What has to be done to make fans happy during big football tournament? It's a really tricky question to answer. If we only focus on national sides fans it's a bit easier. The most important thing for them are results of the team they follow. It makes great atmosphere and force other people who don't follow football on everyday basis to be part of the great tournament. Fans that participate in this sort of competition are completely different than those who watch league football. They're a bit like armchair supporters who expect comfortable conditions to watch live football. They want to get something to drink and eat while watching games and when the game is finished they want to get home without any obstacles on their way. Easy access to public transport plays big part in the way they perceive football and its organization. Ultras - the sort of supporters who get more involved in what's going on on the football terraces don't care about the things I mentioned above. Only thing they want is to be louder than opposite fans. Sometimes they use flares which are banned across Europe. To get to the conclusion everything at the stadium is up to supporters because they make an atmosphere. All the rest is done by men in the suits who are responsible for all the game preparations.
I had an occasion to attend 3 last Euro Championship tournaments and have to admit that many times things didn't go right way for hosts. It is understandable that you can't predict everything but when something bad happens you have to show proper attitude and willingness to fix it to avoid making supporters being averse to you. Let's stop flannelling and it's time to give an example of the situation that happened to me in Austria in 2008. On that year I watched last group stage game in Klagenfurt between Poland and Croatia. The fixture was like many others but I was a bit surprised that Austrian authorities decided to arrange this match out there. What I dislike about it was the lack of airport in Klagrnfurt and necessity of travelling there from the nearest airport in Graz that was about 130 km away from the football venue. The stadium wasn't impressive with the capacity of 30 000 seats, the demand for the tickets was much bigger especially when the Croatian border was near by. Funny story was that local authorities in Klagenfurt disassembled about 15 000 seats after Euros to meet expectation of local football club which doesn't have many supporters, on average FC Karnten had 5000 fans at the peak of the football season. I went there by car and had difficulties in finding space at the car park. It was really strange because there was a lot of space around stadium but instead of car park I found there fields of corn. Maybe growing produce is much more profitable in this part of Austria than making money on football. What was good about Austria's tournament was big number of volunteers who spoke English and were very helpful.
I had an occasion to attend 3 last Euro Championship tournaments and have to admit that many times things didn't go right way for hosts. It is understandable that you can't predict everything but when something bad happens you have to show proper attitude and willingness to fix it to avoid making supporters being averse to you. Let's stop flannelling and it's time to give an example of the situation that happened to me in Austria in 2008. On that year I watched last group stage game in Klagenfurt between Poland and Croatia. The fixture was like many others but I was a bit surprised that Austrian authorities decided to arrange this match out there. What I dislike about it was the lack of airport in Klagrnfurt and necessity of travelling there from the nearest airport in Graz that was about 130 km away from the football venue. The stadium wasn't impressive with the capacity of 30 000 seats, the demand for the tickets was much bigger especially when the Croatian border was near by. Funny story was that local authorities in Klagenfurt disassembled about 15 000 seats after Euros to meet expectation of local football club which doesn't have many supporters, on average FC Karnten had 5000 fans at the peak of the football season. I went there by car and had difficulties in finding space at the car park. It was really strange because there was a lot of space around stadium but instead of car park I found there fields of corn. Maybe growing produce is much more profitable in this part of Austria than making money on football. What was good about Austria's tournament was big number of volunteers who spoke English and were very helpful.
Euro 2012 took part in my Poland so I was extremely happy and excited. It was really massive effort for the country to prepare that big competition. We had to build 4 new stadiums, many roads and motorways and other facilities like bus and train stations because Poland was at the time far behind if it comes to infrastructure. Many investments that had to be done 4 years ago are still awaiting to be done but nobody expected miracles. Our biggest competitors for hosting Euros were Italians who had a lot of self-confidence before announcing host of the Euro 2012. They were saying at he time that they had everything to carry out the tournament. To their minds the only thing they had to do was to print out the tickets and dispatch them across Europe. How mistaken they were when Michel Platini revealed results of the ballot. I don't want to criticize Italians too much but their stadiums in 2012 looked really bad. Most of them were constructed for World Cup - Italia 90 so they couldn't make good impression on UEFA committee. I think Poland did really good job and was well-prepared for hosting hundred of thousands fans from different countries. After hosting European competition we got Volleyball World Cup in 2015 and Handball Euro Championship in 2016 so I presume we were reaping the harvest of Euro 2012 that had positive feedback worldwide. People coming to Poland had an opportunity to communicate with volunteers in their languages because all the bigger fan zones had a lot of employees who spoke a few languages. It was so much to do before the kick-off in each Polish host-cities, we had mini-concerts or street artists shows.
France in 2016 had so many problems with strikes, terrorism and nationalism on the rise amongst French citizens so hosting Euro tournament was really difficult challenge for them. People in France are reluctant to
learn foreign languages to say the least but I don't have to mention about this because everyone knows that. I can't moan about public transport including trains and buses because I always got on time where I wanted. Our safety was secured by police forces in great numbers and many security employees who were almost everywhere. I stop for a second to describe the difference between Polish and French stadium security. Most of Polish security employees are bruisers who never negotiate with you. They just tell you what to do and you have to obey otherwise they won't be nice to you. Any discussions can be cut off with tear gas or other tools of force. What I disliked the most about France was terrible mess on the streets caused by strikes of people responsible for cleaning streets. If you stay a bit longer in this kind of environment you really don't want to go for sightseeing. What France lacked? I didn't have an impression that Frenchmen lived and breathed football during Euro 2016. Moreover I felt that Euro was one of many festivals hosted by France so it was really nothing special form them. They wanted to get as much money as possible from you and then say goodbye to you charging you 7 euros for 0,5% beer at the stadiums for instance. Hosts did very little for fans who arrived earlier at the stadium. It was really boring a few hours before the kick-off. They could have done what I mentioned above when describing Euro in Poland. They could have carried out things like some mini-concerts, street artist shows or some fun activities for kids. Catering was bad like beer at the stadium especially burgers, maybe even worse than cleanlinesses of French streets.
Apart from all these shortcomings I assess Euro in France positively if it comes to organization but I still think that tournament in Poland was more spectacular. It's difficult for me to evaluate Euro in Austria because I spent there only 3 days. What makes Euro tournament really memorable competition is a large number of happy fans who build up the atmosphere. They know how to organize themselves and make local people to join the football party. We can forget about problems of our lives and focus on celebrating football festival. Of course I have to assess Euro 2012 as the best tournament I have seen so far but don't blame me because Poland is the country of my origin. It's a bit sentimental but feedback we got after Euro 2012 made me believe that that tournament was really successful.
I also have an impression that Euro in Poland was some sort of milestone for building up the trust for Poland abroad if it comes to hosting big political events (NATO summit 21016) and others.
I also have an impression that Euro in Poland was some sort of milestone for building up the trust for Poland abroad if it comes to hosting big political events (NATO summit 21016) and others.
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