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

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

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

A v Italy (Rome) 11.10.1997

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......People.........People pictures.........People......
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We arrive into Rome. These are the only picture I have with people in them! All the others are of the tourist attractions of Rome (see end of blog!). I take my camera to the game but this is the only picture I remember to take.............

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......Inside the ground.........Inside the ground.........Inside the ground......
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..and this is why!!










Paul Ince and Gazza celebrate the 0-0 draw and Qualification for the World Cup Finals in France



As does Mr Canning --------->





My match ticket, no stub taken as we were chased into the ground by riot police and ended up in the posh seats!

Some pictures from around Rome. Its a fantastic place to visit and one I will certainly go back to for a non footballing trip!

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......Rome.........Sightseeing in Rome.........Rome......
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Anchient Rome is fantastic




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......The Colosseum.........The Colosseum.........The Colosseum......
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......Trevi fountain.........Trevi fountain.........Trevi fountain......
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......The Vatican.........The Vatican.........The Vatican......
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...........................From the roof of the Vatican...................



....................................A rather famously painted ceiling - The Sistine Chapel.................


.................................................The Spanish Steps.................................



.......................................me yes it is me!! At the Trevi fountain (I think!!!)...........