RHIAN SOCCER
REPORTS
POSTCARD 2 - LETTERS FROM A CANADA FAN. vs
FRANCE
Monday 27th – 29th June 2011 [ France
in Bochum ]
We were up bright and early today – well at least early!
Reports on Canada’s game are positive. Our bags are packed and
after a final breakfast in Berlin, we are off to Hanover then
Bochum. We have been told that one day in Bochum, apparently
part of the steel producing region near Essen, will be enough.
Once more, we found our way to the central station the Hauptbahnhof,
and we even arrived early enough to make some ticketing
changes and bookings. Then, after consulting timetables and
charts, it was down to the platform. But, only for a while.
The platform had apparently been changed, and so with a crowd
of Germans, we scurried across to the newly announced
platform. But, not for long. Now we were told that we should
actually be at the original platform. Back we scurried. At
least we were with a large group! Now all that we were asked
to do was wait for an hour before our delayed departure. I am
reassessing my impressions of the German public transportation
and the rail system.
Once on the ICE train (Inter City Express) and under way, we
sped through the countryside, feeling that all was well – of
course, this was probably because the trains are made by
Bombardier. To be fair, the railway has also offered a 25%
discount off our next ticket as compensation for the train
being so late.
One country’s countryside looks much like another’s. Wind
turbines, green fields, farmhouses, cattle, wheat and
electrical pylons. Everything blurred as the speedometer shows
us the train hitting 300 km/hr. Time for a power nap.
Arrival in Hannover ( the locals use an extra “n” ) and we
wrestled our cases down the narrow aisles and onto the
platform to be hit by a gust of really warm air. It is 40
degrees Celsius today. We did not mess about. We just took a
cab to our hotel, The Dormero. It is a wonderful and
very smart boutique hotel in red glass and white plastic and
it has air conditioning.
We showered and then took to the streets. This is a beautiful
city. We found the Rathaus and had lunch there next to
a small lake, with wonderful gardens all around.
In the
chamber itself there are a fascinating series of scale models:
One shows the city as it is today. Another shows the city as
it was in the 15th century – a walled city.
Then comes the model of the more modern version in 1939.
Finally comes 1945 and only a few buildings left undamaged.
Most of the city was just pummelled into broken remains. The
Nazis have much to answer for.
In the evening we walked down to a bar in the old city then
meandered our way back to the hotel. Rhian called in from
Bochum. The Canada squad has a good hotel in Bochum near the
stadium. It is about 50 metres away. However, there is little
to do other than prepare for the game. Four teams, including
Canada and France are sharing the small –sized hotel, which is
not ideal.
Back at the Hanover hotel we hunkered down in our own digs and
did some research on where we intend to walk and how best to
discover the city.
Tuesday 28th June 2011 [Hanover]
We slept well and after a sumptuous breakfast in the dining
room we were on our tourist rambles by 9:45 am. The plan was
to follow the thin red line (specially painted for tourists)
on the sidewalk and follow along on the guide book. This
guaranteed that we would have a tour of the old medieval city,
one that included all the sights.
Hanover is obviously a very efficient city and the roadwork
and sidewalk crews were out in force, as they had probably
been for most of the summer. Large swathes of sidewalk had
been replaced, and with them the tenuous red line. So, we just
meandered wherever we felt like going and we were obviously on
the right track, as we repeatedly came across the thin red
line from time to time.
Hanover is a beautiful city, even if most of it had to be
rebuilt after the war. Some reconstruction work is in fact
still going on with several church facades being shorn up. The
city has suffered some attacks before. Some of the stonework
from the Reformation survived the bombing, but had earlier had
some heads of statues lopped off during the reformation. This
is a Lutheran city and monks were banished.
We had coffee sitting in a little square near what was once a
medieval fitness centre. Mind you, since then it had also
served as the city’s headquarters of the Hitler Jugend
movement.
There were beautiful lath and timber buildings everywhere and
narrow, leafy streets and squares.
We did do our part for the local economy by visiting a couple
of downtown stores with sales on. There are real bargains to
be had, judging by the crowds of German shoppers using their
elbows for access.
We did find some erotic pop-art statues of buxom women
cavorting in swimsuits, that apparently angered the city
fathers some years ago. Now they are local icons: The Nanas.
We ended our 10 km tourist trek with a stroll down the
boulevard next to the lake under a leafy canopy and then
collapsed into our room.
We watched the Equatorial Guinea team rattle Norway on TV and
the Norwegians only scored in the last minutes of the match.
All the matches in the Women’s World Cup so far have been
close run things! Tonight we plan a light dinner and a review
of our action plan for our move to Bochum tomorrow. Then we
shall watch Brazil play Australia and to bed.
Wednesday 29th June 2011
There is of course a strong Hanoverian connection to England.
The House of Hanover provided royalty to Great Britain and
Ireland at the end of the reign of the Stuarts in 1714. It
held that office until the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.
One of the Hanoverian kings – George 3rd turned
mad.
Of course, he was helped on his way by the intransigent
Americans who refused to pay taxes and had a Tea party. The
Americans revolted and the British lost a part of their
empire.
Thoughts inevitably turn again to the World Cup of soccer and
the big match for Canada against France in Bochum. This FIFA
Women’s World Cup is turning into an important event.
Interesting statistics are emerging. German TV reports that
for Canada’s match against Germany, over 18 million Germans
watched the game on television. This is one in four of the
population. !n fact, more men watched the women’s opening game
than watched the German men play Serbia in the opening round
of the Men’s World Cup. In 2015 Canada will have much to live
up to. The competition and sport really is coming of age.
We caught the train to Bochum without incident, but something
had to happen, or the trip would not be an adventure. We
stowed our baggage and took our (reserved) seats only for a
tall, bearded German man to insist that we had taken his
reserved seats. The Germans tend to be very direct and
aggressive in their approaches. I was pretty sure he was wrong
– Jill had already checked the papers and she tends to be good
at this sort of thing. However, he insisted on looming over us
until the conductor arrived. She did eventually turn up and
wasted no time in chasing him off to another car. I am not
sure that he was mumbling apologies as he left.
The rest of the train ride was uneventful and we arrived in
Bochum and climbed into a taxi. When we told the driver to
take us to the Park Inn, we climbed right back out again: We
could see the hotel across the street.
We checked in and walked 20 minutes to the Renaissance Inn
where Rhian and all the teams are staying. The hotel is
literally next to the stadium. Of course FIFA insists that the
team must travel by bus to the ground which (KK checked this)
took all of 2 minutes and 14 seconds and include police out
riders.
Rhian came down to see us and we collected our tickets and
chatted for a while until she had to leave for a technical
meeting. We walked home to the hotel and did a mini tour of
the city. Bochum is a not particularly attractive provincial
city. At lunch time we chose an Italian restaurant, the San
Marino, in the pedestrian mall. Of course, of all the
restaurants in Bochum, Raman and Shan were there just
finishing up their lunch.
For the match, we decided to walk to the stadium again and
miss the crush on the U bahn train. No problems. We flaunted
our complimentary tickets at the gate and while I was taken
aside for a search of my back pack, Jill was marched to the
director of security. Apparently, her camera was too
professional-looking, and the lens was too long, for her to
take into the stadium! It had to be checked in and could not
be used!
This was an omen and the start of a black evening. There was a
good crowd of over 16, 360 a majority of whom were cheering
for Canada. There was not much to cheer. Although Camada
started well, the team looked disjointed, flat and lacked any
rhythm. Rhian, Sophie, Diana all played well and were all over
the pitch, while Erin made some spectacular saves. Sincy
looked out of sorts – not surprising, especially as she was
hit in the face by the ball again and her “Phantom of the
Opera” mask cut her. Canada was 0- 1 down at the half and they
went on to lose 0 – 4. It was an embarrassing performance and
completely out of character.
Did none of us entertain what would happen if we lost to
France? Were we so overconfident? Perhaps we all were –
especially the players, as the goal against us seemed to
completely extinguish any spark.
We decided to leave the team alone and walked home rather
dispirited. We texted Rhian and then spoke to her the
following morning. She was gutted and not t all happy, but she
was buckling down to preparation for Nigeria. The Africans are
a strong side and have only lost narrowly to Germany and
France. Canada will have to be at their best to beat them, and
we have yet to see their best.
