The Ball reaches 2800m
Our arrival in the almost unpronounceable Kyrgyzstan, a nation consisting of less flat surfaces than any other, made playing football a little more tricky than in the flatlands of Europe, Russia and Uzbekistan. Nonetheless, we found that Bishkek, the capital provided us with more football than we had expected.
It has been a continuous source of amazement to me that wherever we stop, somehow we manage to find ourselves blessed by fortuitous footballing coincidences. We have tried our best to research football in the stops on our route, but have found this to be extremely difficult.
But the kids playing at the Registan in Samarkhand, the locals at the minaret in Bukhara… these were some of the best times in the trip for me. They confirmed in my mind how widespread football culture is, and, in my more conspiratorial moments, acted as signs that what we are doing has value… that somehow we have a footballing guardian angel looking over the Ball which guides us to the right place at the right time.
And now in Bishkek, a city that had seemed impossibly remote to me as we planned this trip, the minute we arrived back in town after a hike in the mountains, we heard the roar of a crowd from our hotel balcony. Intrigued, we followed the sound down the road to find Bishkek football stadium a few hundred metres from our hotel, with a game already in progress.
We made our way into the stadium, slightly nervously, as we had no tickets. This didn’t seem to bother the militia who stood at the gates, so in we went, to find Spartak Bishkek playing a team from the Army.
Bishkek Stadium
Looking around, we could see the local supporters on our left, and on our right, a sizeable contingent of soldiers. We were ushered towards the Spartak side of the stadium at first, but there wasn’t much support for the Bishkek team, and it seemed to be the Army who were making all the sound. So, taking a deep breath, we strolled to the back of the Army stand, mindful of the reputation that militias of all kinds have in this part of the world.
It was much more fun being amidst the noise and enthusiasm of the soldiers at this end of the ground, so I got out a video camera and started filming the scene from behind them, and to my surprise, they turned to us with friendly and inquisitive faces…
Kyrgyz army supporters
Phil explained our journey to the soldiers who had a smattering of English, and, once again, the Russian translation of our mission came to our aid. Suddenly, many of them gathered round the Ball, admiring the signatures and asking us rapid-fire questions about our trip – where had we been, where were we going? I felt honoured that they had so readily accepted us, and that we could bridge the gap of our cultural backgrounds in this simple exchange of enthusiasm for the game.
The Kyrgyz army love the Ball
As a final gesture of friendship at the end of the game, we asked a couple of the more vocal and friendly soldiers to sign the ball. They readily agreed, and Phil took the photo above to comemmorate the occasion.
Written by Christian Wach on Saturday, April 27th, 2002
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