JOHN is a football fan from Newcastle, and amid the thousands of England supporters crammed into Frankfurt’s giant fan zone during Thursday’s game with Denmark, he was the one that stood out. Mainly because he was the only one wearing a pink tutu and fairy wings.
“It’s my stag do,” he explained, while trying to balance a giant hot dog in one hand and a pint of Bitburger in the other. “There’s 12 of us out here, although we haven’t seen a couple of them since this morning, so God knows where they are.
“We were going to go to somewhere in Spain, but the best man suggested the Euros. We thought, ‘Yeah, that’ll be class’. We haven’t got tickets for any of the games, but that doesn’t matter. It’s basically the biggest party in Europe, isn’t it? Hopefully, England will win to make it even better.”
Hmm, maybe don’t bank on that one. John is far from alone, though. While thousands of England fans were inside Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Arena as Gareth Southgate’s side toiled to a laboured draw on Thursday teatime, along with an equally huge contingent of red-shirted Danes, as many again were watching on in Frankfurt without a match ticket.
Many headed to the fan zone, a mixture of footballing bacchanalia and corporate money-making that means the casual visitor as well as the hardcore fan can enjoy the Euro 2024 experience.
Frankfurt’s fan zone really is something. It’s actually more of a fan mile, spanning 1.4km along the north bank of the River Main. The city has really pushed the boat out for the Euros – literally, as it happens, with huge barges staging a floating football pitch as well as the standout feature of the fan zone, a 144 square metre giant TV positioned out in the river.
There’s something for everyone, although as you might imagine at a tournament like the Euros, you’ve got to pay for it. Giant pretzel? Five euros. Pint? Nine euros. Official tournament T-shirt. Forty euros, thanks very much.
In fairness, it’s free entry, and there’s loads to do scattered across the park, especially for families and children. There’s table football, free E-sports stations, tents staging giveaways from sponsors such as Coca-Cola and Lidl. There are various music stages belting out Europop, and as the tournament progresses, so the standard of the bands booked to play cranks up. “German deep house legend Paul Wetz, Belgian pop star Milow, Hessian cult band Rodgau Monotones.” No, me neither, but it’ll make a welcome change from more Sweet Caroline.
The fan zone was busy throughout the day on Thursday, but it really started to pack out an hour or so before kick-off in the England game.
“We tried to get a ticket through the UEFA website, but that didn’t work, so we had a bit of a wander round the Old Town earlier to see if there were any tickets knocking about,” said Simon, who is over from Cumbria with his girlfriend, Sara. “We gave up pretty quickly and came down here.
“There’s loads of England fans so it’s really good craic, and it’s good that it’s right in the city centre so you can dip in and out. We’ll stay here to watch the game now though.”
There were plenty of Danes too, although the English contingent was by far the bigger, with plenty of old classics getting an airing before kick-off. Football’s coming home again? ‘England, England, it’s never coming home’, was the Danish retort.
A rousing pre-match rendition of God Save The King got the juices flowing, and as now seems to be de rigueur when watching England in a public setting, the beer was flying when Harry Kane fired the Three Lions into the lead. Denmark’s equaliser quietened things down slightly, and by the time the final whistle blew with England clinging on for a draw, the same grumblings were evident that resulted in a large number of fans within the Deutsche Bank Arena booing England’s players from the pitch.
“It’s Southgate, isn’t it,” said Lee, untying his ‘Nottingham Forest Til I Die’ flag from the hoardings on the banks of the river. “I said before the tournament started, we’ll never win anything with him in charge.
“I was hoping I was going to be proved wrong, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Still, on to Cologne.”
Does he have a ticket for Tuesday’s group decider with Slovenia? “Nah. It’ll be the fan zone again. Then we’ll see where we go from there…”
**
AS well as congregating in the fan zone, England supporters took over Frankfurt’s Altstadt, or Old Town, in the build-up to Thursday’s game.
By just after midday, it was pretty much impossible to get into or out of the city’s main Romerberg square, such was the number of fans packed in, drinking cans of beer and booting footballs high into the sky.
It was undoubtedly boisterous, but also extremely good-natured, with flags draped around Frankfurt’s historic buildings and one of the local dignitaries conducting the singing from the balcony of the huge Town Hall.
I hope I’m not tempting fate for the rest of the tournament, but there’s definitely a different feel to England’s tournament support now – younger, more ethnically diverse, plenty of families and women – and while there’s bound to be the odd flashpoint occasionally with so much alcohol being drunk, city representatives in both Gelsenkirchen and Frankfurt have been quick to praise the behaviour of England’s fans.
Hopefully, they’ll get to enjoy themselves all the way to Berlin. As Lee was suggesting after the Denmark game, that doesn’t look particularly likely at the minute.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here