Kevin Whitcher
Thursday 14th June 9am (UK time)
Okay, so spending the first week of the tournament in Russia with the aim of hopefully posting daily to give those back home some idea of what it’s like out there, and to provide a bit of website content for you good people into the bargain. On that note, I should state more often that we really do encourage those who fancy seeing their own words online to submit articles for this very website. Can be about football generally, does not have to be Arsenal specific, but at least of interest to an Arsenal supporter. Only criteria is that there is some element of opinion and personal insight. So feel free to email submissions to me at [email protected] if you are feeling creative / expressive / whatever.
Anyhow, back to the plot, and I am currently typing in mid-air above the sea between England and Europe. I have a connection in Amsterdam to St Petersburg, where I should touch down approx 90 minutes before the opening match of the finals takes off. Not certain how fast I will get through passport control, or how far from the airport the place I am staying with my host Ivan Merc is. I’ve been warned that traffic is bad in the city. That’s been a reality for the last couple of World Cups in certain of the major cities. I recall Johannesburg could be a total nightmare in places (although it did move sometimes), and I have a recollection of crawling along in a taxi in more than one of the cities visited in Brazil. Still, when you have lived in Leytonstone for several years as I have, one develops a certain philosophical approach to sitting in queues waiting for traffic lights. In this day and age, I just stick a YouTube video on my iPhone and stick it on the dashboard holder and it’s like being at home in front of the telly. Not that I shall be repeating that trick in Russia. The costs of calls, texts and data means I will not be venturing off wifi for the phone use if I can help it.
As for the feared problems with English fans being pummelled by Russian Ultras, I am not concerned. Even if I were going to an England game, I suspect the more violent element is under wraps due to the security that accompanies every finals. In South Africa visitors were supposed to be in fear of their lives, in Brazil we’d all get mugged at knifepoint, etc. But when the showpiece comes to town, the host nation doesn’t take half measures and the villains go into hiding. And I speak as one who was chased across the stand in Marseille two years ago at the culmination of the England v Russia match. As for homophobia and racism, it’s a reality, but not one that I suspect we will see much of for the next month. There will be isolated incidents, but I don’t anticipate insults hurled at black players at the matches. The World Cup is a different vibe, and most of those who will indulge in that form of abuse will not have bought tickets in the first place.
Thursday 14th June 11pm (St Petersburg time)
So between the plane coming to a halt outside the terminal and getting through passport control was about 50 minutes. It didn’t feel much like ‘Welcome to Russia’ during the interminable wait to get my passport checked and stamped with a visa. There were big queues that moved very slowly with each individual taking an average of over two minutes to be processed at one of the many gates manned by a passport official. Mine asked if I had come from Pisa, but due to airplane ears, I though he was asking if I had a visa – to which I proffered my Fan ID. Then he suggested Roma, and I told him I was English not Italian. Eventually we established I had flown from London and changed at Amsterdam flying KLM. When you have a World Cup, you really need to use your judgment a little better. The Fan ID issue was the check. If the individual going through passport control is obviously the face on the Fan ID photo, then just process them. No need for the Russian inquisition.
Back to the KLM flight and it was nice to get free food and drink, unlike the budget airlines that I normally end up taking, but the red wine was undrinkable. Not that it stopped three Brazil fans across the aisle having three of the mini-bottles each. Still, it might have helped them at the passport control queue, who knows. Once through the exit gate at the airport, I was met by Ivan, who warned me it normally takes an hour and a half to drive from the airport, south of the centre, to his place on the other side of the city. I think, because the Russia v Saudi Arabia game was about to start, the journey was done in a third of the time. Russia driving is very aggressive. Plenty of slaloming where there are three or more lanes, reminding me a bit of the A12 between the Bow flyover and the Leytonstone Green Man roundabout back home. You’d really have to be on your wits if you were hiring a car, not that you’d understand any of the road signs unless you knew your Russian alphabet. We took the ring road on the west side of the city, which in itself is a spectacular construction in places, resembling a giant fairground ride. Have to say I’d love driving on this road myself, but I’m not going to take the chance.
We arrived Chez Merc five minutes after the Russia game had kicked off, and settled down to watch on the television. The hosts made light work of their opposition, which they needed to do given Egypt and Uruguay are the other teams in group A. It is good for the general atmosphere of the tournament for the hosts to retain an interest as long as possible, so the 5-0 thumping of the Sheik’s men will have stoked things up for the better. Everyone can relax and bathe in the feelgood factor until Tuesday when they face Egypt here in St Petersburg, the final one of four matches we are attending before I return to the UK.
After the game we took a drive around the residential area where we are staying, getting some supermarket supplies in the process. It’s a mixture of modern architecture and old style communist blocks, wide roads, and a proliferation of shopping malls. It serves a purpose, but I am sure the centre itself will be more interesting. We will see that tomorrow (Friday), before attending Morocco v Iran. We’ll be leaving early to get a parking spot near a metro station, then aiming to catch the Uruguay v Egypt game in a bar or restaurant. The weather so far has been good – warm and sunny. One other thing I didn’t anticipate was how far north St Petersburg is – basically on the same level as the land of the midnight sun in Scandinavia. Meaning there is hardly any night at this time of year. Having been up at 4.45 this morning to make sure I got to the airport in time, I didn’t have the energy to go out for a midnight stroll in daylight, but I’ll do that on another night for the hell of it.
