The Ball 2006

Time’s up!

So that’s it then for another four years. A final game and a final post. This is Battersea Park to Munich spliced together for you all. It still rather roughly edited and still needs voiceover — we’re working on it…

South Africa next time… Watch out!

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Andrew kisses the badge

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

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…

Izzy plays the flute for England

It’s not so easy being on the road sometimes. I miss my partner Anna and her daughter Izzy — I can’t wait to see them again. In the meantime, this little video keeps me smiling. I haven’t forgotten about your flag either, Iz… The shrub at the bottom [...]

Andrew Aris

We’ve settled in Erfurt in Thüringia to recover from the stresses of travel and video-blogging, and to meet up with Andrew, whom I met when I came over to Germany just before Christmas. He’s been organising a project here that’s also called Spirit of Football and contacted us when he found that [...]