First, a disclaimer... the fantastic post a few days ago which some have thought was mine was actually written by Sarah. In case you misunderstood that, I suggest you re-read it with her in mind and you will see another reason why I love her so much (or 'too much' as Campbell calls it).
Unfortunately for those of you who are desperately interested in my trip to Kharkov and Donetsk, I have been on another trip which will now begin to receive coverage on the blog... at least until we go to Belarus at the end of the month.
I guess that last line gives away part of the information on the trip - yes, we did get our visas for Belarus... or will once our passports are returned to us this week. For as much as we joke about Belarus, it must be said that their embassy staff was extremely friendly. They were easy to deal with and basically gave us our visas (after we forked over a small fortune in fees and payments) with no questions asked. But I digress, let me go back to the beginning....
Sergey and I took the 23 hour train ride to Kiev from Wednesday to Thursday. As soon as we arrived we checked on return tickets for a return Thursday night, only to learn they were sold out. This meant that we needed a place to stay that night and it also meant we would be in town and unoccupied for.....
YET ANOTHER UEFA CUP GAME!!!!!!
How awesome is that. We got to watch fierce national rivals Dynamo Kiev vs. Metalist Kharkov in a European game that will decide who represents Ukraine into the next round. I've developed a soft spot for Metalist due to their tough play and workman like squad, but this support was tempered by the overwhelming and very vocal Dynamo fans who surrounded us. I guess our problem was solved by Kiev's 1-0 victory which left little to cheer about.
I got a glimpse of how English fans must have felt at last years CL Final in Moscow... I had no idea one city could have so many cops. On my way along the main street, through a plaza and into the stadium I was frisked 4 times... though no one really checked my ticket. As we exited we were herded through a gauntlet of police until we had left the stadium area. I just checked on Google Earth and it was 1/3 of mile worth of black-clad riot cops shoulder to shoulder, two rows deep on either side. Once we got onto the main street there were still more cops stopping people from crossing the street and occasionally a literal busload of emergency responders also in riot gear.
All of this to quell any outbreak that might have been caused by the few hundred Metalist ultras clashing with the entire city of Kiev. They had their own entrance and exit procedures, presumably guarded by a similar contingent of officers.
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YOU PUNK!!! Oh well, if I can't see these games at least I can live vicariously through you.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sending you an email with a Spurs podcast attached. I was going to send it to you last week, but didn't get around to it. There is a section in it where one of the guests (who is a writer for a magazine) talks about his trip to the Ukraine for the Shakhtar game. He talked about the train ride, the atmosphere, being "escorted" by local police storm troopers, and the whole experience. It made me think of you...and now that you've experienced the post-communist police force yourself as an away fan I'm sure you'll enjoy it even more. BTW, it's also pretty hilarious some of the things he said about the trip.
Anyway, take care man. Glad you got to see another one.
Hey thanks, that sounds really funny. Of course I'm sort of a local (ie. I roll with Ukrainians) so I'm not treated the same way as a known foreigner. When we were at the Shakhtar-THFC game, we didn't see hardly a single Spurs fan. They came and went without a sound.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Ukraine is trying hard to avoid trouble so as not to further annoy UEFA before Euro 2012. They do have a pile of police though. I think it's because they are all state police and can be relocated without jurisdiction issues.