The Ball 2006

Time to get up
So then, on with our imaginary chronology of The Ball. You may remember that it checked in to a hostel in Erfurt and fell asleep. Well, eventually, it awoke from its slumber and bounced on to check out the fervour of our German hosts as their team played Poland in the group [...]

Yes, it’s one big ball that we all live on together.
If there’s anything more important than football — it’s this. We do nothing but shoot ourselves in the foot every time we foul the earth. So let’s play fair with it. Sign it somewhere by all means, but pass it on as clean as you [...]

Phil’s still cracking on at dawn
While The Ball sleeps on in Erfurt, there’s just time for a short interlude while Phil explains the secrets of German curtains… at the crack of dawn, just when he needs them most.

The Opera Hostel in Erfurt
Okay, time for another “behind-the-scenes” look at the life of The Ball in Germany. Phil and I arrived in Erfurt from the Opening Ceremony in München to find that Andrew’s Spirit-of-Football project had run into horrendous sponsor problems and that most of what they had been planning had of necessity been [...]

Germany’s other pundit — other than Rudi Völler, that is
I’ve been reading on various blogs, most humorously in this post on twohundredpercent’s blog which I came across because he commented on our post on the Guardian blog (was that the equivalent of a blogging love-in?) that the commentary on the games has been infuriating. In [...]

Flags hanging in the Hauptmarkt in Nürnberg
Andrew, Phil and I headed to Nürnberg for the England v Trinidad and Tobago game to see what kind of atmosphere these two sets of fans brought to the city. Actually, that’s not quite true — Andrew had a ticket for the game — it was Phil and me [...]

Andrew, Phil and I went to Nürnberg to check out the city during the England v Trinidad and Tobago game and found a city of two halves

Trinibagan drummers strut their stuff

On the one hand the Trinibagans dancing, laughing, playing and inviting everyone else around them to do so too. Check out the video to see [...]

Andrew kisses the badge

And then shows Phil that he prepares for the England v Trinidad and Tobago game in other more unusual ways.

The Phantom Fouler reports from England that, according to an article in The Sun, the ball which was used in the 1966 World Cup final is travelling to Germany for a few days. Apparently, its presence will “inspire England to victory over Sweden”.
Hmm, I thought that was Sven’s job, but we’ll see.
UPDATE: it’s true — [...]

Phil just can’t tear himself away from the beautiful game…

UPDATE: thanks to the Phantom Fouler for pointing out that it’s almost impossible to make out the title of the book that Phil fell asleep reading. So here the spoiler — it’s Hunter Davies’ I Love Football…