01 December 2006

Nancy vs. Feyernoord

Call me Canadian, but I'm not quite accustomed to yobbish sporting event behaviour. By and large, the most excitement that ever happens at a hockey game is a couple of drunkards punching each other. Pretty tame.

Last night I went to a qualifying UEFA match in Nancy (known here as match a poules which directly translates as hen match ) against Feyernoord Rotterdam. While the match itself was good, the main event was definitely the riotous behaviour of the Rotterdamers who were none to pleased by the direction of the game and subsequenlty communicated their frustration by destroying the stadium. Hilsborough it was not, but the game was stopped after 78 minutes out of fear for the safety of the Nancy fans (us) who were thus forced to evacuate the stadium while the riot squad kept the Dutch fans locked in. In the end, the match was finished after an extended delay, but the only people left in the stadium were the cloistered Rotterdamers who had to watch us win 3-0. Suckers. That's what you get for being stupid.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's awesome! Yet I bet no one's going to videotape the mayhem and put it on "RIOTS : Caught on tape!". Vancouver will never live it down. Ever. Thanks to "RIOTS: Caught on Tape!" -BA

Krista said...

You mean the events of 1994 Vancouver riots are caught on tape?!

Here, this kind of thing is a daily event for football. Hooliganism is at an all-time high in France. Last weekend, someone was shot at a match in Paris due to his out of control and racist behaviour.... Whatever happened to fans going to just watch the match?