The danes must be crazy!

Danes in their native enviroment - Dorthe and a very happy looking Helmer (Dorthe's father). 

I went to my first game of soccer today - well, the first game since I watched a friend play when I was 8 or so, anyway....

No, this was the real thing - Brøndby vs FC København. Brøndby is Dorthe's local team, from the western suburbs of Copenhagen, and I was much aghast to find that their colours are once again, blue and gold. WTF? Why is it that I always end up supporting teams with the dreaded blue and gold - first California, and now Brøndby. (Blue and gold are the colours of Otago, the main rivals of my rugby team, Canterbury, who are red and black). Anyway, the game was played at FC København, which also doubles as the national stadium, and, conveniently, is about five minutes walk from where we live - I can actually see it across the park here if I look out the window.

Anyway, there was quite a group of us went to the game - Dorthe and I, her father Helmer, and brother, Morten, as well as some of their friends. We were in the Brøndby supporters section (yup, this is pure european football, with segregated fans sections). Probably the first thing that struck me was the sheer number of police, all looking suspiciously bulky with protective padding underneath their overalls, and riot helmets hanging off their belts. It seems these two sets of fans have a history of biffo on occasion.

The national stadium looks fairly compact from the outside, yet once you get inside, it is positively cavernous - four huge stands, each with two or three layers surround the pitch on all sides, its like being at the bottom of a large cardboard box. I guess in part its that I'm used to our stadiums in NZ being used for cricket in summer - the cricket pitch takes up so much more area than a rugby or soccer ground, so if you build just a soccer stadium, then it will have a smaller footprint I guess. The stands also go virtually right to the sideline - there is about five metres, say, between the first fan, and the touch judge. The stands also basically go straight up as well, with three layers or: all in all, the net effect is for a very compact stadium.

The FC København tifo before the game - I was a bit late getting it on camera, but it says "Super" in the top row, and "FCK" (ooo, err, that's a bit rude) in the bottom row. 

Things were relatively quiet when we arrived, and we found our standing "seats". But as soon as the teams started even looking like they were coming out, the Brøndby boys just started singing. It was impressive - our entire end of the stadium (we were behind one of the goals) was just a caucaphony of noise for the next hour and a half, with a ten or fifteen minute break in the middle. It was impressive - the songs were very catchy, although I couldn't understand them because they were in danish.Lots of "we love Brøndby", and the odd bit of abuse hurled at FCK apparently. Even a few standard tunes that I recognised from the rugby at home!

The game was good - I have to say soccer is much bettter to watch in real life than on telly - you get a much better sense of the urgency and proximity of the players in real life - its much more exciting, more like when you actually play it - than when you watch it on telly. FCK had a shocker - even I, with my non-existent soccer knowledge could tell that - and Brøndby went up 1-0 after about 10mins, and then 2-0 just before half time. Two late goals, one to each side, in the last ten minutes made it 3-1, but Brøndby certaintly had the run of play, and FCK never really looked threatening.

The last fifteen minutes of the game were mad. The Brøndby fans knew that they had it in the bag, and the singing and dancing in the isles was just continous, it was great to be in the middle of it. People were running around with their shirts off, jumping up and down, there was confetti and paper and all sorts of stuff going up in the air. When Brøndby scored their third goal, you even had to duck for cover from the half drunk glasses of Carlsberg that were thrown in the air - it was just like being back on the terraces at Lancaster park!

I have some video of it that I took that I'll post later, once I edit it down to a decent size (I have about a 100MB at the mo!). Yeah, I had a great time. The game was good to watch. The atmosphere was just mad. And the danes were completely crazy. I loved it. I might even go to another one!

More (crazy) danes in their native enviroment. The Brøndby boys celebrate their emphatic win.