Posts made in July 26th, 2008

Immer Wieder Oesterreich!

Posted by vienna on Jul 26, 2008 in People and Places, This and That | 2 comments

I am not a big sports fan but surprisingly I did enjoy following the recent European Masters Football Tournament. It was not the game that lured me into watching almost all of the matches but it was the people who are passionate about football and their team.

I was amazed by how the people showed their support to their national teams –they painted their faces, hang their national flags (anywhere), wore patriotic shirts and funny national costumes, invented cheering songs and rhymes, paraded on the street, etc. I also remember seeing several mobile homes in the autobahn obviously being driven by sport enthusiasts from all around Europe driving to Austria (and Switzerland) to witness their teams play… not to mention the reported number of private jets landing in Vienna Airport causing major air traffic and several flight delays. And I don’t know how true this is but a friend of mine was in a train with some Italian football fans and they told her that they have quit their job (because their boss didn’t give them a longer leave of absence) just so they can follow the tournament. How crazy and extravagant!?! So really, Europeans are all out when it comes to giving support to their team.

I chose to root for Austria and my husband who is not a sports enthusiast himself was also influenced to root for his national team but when Austria was eliminated, he lost interest right away.

So anyway, after watching Austria’s first game (where they lost), I was (still) convinced that they’ve got a chance (to go up all the way to the semi final at least) and they’re not as bad as the Austrians themselves claim. The Austrian national team has the reputation of being one of the worst national teams in Europe and they only qualified to play in tournament because they were the host nation but they’re really not that bad. Their defense is excellent! If only they were also trained to score a goal (haha) and not just to stop the other team from making a goal… they would’ve made it. (I could go on and on about my opinions on the games but I am sure that you wouldn’t like to hear football analysis from someone who knows too little about football so… :-l

It was cool to be in Austria during the EM but it would have been cooler if the Austrian team won or if Austria won their match against Germany at least.