The Ball 2006

Here’s another report, this time from the Thüringer Allgemeine (UPDATE: you can find the original German article here):

Globetrotter with football

The most attractive spin-off from next year’s world championship has got better still. Christian Wach, from England, proclaims the spirit of football and in Erfurt he met plenty of soulmates.

Instead of a diplomatic passport he has a football in his pocket. Instead of classy tweeds he wears baggy jeans and so is always up for a kickabout in the street. Christian Wach, from London, is an ambassador for football and this week presented his credentials to Erfurt’s privy council for world championship matters, the “Spirit of Football” association.

“I am a fan of football and not of any particular team,” he says, setting the record straight from the start. So: not one of England’s uncouth itinerant brawlers. Rather he’s a globetrotter in football matters and came on his fellow aficionados via their website, “spirit-of-football.com.” Hardly surprising: his website has the same name, apart from the hyphens.

“I shall be back for the big game”, he said yesterday, taking leave of his new friends. Meaning the 24-hour match on a specially created sand-pitch at Brühl which the Spirit of Football association hopes will be the high point of activity in Erfurt during the world championship.

In the meantime Christian Wach will be on his travels. In 2002 he made the long overland pilgrimage to that championship’s host country South Korea. The opening match in 2006 will likewise be the conclusion of a tour, a tour on which he — like the Erfurters — sees football first and foremost as the basis for friendship.

Four years ago he set up a match with Tibetan monks and kicked around with Uzbek children; this time Belgium and Switzerland are en route. He would like to play at Ypres, where in the First World War enemy soldiers took part in a historic match during a Christmas break in hostilities; and launch a friendly assault on FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich. Before he then moves to the opening game in Munich comes the match at Point Alpha: Spirit-of-Football v. spiritoffootball. Also early on his schedule is a making flying visit to London’s Hackney Marches where amateur players from 130 countries come together every weekend: exactly as per the Erfurt motto “Fans will be friends.”

Christian Wach, a multimedia specialist, turned his Korean trip into a film. It doesn’t just show the interview he gave to CNN in Seoul. We see him juggling in Red Square and kicking a ball over the Great Wall of China.

In Uzbekistan he made a detour to visit the grave of his grandfather. “He was born in America, my grandmother comes from Slovakia, and my mother from Germany. I’m just a human being.” It’s unlikely he will find traces of his forebears in Thuringia. His mother’s family hails from Mecklenburg.

Many thanks to John Taylor for the translation.

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Here’s a copy of some coverage that we (both Spirits of Football) were given recently in the Thüringer Landes Zeitung. Many thanks to John Taylor for a translation of the article. (UPDATE: you can find the original German article here)

“The Ball” on the Petersberg

At the Olympics it’s the blazing torch that’s carried across the world to its destination – for the world soccer championship it’s “the Ball” that’s kicked from Battersea Park, in London, to next year’s opening game in Munich. Kicked by football fans accompanying Christian Wach, from Bristol (UK), and by everyone, young or old, they meet en route.

Erfurters included: this coming year “the Ball” will dribble and bounce through Erfurt before coming to rest in Munich — for the fellow “Spirits of Football” from Erfurt and Bristol have joined forces. It’s both the name of Christian’s initiative — and the name of the Erfurt association set up by New Zealander Andrew Aris. He wants to make the capital a centre of sporting and cultural activity for the 2006 World Cup and, as reported in the TLZ, has secured prime minister Dieter Althaus as patron. Beach soccer and a beach cocktail bar to be built at Brühl are part of this — as is a 24-hour football marathon on the Petersberg with “the Ball” which should by then have arrived in Erfurt.

It will arrive covered in signatures, since all who join in can leave their mark on the leather, just like at the 2002 World Cup in Seoul. “Football knows no frontiers and is not bothered about borders, we play as ambassadors for international understanding”, says Christian explaining the idea behind his sporting enterprise.

In this spirit, “the Ball” travelled along the Great Wall of China in 2002 and was the focus of a friendly match with monks in Tibet who wore the shirt of their favourite team under their robes — and in 2006 is set to bridge the former German-German border at “Point Alpha,” between Hesse and Thuringia. “The wall and the frontier have gone as structures but not yet in the minds of men.” Christian and the footballers want to make a small contribution in this direction. And “in passing” offer proof in Germany that English fans are not all lager louts…

On a smaller scale football will bridge borders as early as tomorrow — in the Thüringerhalle on the initiative of Erfurt’s “Spirit of Football” activists. “Christmas 2005 — Fans into Friends” is the name of the sporting and cultural festival that runs from 4 to 11pm. Teams from Russia, Africa, Poland and Vietnam will try their skills against players from Rot-Weiss Erfurt, the Engelsburg Student Club and also the Thuringian Press Group (as reported in TLZ). A samba band is preparing an evening programme from 8pm on which also includes eastern dancing, a “buffet of cultures” with international specialities, and stalls at which clubs and associations with an international focus will present their work. The soccer victors will take their applause at 9pm, with Hartwig Gauder presenting the cups, and from 11pm there follows an after show party in the Engelsburg.

Info: Fans become Friends; tomorrow 4-11pm Thüringerhalle
Contact: www.spirit-of-football.com (Erfurt)
www.spiritoffootball.com (Bristol)
14.12.2005
Anette Elsner

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Okay, so The Ball — or The Spirit of Football to give it its full title here on this site — has been unveiled. This is a replica of the mind-bogglingly expensive official ball, but anyway this is what it looks like, folks. Its name is Teamgeist, which translates as Team Spirit and makes me wonder if someone at adidas is coming round to our way of thinking… they’ve got the word “spirit” in it after all. Only another three words to get in there and it’ll have converged completely. Can’t wait to start kicking it!

Andrew Aris of the Spirit-of-Football

I’ve just arrived back from a week in Germany, where I met up with the good folks at the other Spirit-of-Football in Erfurt. It’s the World Cup draw later on today — which should include the announcement of The Ball for 2006 — and I’m really starting to feel the gathering momentum towards a feast of football.

What a great project Andrew is in the process of setting up.

UPDATE: Andrew has just been signed professionally by Rot Weiss Erfurt! Congratulations Andrew, can we have you on our side please?

Another great find by The Global Game, this time alerting me to Pitch Perfect. This from the website:

“Pitch Perfect will see the creation of a brand new football anthem to reflect football in 2005. It will be fully accessible, culturally reflective of the communities involved and, more than anything, fun for those singing it! Pitch Perfect aims to develop links between football and music. It draws upon the musical tradition present in football history through the commissioning of a brand new choral and instrumental work which is written to celebrate the ‘beautiful game’.”

The song will be premiered on Friday 18 November 2005 at Wembley Conference Centre. I look forward to hearing it.

Update: The Guardian posted an article which reports that Sepp Blatter wants to ban the playing of national anthems prior to internationals – perhaps they could be replaced by this song instead?

Well, would you believe it? FIFA head honcho Sepp Blatter sets out a mission statement for football – and it’s one that I heartily welcome. Here’s what he said (as reported in this Guardian article):

“football is more about grass-roots than idols; more about giving entertainment and hope to the many than bogus popularity to a predictable few; more about respecting others than satisfying individual greed, whether for adulation or money”

Bring it on, Sepp!

Update: Herr Blatter will be on BBC Radio 5 Live at 8pm this evening (Thursday 13th Oct) to answer questions – should be a fascinating and (hopefully) incendiary show.

The Register is reporting that a Bogus FIFA lottery scam hits the net. FIFA has more information here. As usual, if anyone emails you to tell you you’ve won a fortune, caution is likely to be the best approach. Actually, make that downright disbelief – being hit by a meteor is far more likely… hmm, what’s that noi

I know it’s easy to be magnanimous in victory, but it’s great to see a different view of Wednesday’s England vs. Northern Ireland match to the hysterical media frenzy of “sack the Swede”. Mark Perryman of London England Fans posted on the LEF mailing list what Michael Boyd of the Irish FA wrote in a letter to him:

Fair play to David Beckham and the England Supporters for taking defeat so well. I thought the England Supporters behaved impeccably and there was not one arrest around the game which was arguably the biggest sporting event ever to take place in Northern Ireland. There are good relations between the England and Northern Ireland Fans and I thought both sets of supporters deserve a special mention for observing the minute silence for Colin Murdoch’s father with such dignity and respect. I was also impressed with David Beckham taking the time to applaud both the England and Northern Ireland Fans after the game. I wish England and their excellent supporters all the best for the future. England fans often receive a negative press in the media and we know how damaging and frustrating that can be. So lets hope they get the credit they are due!

As Mark says:

At least something good came out of Wednesday!

Interesting post on the Global Game mailing list recently concerning the development of the game from its origins to what we take for granted as the shape and style of the modern game. The excerpts that follow are copied from a larger post about Scottish football which is a fascinating read in itself. In fact, the newsletter is generally full of interesting and offbeat football stories. Highly recommended.

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Phil and I will be showing the five minute film and talking about the Spirit of Football project at the next London Englandfans meeting at the Offside bar on City Road in London on Thursday evening. We’re both very much looking forward to the event… according to Mark Perryman, who organises these meetings, it’s “an open meeting to discuss and plan Englandfans forums and initiatives through to the end of the year and think ahead to World Cup 2006”. Bring it on!