular structure that looks like an inflatable UFO has landed in the outskirts of Munich (nicknamed Schlauchboot or "inflatable boat" by the locals).  It's made even more space-age by being across the road from a giant wind turbine.

Like Berlin, the stadium is more oval than rectangular, so we again had a great view - this time of France beating Portugal 1:0 which delighted us - almost as much as it amused us of Ronaldo being booed every single time he touched the ball.

After the game I got Caroline and her pals (whose day she made by offering them free tickets) to do the after-match report, along with a couple of friends of Jeremys who lived in Munich and came to the game.

Great to see the game, even better to see a long-lost friend.

Stu ;-)

Play this file (12.3Mb)

Germany v Italy - a night at the FanFest

4 July

We were a ticket short for this game, so I volunteered to go to the Dortmund Westfalenhallen Fanfest, which is quite literally next door to Borussia Dortmund's Wesfalenstadion (imagine the proximity of Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena).

What an atmosphere - 30,000 people in 4 huge areas watching the game on big screens.  Sadly, Germany lost - by this stage we were cheering on Germany because they have been such wonderful hosts.

I bumped into 3 Scots lads, who by sheer chance had met Keir the day before (Scots have this great ability to home-in to other Scots).  They were Iain, Allan and Chubbs and we and a great laugh together at the game, even if Iain was feeling a bit rough after a major session the night before!

After the game, 65,000 people from the stadium, and 30,000 from the Westfalenhallen headed for the trains.  We'd sadly checked out of our hotel across the road (it had been pre-booked by FIFA officials) but I figured that the staff would still recognise us and let us in.  I was right!  Keir and I (in complete football garb) strolled into the hotel bar and hob-knobbed with the FIFA hierarchy for a couple of hours.

We also had a chat with our mate Vito who played the piano in the hotel reception.  He's Italian and frighteningly talented.  Below is a clip of him playing, recorded that night.

After a couple of beers there, we had to meet up with Lee and the gang in town.  We dreaded the thought of having to take the train, so we thought we'd try to blag a lift one more time from one of the official FIFA drivers (we'd been getting away with it all week).

Enter Festus, one of the FIFA Volunteers.  We had a chat with him (I think Keir bribed him with a Scotland badge) and he agreed to take us into town.  We had a good blether in the cab and told him the restaurant we were heading for.  When we arrived in town there was a police road block near the pedestrianised area we were heading for, Festus leaned out the car window and said "I have FIFA officials onboard" to a Polizei, and we were waved through.  "I've always wanted to do that", Festus laughed and dropped us off at the door of our restaurant, to the amazement of Lee and the gang.  You're a star Festus!

Stu ;-)

Play this file (29.9Mb)

The Robots are Coming!

2 July

One of the things I'd been looking forward to on this trip is going to the RoboWorld Cup!

We were fortunate that we were in Dortmund at the same time so we managed to make four shorts and get three of them on Lee's Yahoo Blog.  Here, though, is the 'trilogy in four parts' in full (the third being exclusive to this site).

Stu ;-)

ps  The British Robot Football Team is currently looking for sponsorship. Email Dr Paul Robinson from the University of Plymouth for details if you'd like to be part of this really exciting project.

Play this file (13.3Mb)

Play this file (18.7Mb)

Play this file (36.9Mb)

Play this file (8.9Mb)

We meet a legend!

1 July

I wrote about the England v Portugal game below, but something interesting happened when we left.

As we were waiting outside the Gesenkirchen Veltins Arena (home of FC Schalke 04), and we bumped into the famous England Supporters Band (sponsored by Pukka Pies!).

I quickly snapped off a few photos of them and let them go on their way as they were a bit down in the dumps, not surprisingly.

Anyway, I was later looking at the photos to delete the ones where people were blinking etc, when I noticed the bloke on the right.  It's the legendary Bernie Clifton!

Looking closer at the picture, it even appears that he has Oswald the Ostrich with him!  I can only speculate that he plays the trombone while riding an ostrich.  Boy do I wish I had a picture of that!

Stu ;-)

Germany v Argentina

30th June

At short notice, we were offered  tickets for the  Germany v Argentina game at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.  How could we resist?!  We were in Dortmund at the time, so a 6-hour return trip on the fabulous German ICE trains was necessary, but boy was it worth it.

Lee and Keir couldn't come, so I set off with Suzanne and Jeremy.  We had a spare ticket, so Jeremy called an old friend in Berlin, Jan, and made his year - "how would you like a ticket for the biggest game in the World Cup?"...

The 76,000 seat Berlin Olympiastadion itself is amazing and has an incredible history, being built for the 1936 Olympics.  It is positively Roman in it's look and is really imposing.  It's quite unlike any stadium we've seen on the trip - externally it looks like a cross between the Colosseum of Rome and the Circus Maximus.

Being oval, it affords a great view, pretty much from wherever you sit.  We were sitting near the cut-out section (which is in line with the Glockenturm). Here's the view we had.

We simply couldn't believe how much the German's dressed up for this game - in fact it became an ongoing theme throughout the tournament.  The German people really took the tournament to their hearts and we were quite overwhelmed by the number of people who would come to us in tears telling us that for the first time they were proud to be German.

The game went on to penalties, which Germany won.  The atmosphere was quite incredible.  We had an Argentinian couple sitting next to us, and I really felt for them.

As Lee wasn't with us, we asked Jan to do our post-match report.   Here is it is, as he touches on some of the points I mention above and I thought it worth sharing.

Stu ;-)

Play this file (18Mb)