Tuesday, May 15, 2012

English Fans Inspected Kiev and Donetsk



British musicians from the England Supporters Band, who support England's national football team at all championships for over 15 years, recently visited Kiev and Donetsk - the cities, where their favourite team will play in June. Having spent five days in Ukraine, Englishmen made up their own opinion about country's preparation level to the final part of Euro-2012and shared it with journalists.
"We arrived in Kiev from Manchester. During the tour around the city we noticed a large tall column with a lady on its top at the Independence Square. It reminded us the column with Admiral Nelson on its top at Trafalgar Square," the band's founder John Hemmingham told.
Afterwards the visitors from England booked tickets on the return train Donetsk - Kiev in advance and rented a car in order to get to Donetsk. At that, musicians noted that they were pleasantly surprised by the 'Ukraine' hotel's service. "We didn't even expect something like this. Messenger, who brought our train tickets, arrived earlier and waited for us to show up," John Hemmingham mentioned.
Having made a stroll through Kiev, the Englishmen were delighted by capital's sights and, having visited local cafes - by national cuisine: Ukrainian borscht amazed the foreign guests at most. Then the aficionados checked out the main arena of Euro-2012 - Kievan national sports complex 'Olympic'.
"We met stadium's administration and press service. We wanted to see, if the administration was open and friendly enough to show the stadium to people like us, who just walked in from the street. They let us pass and even organized a small tour. We liked the hospitality very much. We were taken to the field, told about the stadium's history and shown the whole infrastructure," the England Supporters Band's leader shared his impressions.
Warm reception waited for English guests in Donetsk as well. There they wanted to see the 'Donbas Arena' stadium, where English national team will play two matches in European Championship's group tournament. John Hemmingham pointed out that the band was formed in Sheffield - the brother town of Donetsk - and that this is very symbolic in the context of the coming tournament.
The visitors also shared their impressions about Ukrainian roads. "We had GPS system in our car, and it helped us a lot, while the majority of signs on roads were in Ukrainian," the group's leader told. Englishmen also had to stand in traffic jams, but they perceived this situation not as inconvenience, but as opportunity to learn the Ukrainian drivers better. The latter ones spoiled musicians' impressions about Ukraine, though.
"Driving style in Ukraine is different from English one," noted England Supporters Band's trombonist Bernie Clifton. "And it's not only about the opposite driving direction. Local drivers are more aggressive and adventurous. Moreover, we found out that sometimes it's better to drive over the "English" side of the road in order to move forward, and not to remain in the slow moving column of cars for a long time." "The roads' condition is fair, therefore, we wouldn't advise driving at night," - John Hemmingham summed up.
The only positive impression from Ukrainian roads was the large - compared to England's - number of gas stations. At that, John Hemmingham was surprised by the fact that in Ukraine you have to pay first, while in England you may refill your tank first and then pay for it.
The members of England Supporters Band also shared their attitude to the overpriced hotel-rooms in Ukraine. "We still hope that hotel owners' common sense will gain the upper hand," John Hemmingham stated. He also reminded about the similar situation during World Football Championship 2010 in South Africa: hotels' deficit and overpriced accommodation. "However, when there were no bookings five-six weeks before the tournament's start, the hotel owners realized that they may stay empty-handed and lowered the prices," noted he.
Bernie Clifton also stressed that, after visiting Ukraine, he can confidently state that all slandering publications in Western press about tournament's host have nothing to do with reality.



Share on :

0 коментара:

Post a Comment

 
© Copyright S-Sportnews 2011 - Some rights reserved | Powered by Blogger.com.
Template Design by Herdiansyah Hamzah | Published by Borneo Templates and Theme4all