For all football fans, watching a game abroad is a great occasion ... the colour and noise of the Ultras, different tactics and styles of play, the often exotic half time local delicacies and of course, post match local refreshments and analysis.
Enter one Danny Last and
European Football Weekends www.europeanfootballweekends.co.uk
a site he created to share the
experiences from watching major and not so major leagues
from Amsterdam to Zurich, from teams such as Alcorcon to
VVV Venlo.
With his unique, personal, friendly style of writing about his adventures, Last and his team of collaborators created a unique portal for football fans over the world to gauge an insight to European football at all levels.
6 am flights, language barrier obstacles, local tipple, crazed taxi drivers, bizarre items in club shops, dodgy right wing ultras, all this and more feature in the various travels and all invariably accompanied with a some fantasticly well taken photos. Top this off with the odd Morrissey inspired musical references and you soon begin that you too have shared the experience at first hand.
Over the years the site has received almost 700,000 visitors and has interviewed the likes of former Beautiful South and Housemartin, Paul Heaton, football pundits such as James Richardson, Clive Tyldesely and comedian Kevin Day. It picked up the "bronze medal" in the 2009 When Saturday Comes Worth Websites and has been called "a perennial source of pleasure" by The Guardian newspaper.
EFW is currently taking a well earned break and Danny is busy following the fortunes of Brighton and Hove Albion's and Lewes FC. He took some time out to talk to us about his travels and some of the musical highlights from travelling Europe's footballing hotbeds and backwaters.
1 - What was the first record that you bought, and can you remember the motivation behind it.
"People Are People" 7" single from Depeche Mode in 1984 from
a record shop - no longer there, obviously - in Lancing, West
Sussex. I'd been to see them in concert at the Brighton Centre
the previous evening. That was my first ever gig, one I only
attended because my mum (I know) was ill and couldn't go so she
gave me her ticket. My overriding memory of the gig was a huge
punch up in the crowd as a direct result of David Gahan throwing
his sweaty shirt into the heaving masses.
2 - What was the last album, CD, download you purchased and why.
The début album from Welsh outfit Y Niwi. I read an
article recently about Spillers Records in Cardiff -
the world's oldest record shop - and they were
waxing lyrical about the band. You can't beat a bit
of "Snowdonian instrumentalist surf-guitar" can you?
Also, can you wax lyrical about an instrumental
band? Probably not, shall we move on ....
3 - As a man who has travelled Europe in the quest of fine football, which city / club has the dodgiest pre match music, name a few of the musical offenders too.
I did once go and see HSV Hamburg which involved a bizarre
pre-match ritual which I'm not sure they still do. A chap
dressed in double denim - a bit of a no-no, no? - was hoist
aloft on a cherry picker in front of the home fans (that's
pretty much guaranteed to bring a smile to my face, let me tell
you). Anyway, Ol' Denim Den belted out a few dodgy songs which,
with this being Germany, the fans lapped up in their thousands
and sang along to as if their lives depended on it. It was so
bad that I didn't even tap a foot to the rhythm of the beat (I
did).
I'm also led to believe that Crystal Palace play Friggin' In
The Riggin' which is fairly apt because their team *sounds cheap
and immature pop at hated rivals klaxon* are not fit to shovel
shit from one place to another.
4 - Which are the most musical and raucous of the European Ultra groups you came across.
4 - Which are the most musical and raucous of the European Ultra groups you came across.
Definitely, Rayo Vallecano in Spain. There's a
slightly anarchic feel to that club which is a million miles
away from their near neighbours, Real Madrid. The fans take hold
of the PA before the games and rather brilliantly you get
treated to classic stuff from The Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols
and all sorts at full volume before the game. Actually, staying
in Madrid, the ultras in the 'Fondo Sur' behind the goal at
Atletico Madrid are quite partial to a burst of Mike Oldfield's
'Moonlight Shadow'. Make of that what you will.
5 - What's the most bizarre
item you´ve come across in the numerous club shops you´ve
visited.
FC Union Berlin do a neat set
of spanners for a couple of quid, but my very favourite item
is a wooden Dukla Prague yo-yo. Who needs their away kit when
you can impress your mates with a couple of barrel rolls on
that little beauty down the pub? Germany, of course Germany,
was the first place I saw club toasters that print the club
logo on the bread too. Tasty.
6 - If you were enlisted by Lewes FC board to programme the pre match music at the Dripping Pan, what 3 tracks do you play to get the Rooks fans rocking.
Follow Danny on Twitter -@DannyLast
and check out EFW at - http://www.europeanfootballweekends.co.uk/
