“What a memorable landing.”
That’s how my son greeted wifey and me as we came out of Munich International Airport on June 14. I wasn’t sure what’s so great or memorable about our arrival as we had just met a week ago in another country and there was no mark-the-date family event unbeknownst to me.
As the car gently rolled into the city in the evening, still awash with the summer solstice brilliance, the ‘memorable’ part my son had mentioned needed no explanation; it manifested on the road and alleyways as people held up the Bundesflagge, the black-red-gold German tricolour, to celebrate the host country’s thrashing of Scotland 5-1 in the opening game of Euro 2024 in Munich. As we drove on, it was surprising to see the city basking in the Scottish blue despite their defeat.
That’s the beauty about the great game called football in Europe — unlike cricket — as fans are never let down by a single bad day — not forgetting the many bloody riots that had rocked the region in the past — but rally around to raise a toast to their nationalistic pride or club loyalty.
In Munich, the German euphoria after the host nation got through to the knockout stage after beating Hungary 2-0 in Stuttgart was clearly dampened by fan crowds pouring in from across the borders. When Germany met Hungary on June 19, I was roaming around in the Waldtrudering neighbourhood of Munich where I am spending my holidays. While pizzerias on both sides of Wasserburger Landstrasse street in this eastern part of Munich attracted not-so-large crowds, families living in the serene Waldtrudering area hosted friends and relatives on their large lawns to watch the match on televisions.
I started to wonder if the German intelligence report that a Middle Eastern terrorist group could carry out a major attack during the European Football Championships was playing out in the local residents’ subconscious minds.
In the early afternoon of June 20, Carlsplatz and Marineplatz, the two main shopping streets of Munich which attract tourists in large numbers, the crowd was unusually thin with Euro matches going on at different locations. As match results started to pour in towards the evening, both plazas got crowded with fans, while police vehicles and ambulances took up positions in many alleyways around the Munich City Hall, the historic Odeonsplatz and English Garden.
Around a dozen Serbian fans who played music to celebrate their country’s 1-1 equaliser with Slovenia, which keeps both teams in contention for a place in the last 16, snowballed into a large celebration where people sang and danced while armed policemen closed in to keep a vigilant watch. A giant Serbian national flag fluttered in the air unmindful of an overcast sky.
I tagged along as the fan crowds streamed towards the Marienplatz railway station on their way to the Euro 2024 Fan Zone, next to the Olympic Park in Munich’s Am Riesenfeld district.
A large number of fans donning and waving different flags sang, screamed, and emptied snack kiosks around BMW World, the auto giant’s exhibition-cum-museum outside the Olympiazentrum train station. Some strolled, some ran a sprint while others screamed and laughed their way to the Fan Zone, the heart of football fever, where you can see all the matches live, watch different musical bands, theatrical performances and movies — apart from indulging in health classes.
“Don’t you watch the ongoing IPL 2024 in the US,” I asked my son as we walked back to the train station.
“Cricket? What cricket? Dad, it’s blasphemous to talk about IPL when the Euro Cup is played.”
He’s right. For a Dubai-based Indian, who is sick with an overdose of cricket around the year, Euro 2024 offers a month-long detox. And since I’m at the right place at the right time, let me score a ‘panenka’ over cricket, with or without the Hand of God.