For those who were out there what was it like? I assume Greece away is one of the more intimidating places to go to, both in and outside the ground. Read a lot of reports of police tear gassing fans for pretty much no reason at all.
I only realised there was an England game last night when I saw a mention of the result on tv this morning. Once upon a time an England game would have been a big deal. I can’t believe it slipped under the radar of everything else I’ve been focussing upon, of which there wasn’t anything necessarily that noteworthy so far this week, unless you count the Charlton v Bromley galatico match of course.
I got in half an hour before KO and was absolutely fine. Heard it went south after that.
Good performance especially first 25 mins, that opening goal was wonderful football. Left 15 mins to go as couldn’t be doing with another lock in. Athens is a great city.
For those who were out there what was it like? I assume Greece away is one of the more intimidating places to go to, both in and outside the ground. Read a lot of reports of police tear gassing fans for pretty much no reason at all.
Really tame tbh mate. No problem in the city or around the ground with locals. I think it's different for fans visiting with clubs though, where they are a bit more partisan.
We were only held back for about 20 minutes, and they ran the metro late especially to get us all back in town. 21.45 is a mad ko time though, I wasn't back into the centre until 1am.
The police/stadium security created a ridiculous bottle neck to get into the ground, funnelling 3,500 fans through 3 gates for the initial ticket check. They all had their riot gear and gas masks on, and just started spraying for no reason claiming there was a 'surge'. I don't think any other nation in our group would get that treatment.
For those who were out there what was it like? I assume Greece away is one of the more intimidating places to go to, both in and outside the ground. Read a lot of reports of police tear gassing fans for pretty much no reason at all.
Really tame tbh mate. No problem in the city or around the ground with locals. I think it's different for fans visiting with clubs though, where they are a bit more partisan.
We were only held back for about 20 minutes, and they ran the metro late especially to get us all back in town. 21.45 is a mad ko time though, I wasn't back into the centre until 1am.
The police/stadium security created a ridiculous bottle neck to get into the ground, funnelling 3,500 fans through 3 gates for the initial ticket check. They all had their riot gear and gas masks on, and just started spraying for no reason claiming there was a 'surge'. I don't think any other nation in our group would get that treatment.
Yeah i experienced this in Qatar for the World Cup where some of the games were 10pm kick offs. Coming out of a stadium at midnight is bizarre.
For those who were out there what was it like? I assume Greece away is one of the more intimidating places to go to, both in and outside the ground. Read a lot of reports of police tear gassing fans for pretty much no reason at all.
Really tame tbh mate. No problem in the city or around the ground with locals. I think it's different for fans visiting with clubs though, where they are a bit more partisan.
We were only held back for about 20 minutes, and they ran the metro late especially to get us all back in town. 21.45 is a mad ko time though, I wasn't back into the centre until 1am.
The police/stadium security created a ridiculous bottle neck to get into the ground, funnelling 3,500 fans through 3 gates for the initial ticket check. They all had their riot gear and gas masks on, and just started spraying for no reason claiming there was a 'surge'. I don't think any other nation in our group would get that treatment.
Finishing at 9:30pm feels bad enough in the UK, as most people can barely make their last trains home from Wembley but that's earlier than almost every European nation. I never understood why they don't stagger them so they just start at 7:45pm local time rather than all kicking off at the same time regardless of time zone
I think the locals must be used to such late kickoffs, as games seem to kick off at a set time of 7.45pm UK time in most European countries, so most of Europe is used to 8:45 kickoffs, and Greece where the time zone is +2 hours over the UK would then be 9:45.
Greece fans made a noise whenever they were on an attack or got a corner, and I can imagine if they had scored it would have been deafening.
But outside of that, they were kept relatively quiet. The early goal from Watkins helped.
Might have been different in the Stadium, but the lack of noise after the second goal sounds almost hilarious. In an instant went from the Greeks making a load of noise, to where you could have heard a pin drop apart from the small noise from the England fans.
Comments
Good performance especially first 25 mins, that opening goal was wonderful football. Left 15 mins to go as couldn’t be doing with another lock in. Athens is a great city.
We were only held back for about 20 minutes, and they ran the metro late especially to get us all back in town. 21.45 is a mad ko time though, I wasn't back into the centre until 1am.
The police/stadium security created a ridiculous bottle neck to get into the ground, funnelling 3,500 fans through 3 gates for the initial ticket check. They all had their riot gear and gas masks on, and just started spraying for no reason claiming there was a 'surge'. I don't think any other nation in our group would get that treatment.
But outside of that, they were kept relatively quiet. The early goal from Watkins helped.