So yesterday was the big footie day. AGF-Brøndby. A modern classic in Danish soccer. Both teams have had a pretty bad season though. AGF even worse than Brøndby. Maybe that’s why there were only some 11,000 spectators. I’d expect 20,000 to a game like this. But obviously I’m not going to complain about there being too FEW people. There were plenty to get me nervous.
It all went well though. My dad and brother were waiting for me when I got to the bus. And we got out to the stadium. There was a little walk from the bus stop. In beautiful surroundings. The woods. And as we got closer to NRGi Park, as the Århus Stadion is called now, we could hear the Brøndby fans singing. Even from quite a distance and with half an hour to go before the kickoff. There’s a reason why Brøndby’s fans are the best in Denmark. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a Brøndby fan myself. Brøndby really do have the best supporters in Denmark. And when we play international games we always get praise too.
And as we get into the stadium itself the singing just got louder and louder. And then I saw the colours.
Yellow and blue. The colours of my heart.
I wish I could have gone over there and joined the Brøndby crowd. That would have been something. Now that I have seen Brøndby live there are two things I still want: see Brøndby live on Brøndby Stadium. And see The Smashing Pumpkins live. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to do either, since they would probably both require a trip to Copenhagen. And I hate traveling and that junk.
But anyway. Back to yesterday.
My brother Peter and my father Kaj. It was nice going with them. They’ve been there plenty of times before so I could just tag along and not worry about getting the right busses or going the right places or doing the right things. That was a big help.
My brother is a big AGF fan. So we’re always giving each other a hard time when our respective team isn’t doing well. My dad is more neutral. He wasn’t born in Århus so AGF isn’t his club.
Our seats were on the top row. All the way up in the sky, it seemed. Too far away from the pitch to get really good pictures unfortunately. But it still felt close. Very different from sitting in front of the TV of course. The Brøndby fans constantly singing. The fresh breeze because we were so high. All the senses alive.
I just loved the feeling and the atmosphere. I found it harder to concentrate on the actual football, though. It’s easier to follow when you watch it on TV. I kept wondering why there were no instant replays when something exciting happened. Then I realized that there WERE actually instant replays. On the scoreboard. Almost like watching TV after all.
You could barely hear the home crowd. The Brøndby fans kept singing throughout the entire game. My dad told me that usually he’d be able to hear the AGF fans when they played, but this game all you could hear were the away fans. Brøndby fans really are the best.
The game itself wasn’t amazing. Brøndby played the best football, AGF had the most chances. AGF with lots of injured players, Brøndby with nothing to really play for. We went ahead 1-0 with a bit of a lucky goal from Martin Ericsson. Anders Kure equalized for AGF just as time was running out. That was the only time you could hear the AGF fans. A big cheery roar. And then the game was over. 1-1 no disaster. If I had been watching at home I would have been seriously annoyed and maybe even depressed at that ending. But seeing it live I was just enjoying the experience too much to care about the result.
It was a thing of beauty to me.
Now I know y’all ain’t too interested in soccer, suckers. So I won’t bore you with too many pictures. I made an album. To savour the memories. And a few highlights:
Martin Ericsson, the goal-scorer, and Kasper Lorentzen. Or K-Lo as I think we should start calling him.
Stefan Gislason, the icelandic captain of the team.
Stephan Anderssen, keeper of the goal.
It was such a treat to get to see the guys running around before my very eyes. I wish I could have gotten closer. Gotten better pictures. Gotten autographs. Told David Williams about how I knew this rocking Australian chick from Livejournal who’s a fan. And so on. But I am very pleased with what I did manage to do. There was a time in my life when going to a big game like this, or any game for that matter, would have been impossible. So I truly appreciate being able to go and experience this thing. All my life I have loved Brøndby and watched tons of football on the telly and played it myself with the old classmates and even for a short while in a club. Football means a lot to me and Brøndby means a whole more lot to me. So it really was a great day.
Towards the end of the game some fans began throwing roman candles. You’re not allowed to bring those to the game. Also some Brøndby supporters apparently wrecked a couple of train carriages on their way home. That is the downside of the supporters. But 99,9% of them are nice and peaceful and I didn’t experience anything bad. Only the beautiful colours and the constant singing.
It is the most joy I have felt without animals being involved, I think.
In non-football related news: Today I ordered my new computer! It’s a monster. Hopefully I should get it by the end of the week or the beginning of next week. And hopefully there will be no problems with it. For 10,000 bucks it better be good…
Tomorrow I must go see the goats, it’s been a couple of days without them (today is a holiday. Whitsun?). I must check up on Mads. It’s a week since the 10-day treatment started. I hope he’s starting to do better. That would be on the top of my wanted list, above Brøndby stadium and the Pumpkins.
Fingers crossed.
