You’ve not made it as a city until a pop song has been written for you. New York. Paris. Amsterdam. Bangkok. Erm, Amarillo. This tradition exists among songwriters in other languages also. In German, the ballads are usually dedicated to the romance, excitement and hedonism of Berlin. It lends itself far better to poetry than, for example, Bremerhaven. But one unlikely German city has found itself subject of a modern smash-hit.
Rostock. The song Continue reading
It’s our birthday!
We’ve created a gallery of just some of the places we have been to through our Football Away Days over the past year where we have left our mark Continue reading
A wall of aggression. A barrier of taxpayers’ money. One single channel holding 2,000 fans in complete anarchy. Glassware continued to rain down indiscriminately. A middle-aged woman behind me shook with fear. Two men burst through the crowd, one supporting the other, blood rolling down his face. It wasn’t a fight because it wasn’t fair. Our travelling support suffered greatly; it was more than humiliation Continue reading
One of the hardest bunch of thugs we’ve come across. Check out our post ‘A Balkan Adventure‘ for the full story of our trip to Bulgaria to see CSKA Sofia play in the Balgarska Armia Stadium.
Ref blows for kick-off; still queuing. Become aware of the Liverpudlian accent in front of me. The lad finishes his phone conversation, so I ask the obvious Merseyside question;
“Red or Blue?”
Evertonians are in town for the following day’s Continue reading
This post is a part 2 to Club Comparison, England and Germany; an entry that was very popular. In that post, we tried to match DFB and FA clubs based loosely on their characters and identities. In this post, we take a look at some of the German clubs that simply stand out too much to be coupled with an English equivalent. Enjoy.
In 1904, a group of employees Continue reading
FBTG is travelling back in time to look at our maiden Balkan Adventure in Sofia, Bulgaria. Two of us were in town when CSKA Sofia played against Beroe, full name PFC Beroe Stara Zagora, at the Balgarska Armia Stadium.
All teams with the prefix “CSKA” or similar Continue reading
In his essay ‘The Sporting Spirit’ George Orwell famously wrote,
He was writing in the mid 20th century. Orwell claimed that ‘serious’ sport as he put it was always competitive, ruthless and extremely aggressive thanks to spectators venting their frustration and energy in attempts to help defeat opponents by means of intimidation and foul play. His observation was that the manner of victory was obsolete; maintaining prestige was the only imperative. Fans felt compelled to fight alongside the sportsman to improve chances of victory. An aggressive atmosphere was therefore a natural bi-product of competitive sport.
Orwell’s comparison of Sport to War is appropriate, but not complete in explanation. The simple Continue reading
From Boothferry To Germany 