Decisions, decisions

In case you haven’t heard Ukraine and Poland have been announced as hosts of Euro 2012 beating off rival bids from Italy and a joint venture from Croatia and Hungary. The decision was revealed today at Cardiff City Hall, which is right on my doorstep so it would have been rude of me not to show my face. Now I know the cynics will say it’s the nearest us Welsh will get to the tournament but we’ll see. I arrived to find a fairly modest crowd in attendance made up mostly by Poles and a few Italians dotted about. The verdict had just been given so you can imagine how the Polish were reacting. Flags waving, songs being sung along with general displays of joy. To them this is huge, it’s as big as the 2010 Olympics is to the British. I’ve got to admit I was very jealous of them. It was quite humbling for the Italians but it seems the events of the past year or so has caught up with them.

A gutted Marcello Lippi was one of the first to leave City Hall following the announcement. As he emerged from the main entrance the Poles burst into song, I don’t speak Polish but you could tell from the tone they were taunting him. The Italian contingent launched themselves onto the safety barriers trying to get his autograph. He stopped for a quick TV interview before making his way onto the Italian FA team bus without fully acknowledging the fans. Fair play though, despite obviously being hugely disappointed he then got off the coach and went over to the crowd to sign a few autographs. I thought that was a real class act thing to do under circumstances and given his status in World football you could see how much it meant to the fans. He got back on the bus and then it made its short journey to the Cardiff Hilton.

Various journalists from around Europe were interviewing members of the crowd. Some of the interviews I overheard were hilarious. As Italians don’t speak Polish and the Polish don’t speak Magyar and the Hungarians don’t speak Italian, all interviews were being conducted in English. Problem was their limited English was restricting the points they were trying to convey. One went like this:

Polish Interviewer: Are you upset?

Italian fan: Yes very.

Polish Interviewer: Did you cry?

Italian fan: No I did not.

Polish Interviewer: Did the ladies cry?

Italian fan: No they did not.

Fair play to them though for giving it a go. Could you imagine some British football journalists speaking a foreign language? Some of the ones Sky employ can hardly speak English and don’t get me started on Garth Crooks.

Next person I recognised was former Croatia and AC Milan midfielder Zvonimir Boban. Instead of waiting for transport he decided to jump past the safety barrier into the crowd and then make the short walk from the City Hall to the Cardiff Hilton. As you can imagine he was surrounded by fans eager for his signature, especially the Italians. For someone who once fly kicked a policeman on the football field he has the patience of a saint. He signed over ten autographs for just one clueless old bloke, the guy was saying to Boban “I don’t know what these are, my Grandson has told me to get them signed”. Boban was oblivious, just signing whatever was being put in front of him no questions asked. At one point he signed a picture of Zidane cut from a copy of Match magazine. He posed for photos and even gave mini interviews to fans with an old camcorder, he didn’t leave until he’d done everyone. In Croatia the man is a national hero, a living legend, so it was probably a walk in the park for him. A top bloke, I have a lot of respect for his efforts both on and off the pitch. It must have been so unbelievably hard for all concerned that part of the world during the late eighties/early nineties. If you don’t know about why he kicked the policeman read the entry on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinamo_Zagreb-Red_Star_Belgrade_riot

I love the quote he gave on why he did it. "Here I was, a public face prepared to risk his life, career, and everything that fame could have brought, all because of one ideal, one cause; the Croatian cause.” Powerful stuff.