Back from the game(s)

[Para Handy]

at the Security at the Stadium. We were in Lyon for Ukraine v Northern Ireland and Romania v Albania.

Quick pat down both times getting into the Stadium. I had a phone and a camera in my pockets. No questions asked about what the large metal objects were. Was harder to get into the Fan zone. Airport style security there. Everything off, watch, belt, money etc. All in a tray. No surprise that people were getting flares in to the ground.

Northern Ireland v Ukraine was a bit of a disjointed game for us. Went up to the Stadium about 4 hours before kick off so we could watch the England v Wales game live. Wouldn't have had time to watch in the city. Found out our seats were in the first row right next to pitchside which was nice... until about 5 minutes into the game when there was a massive thunderstorm with hail, lightning etc. Spent the next 85 minutes up on the massive concourse trying to dodge the stewards/police who were insisting we return to our soaked seats.

Northern Ireland fans had about 75% of the stadium. Loads of them wandering around Lyon. Very good natured fans.

Albania v Romania. A game that all our m8's have been taking the piss out of for months turned out to be great. Very enjoyable. Great atmosphere. Was, quite frankly, amazed at how many Albanians were there given the fact that they're probably not the richest country in Europe. Like the Irish they must have had at least 75% of the stadium. Went absolutely mental at everything. Romanian fans, which might not have shown on the TV, lit a flare during their National Anthem. Bloke stood there holding it for at least 3 minutes and they then set off a massive flare in the top tier that went on for about 5 minutes behind a flag. Also threw flares on the pitch. Not seen any mention of trouble at this game though.

All in all, a very good time. First night at the hotel we had the celebrating Icelandic fans in the bar who loved the fact that we knew who Gylfi was. They were ecstatic, and very pissed!

Was quite interesting to check out the different fans at breakfast each morning... like the Albanian fan who came down to breakfast wearing his scarf. lolz.

Very low key Euro's tho. Get the impression most of France don't know about it. Even the "Official" Euro Fans shop is only selling about 6 T-Shirts. None of the usual tat available.

Lovely stadium tho, although the organisation could be better.

[Silver Fox]

Very low key Euro's tho. Get the impression most of France don't know about it.

Thought this when we arrived yesterday. Considering in 2012 there was Olympic branding all over the South of England I expected at least bienvenue sign when we got off the train. This morning I noticed a tiny euro 2016 logo on a road sign by the hotel but that's it

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Yeah we got train from Gare du Lyon to Gare du Nord to get the eurostar last week and was really surprised to see so little. There were just a couple of people in staff jumpers pointing lost-looking footy fans towards the correct trains

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Got back on Tuesday from the Slovakia game...

Decided to bite the bullet and keep it cheap and cheerful so we drove down to Folkestone, got the Eurotunnel and then drove the 1000 mile round trip to St Etienne from Calais.

Unbelivable atmosphere and experience, just a bit gutted we'd traveled so far not to see a goal, especially with all that we created.

Security was a bit of a shambles, crammed in and very claustrophobic for about 15 mins stood still until 1 guy patted me down and we walked into the stadium...so much for the increased security.

Oh and contender for worst beer ever must be at the ground, 0.5% Carlsberg which was absolutely rank!!

Anyway, looking forward to going back out to the QF assuming we beat GYLFI FC.

[stealthpapes]

Loads rocked up a bit late for Iceland Hungary and it ended up with a good thousand or so trying to get past four security guys in one part of the ground. Absolute shambles.

Great atmospheres throughout, even in the fan zone.



full kit wankers

[AthleticoSpizz]

Predictable..but fun

[tmesis]

Loads rocked up a bit late for Iceland Hungary and it ended up with a good thousand or so trying to get past four security guys in one part of the ground. Absolute shambles.

It did hammer down in Marseille at halftime of the 3pm game, which is sort of the time everyone would normally choose to go to the game.

The security gates are a joke. First off they close of loads of roads so it takes an absolute age to walk from one side of the ground to the other, then they have nowhere enough people doing the searching, so it takes an age to get through. Queuing for half an hour was almost normal.

Loads of Hungarians still got in with flares anyway, many of which got chucked onto the pitch when they equalised. They were a heck of a noisy bunch though, and they must have had something like 20000 there.

[leon]

Loads rocked up a bit late for Iceland Hungary and it ended up with a good thousand or so trying to get past four security guys in one part of the ground. Absolute shambles.

It did hammer down in Marseille at halftime of the 3pm game, which is sort of the time everyone would normally choose to go to the game.

The security gates are a joke. First off they close of loads of roads so it takes an absolute age to walk from one side of the ground to the other, then they have nowhere enough people doing the searching, so it takes an age to get through. Queuing for half an hour was almost normal.

Loads of Hungarians still got in with flares anyway, many of which got chucked onto the pitch when they equalised. They were a heck of a noisy bunch though, and they must have had something like 20000 there.

Hungary Iceland was one of the best atmospheres at a game I've ever been to. Absolutely superb - both sets of fans were going for it.

[stealthpapes]

Yeah, agreed on that.

[leon]

I expect they're still going mental now.