Aktuellism

Sommermärchen 2010

I just can’t leave it. Simply can’t stray far from the football topic, I hope you can forgive that. It’s just this football fever! I’m infected, I guess.

But today I want to tell you about something that actually falls neatly into the out of home/cultural category. I went to see the game Germany vs. England on the so-called FAN FEST in Hamburg. It’s a public viewing for 70,000 people in front of a huge screen. I have to admit I’m not a big fan of human masses (apart from at a rock concert) but I was told one has to experience this at least once. And well, we really chose the best possible game to watch (so far). 5 (actually 6) goals and pure drama!

We prepared at home listening to football songs and then armed with mini German flags we entered the cheering crowd (and the sun was scorching that day!). Every time Germany scored dust rose from the earth as thousands of feet kept jumping up in endless joy. I totally embraced the experience, it was awesome to see those typically so reserved Germans scream and sing and cheer together. Remember I mentioned that watching football is all about being together? Well, public viewing is something of a peak to such collective watching. I had a sore throat and my head and feet were aching afterwards, but it was totally worth it to see dieses wahre Sommermärchen! The Germans have called the World Cup a ‘summer fairy tale’ since 2006 when they were hosts and truly rediscovered their national pride and its symbols such as the flag for the first (!) time since the war time. I hope their fairy tale goes until the final and…