Football… My biggest nightmare. If you can make an educated guess, you know I wouldn’t write about this topic if it didn’t become a horrible reality. On the first day of our semester, I heard I had to do a filming project for RevierSport, a local sport newspaper. Filming isn’t really my favorite reporting technique -you can’t be sublime at everything- but I can live with that. When the word ‘Fußball’ echoed through the room, my eyes almost began to rain. Unfortunately I could feel the common joy the Germans shared on that moment. That stupid game with one ball, a lawn and some muscled man in uniform really excites them. If you think about it, it’s the perfect scene for an erotic porn movie, sprinkled with some weird homosexual fetishes.
RevierSport it was. At least I didn’t have to do the project alone. There were four other football crazy persons to share my ebullience with. Since they all spoke German, it was really hard to understand what they were talking about. I tried to sneak away, but without success. Just smile and nod, Nick. Smile and nod... The tricky bastards kept on asking me questions, and I… just smiled and nodded. I made a splendid first impression again!
When we went to the RevierSport Headquarters for the first time, the project leader asked me a couple of questions. I reached the phase in which I knew I was able to confirm everything like a real German, instead of just answering in a non-verbal way. I confidently agreed with all the queries by saying things as “Ja, klar” and “genau”. The adrenaline that rushed through my veins really pumped me up, and the state of satisfaction and pride on that particular moment was a feeling to remember. While talking to RevierSport’s head of the online section, the team was showing him our plan about the structure of the online magazine.
After two minutes of intensive German talk, the guys promised the Chief Executive a marvelous idea. It immediately got my attention, because I was curious too. Our project leader began to unveil the plan. Then he looked at me and said: “Nick, our Erasmus student, has never been to a football match before, so we’d like to film him when the supporters of Rot-Weiß-Essen integrate him in their fan culture. It will be funny and amusing. Exactly what we need for our magazine!” I was stunned, couldn’t say a word. Were they serious? Would I, the greatest football outsider of Europe, make an item about myself getting drunk on a local beer, singing extremist songs and going wild on the first goal? Well… I gave it a try.
There we were; four real men, two giant cameras, an expensive audio set and I. As a moderator and protagonist, I had to talk all the time. My team obviously wanted to make a funny reportage: “Nick… In German please”. I was dying inside, but managed to talk that beautiful language for more than eight hours. Horrible. But since I’m media horny, I enjoyed it in some way. The fans weren’t that stupid as I thought they’d be, but the beer –it’s called Stauder- was almost undrinkable. The taste was harsh and really bitter. But the Essener people are proud of it, so I pretended it was the loveliest lager I’d ever had.
I learned some songs too. Not that there was much to learn ‘cause it was just a repetition of the same words ten times. The most lovely thing of them all was the passion with which the fans marched towards the arena. They wanted their team to win so as to party all night long. The atmosphere was amazing! When I entered the stadium for the first time, I was overwhelmed by the eight thousand spectators all yelling for their team. When the game began, It was obvious that the extremist core wasn’t really there to see the guys playing. They just enjoyed roaring songs, gobbling beer and fluttering their red-white flags. Such an enthusiastic crowd. I really got sucked into it. Although the score stayed 0-0, I savoured every moment of the evening. And the best part is that it’s captured on film. So… Check out the movie! The interesting part starts at 3:30! Next week I'll write a blog about the curiosities of German porn!
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen