Wednesday 14 October 1998

A v Luxembourg 14.10.1998

LUXEMBOURG AWAY – THE CASE OF THE COOKER AND THE MISSING BITS!

MONDAY 12th OCTOBER 1998

Four optimistic people set off on the 10.27 Eurostar from Waterloo to Brussels after the attacking, thrilling, goal feast against Bulgaria on the Saturday. Mmmm – perhaps I’d better start again. Four Brighton fans set out to Luxembourg knowing that a good time was ahead apart from possibly the football.

We arrived in Brussels around 2pm after consuming a can or two of beer on the train (£1.80 for a small can!) and the first thing we did was buy the return tickets from Brussels to Luxembourg – only £32 for a three hour train journey – not bad.

After buying the tickets we headed for the Grand Place – the main square in Brussels. It’s pretty spectacular, so as we had arranged to meet Liz’s niece at 5.30 we had time to pass so headed for a bar and then a quick snack.

The less said about the first bar the better – other than to say the barman became a barwoman and it was time for us to leave. We met up with Lulu (Liz’s niece) and headed back to the students apartment they had – now this is were Peter (Fatty Taxman) Canning had his first problem – it was on the fourth floor of the apartments and there was no lift! We made our way up and sat down and waited for Peter to arrive – by then the red wine was open and the food cooking.

After the meal and red wine and beer and a Mandarin liqueur, we headed in to town – a good traditional Belgium bar – well it was actually called O’Reillys – so I set about the local beers – well a few pints of Guinness.

By now we were all knackered from the travelling and the beer. The state we were in was highlighted by Nick (Bart) Bartholomew who promptly chatted up a lovely looking lass from New York. Her lisp was sweet and the comment ‘well if she had a shave she would be alright’ summed it up. Nick we still await the development of the photos as you are claiming memory loss!

We headed home around 1.30am, but near the apartments Nick and Peter headed for an all night bar. They finally arrived back about 3am – they had got a taxi back and had been driven around for a while as all they could remember for the apartments was a blue curry house opposite. Needless to say the taxi driver was a bit bemused – but he amazingly did find it in the end. Nick walked in to the room, fell over the arm of the sofa and din’t move until morning – Peter just lay down on the floor.

The next morning we surfaced feeling slightly worse for wear – apart from Liz who never has a hangover. We headed back to the train station to meet Jason Fenner and brother-in-law Bill. Once again the day was similar to the last, we feasted on spicy sausage and mash in the evening and then headed out with Lulu and two friends to a traditional Belgium bar this time. I have never seen so many varieties of beer in my life. Jason tucked into Kwak (a strange beer served in a strange glass – similar to a small yard of ale glass, when you get to the bottom it’s supposed to make a Kwak sound!). I sampled a few different beers – cherry, banana and various others but the memory is hazy.

We walked further in to the centre and walked past the famous weeing boy (lucky it’s not in Withdean as most of the water was spraying on to the pavement).

We finally headed back around 2am and this is when Peter came into his own. His first problem was the stairs which he manage to trip over, luckily only about two stairs up. Around 4am Peter surfaced from his mattress and after several attempts managed to stand up. Now I understand it was dark and the layout was unfamiliar but the next few minutes will go down in history.

Now to reach the toilet you head straight ahead and you are there. To reach the kitchen you have to turn left. He ended up the other side of the kitchen where Liz was sleeping and finally turned round and headed back into the kitchen. The first crash was a small one (a few plates we thought) the second rather louder (did they really have 17 saucepans all with lids) the third had everyone thinking World War Three had started.

I couldn’t face getting up to see the carnage – luckily Liz and Lulu’s flat mate Jonathan did. What did they find? Well they used to have a gas hob on a table – well Peter had obviously taken a fancy to it, as the hob was now in the room next to the kitchen in several pieces on top of Peter!! In the day light the next day we still couldn’t find all the pieces so it looks like cold food for the rest of the term for them!

We had planned to get the 8.36 from Brussels to Luxembourg but no chance of that. We eventually made the 11.36 and the thoughts turned not to the match but attempting to catch up on some sleep (as Peter not only caused carnage in the kitchen but also snores rather loudly – I think the neighbours confirmed that).

We arrived at the first station in Luxembourg where the train was delayed for 20 minutes by a few riot police. Their attempts to intimidate us failed as the first police dog was all bones, the second was not much bigger than a poodle. As the police paraded up and down the station everyone was just cracking up.

............................................Liz and Bill on the train to Luxembourg........................

After arresting three bottles if gin from one England fan they let the train continue on it’s journey. Once we got to Luxembourg station more fun began. Unless you had a match ticket, travel card and passport you couldn’t get off the station immediately. It took around 45 minutes while they checked the hooly list and then we were all back together, but as Liz, Bill and Nick headed out it appeared they were headed for the mobile police cells which had been waiting outside. After much arm waving and the idiot in charge shouting out they let them go. They were clearly unorganised but doing everything they could to intimidate us.

We headed for the bars in town – all full of England, most without match tickets. We found a bar with a pool table and table tennis and that gave Peter (Ping Pong) Canning the chance to show us his stuff as he claims to be a table tennis expert. Needless to say the ball spent more time on the pool table than the table tennis table!

We ordered some taxis and arrived near(ish) to the ground. Loads of ticketless England fans were milling about – there were no tickets going around which is unusual. We headed into the uncovered terraces (Peter fell over in a puddle before he found his seat) and we gradually got wetter as the game got crappier and crappier.

The loudest chants of the match were ‘Eileen takes in the arse’ – which had the England subs and Seaman laughing (reference to Eileen Drewry – Hoddle’s faith(less) healer – in case people have been asleep for the last few months).Hoddle came in for plenty of justified stick especially when he used Robert Lee as a sub – why not a forward. Despite a 3-0 scoreline the 5,000+ England fans were not happy!

After the match much to our surprise Luxembourg was still open and no sign of a riot. We had a few more drinks and then caught the 12.30am train provided by the Luxembourg authorities to get rid of as many fans as possible.

We eventually arrived back in Brussels at 4am. Now our Eurostar was not until 5pm so we had a few hours to kill. We found an all night bar but only Jason could face alcohol. By 6.30am we were either falling asleep or bored so we went sightseeing – in the rain, fog and the fact it was still dark, but we carried on undeterred. We saw Hysel (just), the Atonium (I think you could see it in the murky weather – the pictures will be interesting) and then headed back to find Peter who we had left in the bar.

We went back to Liz’s niece’s house about 8am and promptly went to sleep. We got up around 1pm and headed for some food and then the Eurostar home. Jason managed a final piece of stupidity and slipped down the stairs at Clapham Junction – well you can’t let Peter take all the glory!

Roll on Bulgaria away in June!!

Mark Raven


Pre Match article from the BBC Website
Tuesday, October 13, 1998 Published at 15:53 GMT 16:53
UK Sport: Football
Luxembourg on alert for England fans

Some England fans caused trouble at France 98 Authorities in Luxembourg are hoping to ensure that hooliganism does not mar England's European Championship qualifier on Wednesday.
About 1,000 Luxembourg police officers have been put on stand-by to deal with the estimated 2,400 England fans with tickets who will travel to the game.
They will be trying to avoid a repeat of the ugly scenes in the country after another Euro qualifier between the two nations 15 years ago.
On that occasion England fans went on the rampage throughout the town despite a 4-0 victory. It prompted the local mayor at the time to state he would rather Luxembourg pull out if they ever drew England in the competition again.
That has not happened, but the local authorities are also mindful of the trouble caused after last month's clashes in Stockholm.
Fans hurled racist abuse at Sweden midfielder Henrik Larsson and caused damage in the stadium following England's 2-1 defeat. The trouble led to UEFA fining the Football Association £27,000.
FA's concerns
The FA's special adviser on security Sir Brian Hayes said: "All available man power of the local police and gendarmes in Luxembourg will be on stand-by for the game.
Sir Brian Hayes: Tracking the hooligans"There is always a worry now when we play abroad with the trouble at the World Cup and then the trouble at Sweden which we didn't really expect.
"From a security point of view I feel reasonably comfortable with the ground and it won't be like Sweden when fans were high up, able to cause damage and difficult to identify.
"From that point of view things are in our favour but nothing surprises me now. I never rule out the fact that there are some mindless people who are just hell-bent on causing trouble."
Sir Brian said he expected the potential for trouble would be reduced by the fact that many fans were expected to go straight back home after the game.
"But there could be a problem in that a fair number of people are coming to the game by train - and at the moment there aren't a lot of trains out of the country after the match," he said.
Sir Brian added that the FA and police were trying to identify any potential troublemakers before they left England so the information could be given to the Luxembourg authorities

A pre-match e-mail

Just received my ticket for the Luxembourg v England match with a list of grounds rule set by the Luxembourg authorities.

It a list of items not permitted into the ground it includes "Ladders".

Well they must know something I dont - I have to say I have never seen the England hooligans carrying ladders - perhaps this happens a lot in Luxembourg.

Anyone else from the list going?

Mark Raven

Saturday 5 September 1998

A v Sweden (Stockholm) 5.9.1998

Morning all

My first e-mail for a while as our system collapsed at work so could not send
or receive any mail!

Have just got back from watching England in Sweden and then went straight down to Exeter. Great weather on the way back , and after sitting in a minibus for 4/5 hours I now know why I usually pay more and go by train.

Sweden was a great trip (apart from the football) , how often do you hear people say that! Loads of Brighton fans and once again the lower league teams made up the majority of the support (Why dont they cancel all fixtures on International weekends?). After the match most people spent ages attempting to find out there home teams results. Three in a row , I wonder how many games it took us last season to reach 10 points?

Sweden was a lot cheaper than when I last went (Euro 92) and beer was down to
49kroner about £3.80 a pint. The hotel we stayed in was only £27 a night
and we had the pleasure of the company of Sir Bert Millichip and Leonard Johanson (sp?) the top bod in European football!

The game was dire and after Hoddles book it appeared that the team spirit/fight had gone , I hope I'm wrong and the team put up a proper display against Bulgaria in October. The 3,500 England supporters deserved better than the crap they were dished up. The match tickets only cost £19 so I think this shows how Wembley/Premier league prices are ripping off the public. In the match we made a perfect start with Shearer putting us 1 up inside the first 2 minutes, but it went down hill from that point. We conceded to soft goals and then Paul Ince got himself sent off!!

Unfortuntely there was quite a lot of trouble before,during and after the match. As we queued to get out of our section it had all kicked off in the main concourse under the away end. Tear gas started to waft up the exits and when we finally got down to get out the glass back of the stand had been smashed to bits. The England fans had thrown a mobile food trolley through the windon onto the fans below!

As for Exeter away , well both teams were poor , Exeter probably just about deserved a win. A good turn out from the Albion faithful (I would guess at 250) , lets hope for a bumper crowd Saturday and the continuation of the unbeaten run at Gillingham.

We met several Gills fans in Sweden , they had sympathy with us and couldnt believe that we take well over 2,500 every other week!

On a final note for anyone who played in the Brentford match a couple of weeks ago , I bumped into Billy the Bee on Sunday night on the Underground in Sweden. He was on the wrong line with no idea how to get back to metro line he needed.

Cheers

Mark Raven

Ps Following this match the English FA were fined for supporters racially abusing Henrik Larsson.

Tuesday 30 June 1998

World Cup 1998 30.6.1998 v Argentina (St Etienne)





3 of us squeezed ourselves into a small room, accommodation in St Etienne was not easy to get. Pete shares his bed with Footex!!!




We settle down and get in the beers (only to keep us cool in the hot weather again)





England fans arrive early for once!!!!










The majority of England fans are in the one big end. For once the England fans do not significanlty out number the opposition. Little did we know what a fantastic match we would see!





................We met up with some fellow Brighton lads and our Cov mates...........





The scoreboard shows its 2-2, so it must be time for the dreaded penalty shoot out. Which we of course went on to lose.....................



Friday 26 June 1998

World Cup 98 26.6.1998 v Columbia (Lens)





.....we move on to Lille as Lens was small and with beer bans etc decided it was better out of town. We spent most of the trip in Capaniles (Cheap French hotel chain)




We get a few beers in before heading to Lens and the must win game v Columbia



......................................to avoid these nasty people.....................

















Yes we get into the ground very early!

















Woo hoo - we are through to the knock out stages and it will be against the old enemy Argentina

Monday 22 June 1998

World Cup 98 22.6.1998 v Romania (Toulouse)






The main square in Toulouse before the Romania match







Despit being a small ground the usual large away following in the 36,500 sell out crowd...........



A very poor match and a 2-1 defeat means we need to beat Columbia to get through to the knock out stages........






.....................We move on to Carcassonne.......................

Monday 15 June 1998

World Cup 98 15.6.1998 v Tunisia (Marseilles)


v Tunisia in Marseilles
v Romania in Tulouse
v Columbia in Lens
v Argentina in St Ettienne



.............We arrive into the hot hot hot South of France, and have a game of footy in the midday sun.....................













Pictures from the Tunisia match in Marseilles. Marseilles was a beautifal place but sadly clashes with the local ethnic imigrants meant a day of trouble. We went to a Marseilles supporters bar before the game so avoided all the trouble. Pete however cust his arm open when he brushed against a cars broken wing mirror! He had to have severl stitches the next day, we helped by going to..........................











.....................Monaco for the day........................



E-mails about the World Cup

I have just received conformation of the trips being run by the official travel agent of the Football Association. As you can guess no one I know will be going with Travel Management as the prices are

v Tunisia in Marsilles a ONE day trip by air ?310
v Romania in Toulouse a ONE day trip by air ?310
v Colombia in Lens a ONE day trip by coach ?50 (reasonable)

How can they justify ?310 for a day trip!

We have booked a 15 day trip with Northern Holidays including 13 nights accommodation plus ferry/coach to France and all travel in France for ?475.

Good to see that England fans without tickets will now be welcome in France.The organisation for this tournament has been poor from the start. Apparently the FA have spent ?1million on a campaign to stop England fans travelling without tickets , all to be scuppered by a French minister saying come and join the party with or without tickets.

Mark

Did anyone see Dispatches on Channel 4 last night. It was an investigation
into World Cup tickets. It looked at Great Portland Entertainment (GPE)in London and a company based in America.

They estimated that GPE have sold over 15,000 black market tickets for FRANCE98!! They are so well organised they paid £800,000 in advance for the tickets.

The CFO (the organisers of this World Cup) ignored the Westminster trading standards officers who went over to see them , re safety aspects regarding segregation but they didnt appear to care. It then turned out they were aware of certian goings on but didnt appear concerned ie Cameroon sold 3,500 to a third party who passed them on to the black market. Cameroons defence was FIFA insist on payment up front for all tickets and they couldnt afford it,so they had to get backers to put money up for them in return for a share of the tickets ie GPE!

All GPE said was that they took orders for tickets and only took money if they could get them - which they did! They charged £150/£200/£250 per ticket for the group games and £900 for the Final! They must be making a fortune.

I'm glad my tickets only cost face value - which was £16 for the group matches.

Mark Raven

Saturday 23 May 1998

H v Saudi Arabia 23.5.1998

RE: England...

Ceri Rees wrote

>Was a 0-0 draw at Wembley part of the deal to release the 2 nurses, or were England >just not good enough?

>I mean, Saudi Arabia - come on, what went wrong? Match report please.

Well first of all at least Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup finals. The match was pretty dire and Sherringham gave his usual display, ie stand around giving bugger all effort. Why not play Owen , Dublin or even Cole. As for Anderton , it showed that he was not match fit let alone fit to play for England. Hoddle has very blinkered vision about certain players. I would rate Le Tissier , Wise , Merson , Parlour all above Anderton but Hoddle said that Anderton is a naturally fit player!!! 17 games in 3 years doesnt back that one up. I remember England had poor results in the run up to Italy in 1990 so perhaps theres nothing to worry about.

The attendance of 63,000 isnt bad for a friendly , it shows how popular football has become these days. I see one of the Neville brothers was moaning at "15,000 singing stand up if you hate Man Utd" he got that wrong it was at least 30,000!!! Dont these players know that Man Utd are (other than teams local rivals) the most hated team in Britain.

Lets see how they get on in Morroco this week and then roll on June 15th.

Mark Raven

Wednesday 25 March 1998

A v Switzerland (Berne) 25.3.1998

A v Switzerland 25.3.1998

I have just got back from Switzerland after watching 90 minutes of direfootball , well apart from Mersons goal.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was a large Doncaster flag with Richardson Out flag on the far side of the ground (in the expensive seats £28 for a friendly!!)

Went on the official England Members trip because it was the cheapest way (for once) and nearly every person we spoke to supported either lower league teams or non league teams. There were seven coaches decked out in Union Jacks/St Georges flags supporting teams such as York City , Rochdale ,Bromsgrove , Man City (well they could be a lower league team soon!) and Brighton. Perhaps the FA should realise that life out of the premiership is alive and will never die.

I always thought of Switzerland as a rich country but I would have to say the ground was a dump and not fit for International Football.(The ground is aptly called the "Wankdorf stadium") The seats were wooden benches built on top of terracing. The stair ways out of the ground had no lighting and large fences at the front had no emergency exits but a large moat in front it!

The only saving grace was that you could purchase alcohol in the ground and take it back to your seat. Alcohol was also freely available outside the ground.(even if it did become rather cold to drink as it was bloody freezing)Makes a change for England fans to be treated with respect. I didnt see any trouble before or after the game , lets hope this continues. If Enland take 1,500 0dd for a friendly how many will travel to France this summer?

Cant wait for Cardiff away Saturday. Always look forward to this one!

Mark R