World Cup

I don't know anything about the World Cup, but I have noticed a marked difference in the behaviour of the fans and the reaction of the police to them here in Brussels.

There were quite a few English fans here on Saturday. Perhaps they got lost, or perhaps they were just stopping off on their way to Germany- I don't know, but before the match there were hundreds of them on Boulevard Anspach outside the Irish Pub "O'Rielly's". They were, on the whole, young men dressed in the team colours. They were all drinking heavily, singing and generally seeming to be quite threatening. I saw a large number of people cross the street to avoid going past them. There were police and paddy wagons everywhere and I even saw a water cannon being driven around the city. I didn't venture out later after the match so I don't know how they celebrated England's victory over Paraguay, but I can guess... on Sunday morning there was quite a few broken bottles and a lot of litter outside the Irish Pub...

In stark contrast, last night when heading home after the Hash I saw (and heard) the Italian fans celebrating their victory. There is a large Italian community here in Brussels and they were out in force. There were loads of cars with girls sitting on the doors out of the windows waving the Italian flag, while the drivers were tooting their horns and they were all shouting "Italia! Italia!" and waving to everybody and anybody as they drove around the city centre in very high spirits. When I got within a couple of hundred yards of "O'Rielly's" I found the police had closed the road to traffic. I wondered if there was any trouble at the bar, but there wasn't a paddy wagon in sight (unlike on Saturday). When I reached La Bourse, where "O'Rielly's", is I discovered why the road was closed - because the Italian fans were dancing in the street. It felt like a great big happy party that everyone was welcome to join in on - very different from the Saturday.

It may be a bit disloyal, but I hope Italy continues to do well - apart from the tooting of car horns late into the night their fans were causing no agro, and they really seemed to be having a good time and they certainly know how to celebrate! Shame I can't say the same about the English fans...