The Olympic Games came to Newcastle on Thursday and was there for Mexico playing South Korea and the Gabon playing Switzerland. I left the ground at half time in the second game in order to return home in time to watch England play at Old Trafford.
I had an early meal of three veggie sausages and a beef burger with the remains of beans and tinned tomatoes with one of the small cans of fizzing drink before leaving the house at noon with a view to arriving at the stadium around one and ninety minutes before the commencement the first game at 14.30. I had no idea of how empty the 52000 stadium would be but there were others going on the Metro train and in the city centre there were small groups of Mexicans in their national costumes of sombreros, moustaches and blankets, attire which I suspected they would not wear at home. I assumed the Mexicans would outnumber those coming from South Korea. I also speculated on how entry would be made into the stadium compared to normal match days
What happened is that roads surrounding the stadium at the Gallowagate end and the East stand were closed off which isolated the Strawberry pub. Before reaching the ground I came across a number of Newcastle Ambassadors, with a couple at the Metro station handing out information to commuters and shoppers on the number of games being played and the availability of tickets. There were others to assist visitors from other countries and other parts of the UK to the city. At the Monument a screen had been erected with deckchairs to enable shoppers take time off to watch events live. Around the perimeter to the ground in addition to the police there was security officers dressed in black separate from the stewards inside the ground.
There was a huge queue for tickets with a report of thousand people still in line when they game commenced and with the promise of a better approach before the next series of two games on Sunday when Japan plays Morocco and Spain Honduras. There was no queue to get in one of the turnstiles into the East stand where my seat was very close to where I had a season tickets for about five years, having previously had one in the North East corner for over a decade although there was a been move to the North West corner during further ground development. I had one year’s experience in one of the seats in the main stand with an attached lounge; about twice the cost of the standard season and which gave you the privilege of a smoked filled bar before and after each game.
It looked as if there was a policy to pack as many people as possible into East stand so the camera would give the overall impression of more people than there were although I had a seat free to one side. There was no one behind until just before the second match and more about that later. It was said that approximately 15000 attended the first game with I suspect less than half this for the start of the second game and even less after half time given the hundreds who like me left at half time.
In the stadium the supporters for the two countries appeared to be closer in number than anticipated with a good contingent of perhaps 100 from the Republic of Korea behind the Gallowgate goal as well as elsewhere in the stadium including one young man sitting in the row in front of me besides a Mexican couple in their forties, could have been older. The Korean Team, as their supporters, were organised and I wondered how many of the supporters were members of the forces rewarded for their conduct and loyalty or perhaps students studying at GB universities?. They contrasted with the Mexicans who appeared determined to have a good time with their wave being introduced from time to time and a drum which beat incessantly throughout most of the game.
In terms of the game the Koreans dominated most of the game but although they could not take the many chances which came their way. There was little to cheer for the Mexicans fans although they had perhaps the better chances albeit few. The game was 0.0. At half time and at its end. It was not great football but great theatre despite the two thirds empty stadium. Later I learned many had come but left because of the length of queue as kick off approached. I read reports that there would be an attempt to improve the situation for the next double game on Sunday.
Because of the early meal I was hungry and went for the food concessions optimistically. The food concession had been given to one company who provided pies beef, pies chicken curry and pies cheese at £3.60. Chips were advertised but I did not see any sold. There were small tins of Pringles for £1.50 with colds drinks £2.60 and coffee from on one outlet on the East side for £2.20. No receipts given and only cash. I invested in Chicken Balti pie as the couple of beef left were burnt and there was no cheese, a can of Pringles and a coffee cost a total of £7.30, the most expensive snack ever. However needs must. I will adopt a different approach on Sunday.
Although most of the Mexicans and it appeared all the Republic of South Korea supporters left before the start of the second game, the actual football was better between a professional Swiss team and an enthusiastic but not well organised Gabon. The Swiss scored early on and looked as if it was going to be a one sided rout. The Gabon was enthusiastic and adventuresome when the rare opportunities arose to mount an attack on their opponents but they were reward with a goal before interval which delighted the home supporters who took to the underdogs. This ended 1.1 as I discovered on returning home.
I must mention Josh, India, Jasmine and Angelina who sat behind with their parents and who clearly had not been taken to a football match before, competed for the attention of their father whose idea I suspect the decision to take the youngsters to the game because it was the Olympics and who were clearly bored and wanting to be themselves. For the greater part of the game I was knocked as the children passed by and my seat was kicked. Also the young couple so after tolerating this for greater part of the half I turned to the young person involved and asked her not to do it, something which her parents should have done. I am mentioning this because her father then asked her to apologise to me whereas she was just being a child and any apology should have come from him or his wife who appeared to separate herself from her children and made no comment about their behaviour. The father threatened to take one back to the car but this was obviously the kind of threat he had made in the past with little effect on the miscreant although as I say given the age of the children, the miscreants were the parents.
I had a good journey back to South Shields making my way up the hill tired but having enjoyed the experience and looking forward to first game of British men although the team comprises English and Welshmen only with Scotland and Ireland unwilling to participate.
The problem with this team is that unlike the British female squad they have only played one competitive game together and the rules restrict the number of senior players in the squad to three with David Bellamy and Ryan Giggs selected in order to bring in the maximum of Welsh performers and excluding David Beckham who has done much to bring the Olympics to London and had grown up in the East End of London. He wanted to be in the team was and was disappointed at not being selected with led some of the media to attempt a campaign against the decision, the same people I suspect who are against Pearce the British Team Coach as they were against the decision not to appoint Rednapp as the English Manager. Although how much of this campaign was generated on behalf of Harry or to cause trouble can only be speculation. It was a Tottenham player who disgraced himself by withdrawing from the British Team and then playing for his team in a friendly. Gareth Bale was rightly pilloried by the British commentators before the game and should be rightly booed whenever he appears on football grounds in England and Wales during the coming season. He let the UK down badly. Traitor.
The commentators used to partisan and scum nature of football crowds at their worst were also clearly put out by the friendly family Olympic spirit of the crowd at the stadium and had clearly forgotten the difference between sportsmanship and professionalism. Unexpectedly the GB team scored a goal early on with an excellent shot from Bellamy who has matured over the years since his days at Newcastle. However the opponents were a strong team and merited their equalizer in the final moments of the game.
The live action had commenced the previous day with the GB women’s team which was the established English Internationally proven team together with two excellent Scottish players. They not only won their game but did so again last night with an impressive 3.0 victory to guarantee them a place in the quarter finals even if as expected they lose to Brazil, the likely winners, and hosts for 2016 games.
While the Olympic games and my experiences of them will dominate the news for the next 16 days International strife and political life as well as the economic instability continues to be greater importance to the majority of the billions of us who live on the planet and there will be those who condemn the expenditure on the games, question the value and legacy or who are just not interested. It is estimated that 30 million people that is one in two watched the Opening ceremony of the games on Friday night which suggests that in addition to those running pubic transport, the emergency services, in hospital, in the armed forces there was about half the population engaged elsewhere including a majority of these not watching from choice.
One development was the news that the Government and organised a trade summit conference, inviting the Chief Executives of the biggest International companies for a pre Games conference and no doubt free tickets to the Opening ceremony and which coincided with the latest figure indicating a deeper and longer lasting second recession that anyone had forecast and hoped for. This led to the Liberal Lord Oaskshott calling for the replacement of Chancellor George Osborne mentioning the competence of Vince Cable and tow former liberals left the government under a cloud as having the kind of business experience which the country required comparing them to the present Chancellor who and spent his careers within the Westminster bubble. This will never happen as Osborne and Cameron are welded together and if one falls both will so this could be considered end of term political massiveness on the part of a leading member of the LIB Dem establishment for the way the Tories failed to promote the House of Lord Reform legislation.
The media on the look out for disasters and problems was rewarded later when someone in Scotland confused the North Koreans for the South Koreans and presented the players on screen with the flag of their hated neighbours. This was deliberate sabotage by someone as the players were not individually introduced on screen at St James park it suggests this was not the fault of those at Hampden Park but of the makers of the software for the player presentation programme. There was immediate political repercussion.
It has also been discovered that it will not be possible for some spectators to see the top of diving stand which will mean money being refunded, another great disaster especially of seats are to be occupied by the travelling families of competitors or other visitors. This an extraordinary mistake and I do not understand while the problem was not spotted before now.
There were also the expected gripes about the coming into effect of the special through road lanes required for the Olympic Games as part of the contract. This is to enable signatory’s participants to move freely across London to and from venues. This is largely nonsense and people trying to get compensation which Home Office staff at Heathrow and elsewhere try on but withdrew when the government stepped in with the intention of taking a High Court injunction. The threat was withdrawn at the last minute with the union lying about the reason for the climb down. Train workers are also trying to increase their special led by the notorious RMT union. Everyone appears to be on the make although the sums involved are huge. The other problem was the cable car system at the Olympic village which also failed for a while
Part of the focus on shortcomings is political because the decision to create a separate company for the detailed games management thus attempting to isolate the government and the IOC committee from responsibility when the usual mishaps occur. This device always fails because the current government is also blamed and rightly so.
My other moan was for the BBC coverage of the Torch relay which kept crashing without explanation often at crucial moments. Having said this all 24 additional stations are in operation on the red button or as separate sports channels on Sky. I am going to be overwhelmed.
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