Football Tourist

Stuart Fuller

Description

Football is the world's game. Wherever you are on earth, there will be a group of players, a ball and a pitch. Stuart Fuller has set out to find as many as possible. In this second volume, Stuart casts the net wider than ever before, taking in games on four different continents. Be it popular European destinations in Germany and Belgium, getting lost trying to find a game in Hong Kong, or waiting for a referee to cross the Spain-Gibraltar border, Stuart makes the trip so that you don't have to. Part travelogue, part love letter to the beautiful game, this book is a must for any aspiring football tourist.

Informations

• Publié par: Ockley Books
• Date de parution: 17 octobre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912022519
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Published by Ockley Books Ltd
First published September, 2016
All text copyright of the author.
The moral right of all the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted. All chapters written by Stuart Fuller and edited by John Dobson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior permission in writing from the author and publisher Ockley Books.
ISBN 978-1910906040
Front Cover, layout design by Michael Kinlan
Printed bound in Scotland by:
Bell Bain, Glasgow, www.bell-bain.com
Contents

Introduction
1. Herman the German M nster
2. Gareth Baled on Us
3. No Place Like Rome
4. Revenge of the Black Diamond
5. New Kids on the Rock
6. Into the Lions Den
7. Just a Mild-mannered Janitor
8. Closing Time - The end of an era in Stockholm
9. Field of Financial Dreams
10. Men in Tight Shorts
11. Community Service
12. Kiel-hauled
13. Twice in a Lifetime
14. Bloody Students
15. The Half a Billion Team
16. A Former Soviet State of Affairs
17. Brussels - the New Nirvana
Acknowledgements

Introduction

I m a rubbish liar. After I had finishing writing The Football Tourist back in January 2013, I made some vague promise to those around me that my days of flying off at every opportunity to watch football across the globe were over. My family looked forward to me being around more. I was swapping the Belgrade derby for Thorpe Park, the Sud Tribune in Dortmund for B Q. My days of being on the road were finished.
Yeah, because that lasted all of four weeks before I was back on the terrace, beer in one hand, sausage in the other, in M nster with Kenny Legg, Stoffers and Danny Last.
Of course Danny Last, always Danny Last.
I couldn t give this up just like the Current Mrs Fuller couldn t give up shopping for candles. It was in my blood. My publisher, Dave Hartrick, tried to convince me not to write another book. That s the last thing everyone wants Stu he told me whilst on hands free, driving his new Aston Martin DB7 in the South of France which he bought around six months after my book came out. Eventually both The Current Mrs Fuller and Hartrick gave in. Passport returned, the planning phase began.
So here we go again, my friends, back on the road. The cast is much the same, most of the destinations are new. Thanks for that have to go to my employers for deciding to expand into new regions and making me travel there. So whilst The Football Tourist was focused on Europe, my new adventures spanned four continents over a period of close to two years.
Sequels are often a bit of a let-down. The original raises you up and your expectations are high, but then the same trusted formula doesn t work, the jokes are the same and there s little new content. But once in a while they do deliver, packing a mighty punch that has the audience calling for a more. For every Godfather 2 there is a Back to the Future 2, a Porky s 2 to Oceans 12, or On the Buses to Debbie Does Dallas. I d like to think I ve produced the former rather than the latter in this publication, and that s not easy working with a cast containing the likes of Last, Adam Lloyd and new to this world, Ed Seaford down in Australia.
The premise is the same. I fly to somewhere, have a beer, eat some food, watch people acting like they are kids (sometimes that just may include me, it also might just be me on my own in truth) and then watch some football, and then after I get over my hangover, I write about it, changing some of the names to protect the guilty and ridicule those who stood on the side lines. More often than not the game is the low point of the trip, the bit where expectations fall short. Whilst I may sometimes bemoan my predicament, living out of a suitcase full of Mars Bars, I know that I am lucky to get to see and do the things I do.
My objectives for writing this book are still the same - sharing some of the wonderful places to watch football around the world, with an added portion of enjoyment. Experiencing the pleasure and the pain, the triumphs and tragedies. There are guidebooks in every bookshop about cities and regions around the world. Every bar, restaurant and attraction has a review these days on websites such as TripAdvisor, taking the danger, the risk, the step into the unknown of traveling abroad away from the virgin traveller. And that is my mission (not to meet virgin travellers I hasten to add). To find places where these guides don t reach. To share the experience of landing in a foreign land and seeing what football really means through the local eyes.
Whilst my travels take me to see some of the biggest games in the world, I am equally happy to watch a game or two in the most basic surroundings. Nothing sums up my footballing watching life than the month of May 2013. During those 31 days I saw six games, slightly below my average attending month. But it was the sheer variety of the matches and venues that defines my passion for watching the beautiful game.
In the classic episode of Only Fools and Horses screened in December 1982 called A Touch of Glass, Del explains to Rodney that he is a man for all seasons; I m one of them that s accepted anywhere, whether it s drinking lager with the market boys down at Nine Elms, or sipping Pimms fruit cup at Hendon regatta!
That s how I would describe my football watching in that month. Three visits to Wembley, a trip to the capital of cool, Stockholm, to experience one of the last games in one of Europe s best-preserved stadiums and a match that couldn t be more grass roots if it tried. In the middle of the month I saw Manchester City humiliated in the FA Cup final by Wigan Athletic thanks to the free drink, free food and free hostesses provided by Budweiser. Two weeks later a global insurance company gave me the hottest ticket in town to watch the Champions League final in exchange for some arty photos of the German fans taking over London. In between I paid the princely sum of 3 to watch FC Metrogas lose the Kent Invicta League title on the last day of the season in front of 17 fans and four dogs. It s hard for me to choose the best experience to tell you the truth.
Travel has made the world a more accessible place. There has never been a better time to experience some of the Wonders of the Footballing World. And whisper it quietly, there are also other sports that ignite the passions just as much and are worth a visit. In the next two-hundred or so pages I will share the emotions and passions of watching different variants of football; Australian Rules, Rugby and, of course, the American version.
Any author will tell you that the hours spent researching, the missing of family events and the endless note taking in the middle of the most inappropriate situations are difficult, but the reward is when you, dear reader, pick up this book and buy it. 99% of authors do not write for the money, they write to feed their passion. Nothing gives us a bigger buzz than someone contacting you to say I enjoyed that.
I tried to think of something different to write as an introduction. We ve all read books with lots of waffle and hot air, promising the world and delivering nothing - a bit like Chessington World of Adventures. So I asked my children to write something. And here it is, the words of my two daughters on what it is like to be the child of a Football Tourist.
ISABELLA FULLER - AGED 13 YEARS OLD
Don t get me wrong - I love it when my Dad is at home but then I always am being told off for having a messy room. It s not mess, it is organised mess. After a while you get used to waking up to snoring in the night from next door, despite him saying he doesn t snore, but it s strange not to wake up to it too when he is off on his travels. I always look forward to my Dad s homecoming, not just because he always brings presents, but he always seems to stay at hotels where One Direction have stayed or are about to. I always asked to go with him on his trips but the answer is always No! , giving me excuses like You don t understand football , You don t drink beer or that You will tell Mummy that I wasn t just asking that lady for directions . I wonder what he gets up to when he is away. My silence is bought for a present and for now that will do me nicely.
LAUREN FULLER - AGED 16 YEARS OLD
My sister and I can both agree on one thing, which for siblings is pretty rare. Our Dad is a workaholic. Now this trait on its own is fine, in fact it s probably quite a good thing to describe some as. However, when teamed with other his traits it can become less positive. You see, our Dad is also a footballaholic. Football s OK - I used to go all the time with Dad, but only to escape having to tidy my room or do the chores. But let s be honest. Football today is all about a bunch of overpaid *word probably removed as it s a bit rude* who could fake their way to moon and back and have no grip on the real world.
Now being a footballaholic is fine as well. But his addiction doesn t stop there. School has taught me that certain chemical elements can bond together and create a much stronger element (see, I do pay attention in Chemistry!). My Dad is also a travelaholic. Combining these two elements produces something akin to carbon monoxide - you can t see it, smell it, taste it, hear it or touch it until it s too late and you re dead. Obviously it s not that extreme, but it s a very dangerous mixture. Add in a cheeky pint and you have Dad s ideal day out and our nightmare.
Our Dad is amazing however if he writes like he keeps his word on buying me a puppy then this book will be terrible and full of lies, but if he writes like he travels then this book will probably be amazing. Let s be honest, he s not great at being at home all the time, but his writing always makes people smile so it s probably half-decent. Alas, as I m only a child and apparently the book has rude words in I cannot comment any further.
1. Herman the Germ