The celebrations of Scottish fans before the opening of the European Championship football in Germany are a reminder of what Huuhkajie supporters still have to wait for, writes Jussi Vainikka.
Jussi Vainikka reports on European Championship football from Germany
The opening match of the European Football Championship between Germany and Scotland at 21:00 on TV2 and Areena. All matches live on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
MUNICH.
Let’s rewind the football clock three years. At that time, the European championship was exceptionally decided in 11 countries. The idea with its travel was already stupid when it was born, but in the middle of the corona pandemic, its stupidity only got its rights.
Friday’s European Championship opening match in Munich was played even then, with a limited capacity of 13,000 spectators. Large fan areas were not allowed in the competition cities, and corona infection statistics were monitored hand in hand with the match results. Due to the circumstances, the football party was missed.
In the previous World Cup in Qatar, human rights issues took away from many fans, even though the stands were full.
The feeling is different now.
The European Championships could hardly have a better atmosphere than the opening match in front of 66,000 spectators at the Munich stadium. The tournament host, Germany, will receive Scotland, rarely seen in prestigious competitions, whose loud and happy supporters have completely taken over Munich’s street scene during the opening match.
According to media estimates, there are even more than 100,000 Scottish fans. The Tartan Army, as the Scottish fans are nicknamed, is visible and fresh everywhere. Traditional kilts have hissed and bagpipes played from morning to night.
This is exactly what EC football should be all about. The conditions of the German football culture give soccer-playing Europe the opportunity to return the authentic, people’s football celebration to prestigious competitions.
On the other hand, there are concerns. The unstable world situation and the security threat are present in the games in a completely different way than in the previous prestigious tournament played in Germany, the 2006 World Cup.
At least during the opening match, joy and jubilation have been the dominant emotions in Munich’s street scene. There aren’t nearly enough tickets to the games for everyone who wants to, but the free fan zones in the various competition cities offer hundreds of thousands the chance to experience the togetherness of the European Championship on a full scale.
Huuhkajie’s supporters are unfortunately missing out on that. The wait of more than a hundred years for a place in the prestigious competition ended at the last EC tournament, after which the Finns who traveled to the place were widely accused of worsening the corona situation. As a native of Russia, many people had an infection and a long quarantine in addition to unique race memories.
Not quite the kind of memory that the team that made the historic achievement and the loyal supporters would have deserved.
In light of the results, the qualification for this year’s games, which started excellently, raised the hopes of many for a memorable trip to Germany. Halfway through the qualifiers, Huuhkajie’s place in the race even looked probable.
You could also feel it in the atmosphere of the Olympic Stadium, but as the autumn darkened, hopes vanished. Finland was not good enough. The last nail was seen in the ugly defeat to Wales in March.
Watching the Scots celebrate, one can’t help but wonder how many tens of thousands of Finns would have traveled to easily accessible Germany.
You should have gotten into these messes. Huhkaji’s supporters have shown in the qualifiers that in that field, Finland belongs to the value competition level. There is no sound on the playing field at the moment.