Differences in other countries

[mattreddan]

Recently I watched my first game outside of the UK, which was Dinamo Zagreb vs some other Croatian team whos name I have forgot. Anyway I noticed a lot of differences between football in the UK and football there.. for example;

Rasicm and other issues: There was a lot of it, usually directed at the opposition fans. (Nazi saluting, etc) There was also a lot of weed-smoking going on, directly infront of the 'security' who also were smoking.

Security:
Didn't really seem to give a shit about anything.

Crowd: While they sang for 90 minutes straight, with a gap at half time, they didn't stop once. They sang some songs for 10+ minutes which became annoying after the first 20 times of hearing it. They seemed to be more interested in the chanting than the actual football itself. There was 1 bloke orchestrating it with a megaphone, when he spoke to give them the next chant, every set of eyes was focused on him. He didnt face the pitch even once from what I remember. Saying this they were very well organized, and had a ton of flags with them.

Price: It was 20 Croatian Kuna to get it, roughly just over 2 quid. This to watch a team which is probably the Croatian equivalent of Manchester Utd... and the standard of football was actually fairly good. Finished 2-0 to Zagreb.

Food: Popcorn at a football match was unusual for me.

1 thing I did notice, which is similar to the UK...the crowd so little in numbers. Watching MOTD recently I noticed most of the grounds had empty stands. Considering this is a club who is in the Champions League most years, the stadium was half empty and as cheap as it was, and the standard of football I was quite shocked.

Anyone had any similar experiences?

[StaceyH]

I remember watching a local league game between two village sides on the Greek mainland many years ago. The football wasn't great as you'd expect but the 500 or so crowd were very passionate, not much singing but lots of support.
What shocked me most was the Police presence, about 20 or so officers, whose only job was to escort the referee from the pitch at the end to protect him from the crowd - apparently at the time, attacks on the ref from both sets of fans were commonplace

[Formic]

It's an interesting debate. There is much talk about english fans being the most passionate, but I think often aggression is confused with passion. I went to a Danish League game back in August with only around 3000 fans in the stadium, but all the effort those fans put into supporting their team would put English teams with a similar fanbase to shame.

There is an issue with racism / nazism at football grounds in Eastern Europe, but I stopped going to England games because of the racism and Nazi salutes at games against Estonia and Croatia - but they were coming from the England fans.

I've been to games in many different Western European countries, from the Bernebau and Stade De France down to Dutch second division teams, and usually have found cheaper prices, better food and a crowd that seems to understand the rules of the game better than the average English crowd - but we certainly have better facilities as you go down the leagues than elsewhere.

[BartonRaz]

When I went to watch a couple of games in Scotland back in April I noticed some differences.

The support in Scotland is far more vociferous. Often last season in the South Stand i'd look round after we'd scored and i'd one of few on my feet celebrating, everyone was just politely applauding. People in Scotland act asif they have lost their minds.

The standard was pathetic. I went to watch East Stirling V Queens Park in the Scottish Third Division and UCL teams would give them a good game. The standout player Kevin Cawley was on loan from Ayr. It was an entertaining game and fun to watch (on a plastic pitch!) but the standard was woeful. I also went to see Hibs V Hearts and even that standard was rubbish. Our league one team would have been more than a match for both of those teams.

Two other things - it was also slightly cheaper than what you'd expect in England, and at the East Stirlin V Queens Park game I watched numerous blatant backpasses go unpunished.

[fentiger79]

Have been visiting many different European stadiums over the last 6-7 years. Watched various games at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Juventus, Dortmund, Shalke and Munich. Have tickets for Champions league group games at Dortmund and Ajax v Real Madrid to look forward to in December. I always enjoy games in the Bundesliga, such terrific atmosphere. 80,000 at Dortmund singing "you'll never walk alone" prior to kick off is quite an occasion. The thing that I was surprised at was the ability to get alcohol so easily at most grounds, even at your seat during the game. cant beat a cold beer watching football on a lovely summers evening. Also on the way into the San Siro in Milan there is an excellent bar with tables and chairs outside to sit down and relax. Considering there was approx 50,000 at the game if that had been in England it would have been 20 deep at the bar. I sat there on my own right up till 15 minutes before kick off! I couldn't get my head around that.

[diamond82]

Matt - You should watch a dvd called the Real Football Factories International with Danny Dyer (who else?!?) - In one of the episodes he goes to Dinamo Zagreb and i think he interviews the guy who was on the megaphone. He says almost exactly the same about watching Zagreb as you did though.

My only experience of watching a game abroad was when I went to see Real Mallorca v Sevilla a few seasons ago. No atmosphere whatsoever but you could have a beer in the stands

If we're counting Scotland as 'abroad' i've been to see Celtic home and away a few times. When they're at home the crowd are constantly on their back. They won but the crowd expect them to win every game outside of the Old Firm easily. It's not like that because teams play deep against them with 10 behind the ball.

There is talk between me and a few mates of doing a 'road trip' to go to a Bundesliga game this season as well! Probably an idea so stupid it just has to be done! I fancy going to see Dortmund but as it is meant to be quite industrial there I think we'll instead end up in Munich or Hamburg to make a better weekend of it.

[Formic]

When I went to watch a couple of games in Scotland back in April I noticed some differences.

The support in Scotland is far more vociferous. Often last season in the South Stand i'd look round after we'd scored and i'd one of few on my feet celebrating, everyone was just politely applauding. People in Scotland act asif they have lost their minds.

The standard was pathetic. I went to watch East Stirling V Queens Park in the Scottish Third Division and UCL teams would give them a good game. The standout player Kevin Cawley was on loan from Ayr. It was an entertaining game and fun to watch (on a plastic pitch!) but the standard was woeful. I also went to see Hibs V Hearts and even that standard was rubbish. Our league one team would have been more than a match for both of those teams.

Two other things - it was also slightly cheaper than what you'd expect in England, and at the East Stirlin V Queens Park game I watched numerous blatant backpasses go unpunished.

That's quite a coincidence, as I saw East Stirling v Alloa (a local derby) earlier this season, and it was a pretty dreadful game, but there were at least a few away fans meaning their was noise on two sides of the ground (including too much from vuvuzellas). As that was Scottish Third Division it was about the standard I expected (poor), but then saw Hearts v Aberdeen, and it was a really muted atmosphere (not helped as both teams were struggling), and agree it was a standard that looked League 1 at best.

I thought the 3G pitch at Ochilview was pretty decent, and it didn't seem to affect the game too much.

[BedfordDiamond2]

I've been to Feyenoord, Bordeaux and Rennes - Feyenoord just felt like being at a PL game but Bordeaux and Rennes were on a different level atmosphere-wise

[BartonRaz]

When I went to watch a couple of games in Scotland back in April I noticed some differences.

The support in Scotland is far more vociferous. Often last season in the South Stand i'd look round after we'd scored and i'd one of few on my feet celebrating, everyone was just politely applauding. People in Scotland act asif they have lost their minds.

The standard was pathetic. I went to watch East Stirling V Queens Park in the Scottish Third Division and UCL teams would give them a good game. The standout player Kevin Cawley was on loan from Ayr. It was an entertaining game and fun to watch (on a plastic pitch!) but the standard was woeful. I also went to see Hibs V Hearts and even that standard was rubbish. Our league one team would have been more than a match for both of those teams.

Two other things - it was also slightly cheaper than what you'd expect in England, and at the East Stirlin V Queens Park game I watched numerous blatant backpasses go unpunished.

That's quite a coincidence, as I saw East Stirling v Alloa (a local derby) earlier this season, and it was a pretty dreadful game, but there were at least a few away fans meaning their was noise on two sides of the ground (including too much from vuvuzellas). As that was Scottish Third Division it was about the standard I expected (poor), but then saw Hearts v Aberdeen, and it was a really muted atmosphere (not helped as both teams were struggling), and agree it was a standard that looked League 1 at best.

I thought the 3G pitch at Ochilview was pretty decent, and it didn't seem to affect the game too much.

Paul Hartley is the manager of Alloa isn't he?

I quite liked the plastic pitch. Certainly useful at that level in Scotland with the poor weather conditions in the winter months. When I went there was only one side of the ground open (seated stand running along the side of the pitch) and the Queens Park fans accounted for more than half of the attendance i'd guess.

Did you go in 'the wee room' before the game? It's their clubhouse/bar and is absolutely tiny. I spoke to the East Stirling chairman in their before the game, explained i'd come from Northampton etc, and he warned me what to expect.

[Formic]

When I went to watch a couple of games in Scotland back in April I noticed some differences.

The support in Scotland is far more vociferous. Often last season in the South Stand i'd look round after we'd scored and i'd one of few on my feet celebrating, everyone was just politely applauding. People in Scotland act asif they have lost their minds.

The standard was pathetic. I went to watch East Stirling V Queens Park in the Scottish Third Division and UCL teams would give them a good game. The standout player Kevin Cawley was on loan from Ayr. It was an entertaining game and fun to watch (on a plastic pitch!) but the standard was woeful. I also went to see Hibs V Hearts and even that standard was rubbish. Our league one team would have been more than a match for both of those teams.

Two other things - it was also slightly cheaper than what you'd expect in England, and at the East Stirlin V Queens Park game I watched numerous blatant backpasses go unpunished.

That's quite a coincidence, as I saw East Stirling v Alloa (a local derby) earlier this season, and it was a pretty dreadful game, but there were at least a few away fans meaning their was noise on two sides of the ground (including too much from vuvuzellas). As that was Scottish Third Division it was about the standard I expected (poor), but then saw Hearts v Aberdeen, and it was a really muted atmosphere (not helped as both teams were struggling), and agree it was a standard that looked League 1 at best.

I thought the 3G pitch at Ochilview was pretty decent, and it didn't seem to affect the game too much.

Paul Hartley is the manager of Alloa isn't he?

I quite liked the plastic pitch. Certainly useful at that level in Scotland with the poor weather conditions in the winter months. When I went there was only one side of the ground open (seated stand running along the side of the pitch) and the Queens Park fans accounted for more than half of the attendance i'd guess.

Did you go in 'the wee room' before the game? It's their clubhouse/bar and is absolutely tiny. I spoke to the East Stirling chairman in their before the game, explained i'd come from Northampton etc, and he warned me what to expect.

Yes, Paul Hartley was in charge of Alloa - I didn't know that before the game, and was surprised to see him when the teams were warming up. The terrace behind th goal was given to the Alloa fans - but I didn't see the clubhouse as I'd stopped off at the local ASDA on the walk from the station for supplies. Their was a funfair behind the dugouts which added to the odd atmosphere.