Crowds & Atmosphere in Russia

[Alf Bentley]

What do we think that the atmosphere will be like at matches and in Russian host cities during the World Cup? Anyone going and planning to let us know?

I went to Germany 2006 and absolutely loved the mingling of fans from all over the world there.

 

Will there be a good atmosphere at matches? A friendly atmosphere away from stadia? Will hooliganism be a problem? Will there be a lot of Russian nationalism on display?

 

Which countries, apart from Russia, will locals get behind - or be hostile to? Given Salisbury and UK-Russian relations, I'm guessing England won't be that popular. 

Probably not Germany or Poland, either, for historical reasons.... Russia and Serbia are pretty friendly, I think.

 

Here's a bit of a clue based on ticket sales so far.... http://www.itv.com/news/2018-06-02/england-support-slumps-as-russia-ticket-sales-trail-previous-tournaments/

- Almost 50% sold to Russians (possibly over 50% after late sales)

- A surprising number sold to USA & China, maybe suggesting a fair few mild-mannered "football tourists"

- But also a surprising number sold to South America: the figures for Colombia and Peru are astonishing (more Colombians than Germans, more Peruvians than English )

 

Edited 3 June 2018 by Alf Bentley

[Tuna]

Really surprised by those figures.

[anotherharboroughfox]

Came back from Peru yesterday and they're all buzzing for it over there. So many Guerrero shirts around  tons of fake Russia 2018 merch too

[Jattdogg]

Bound to be russian hooligans smashing english fans.

[Stadt]

Russian police are used to dealing with hooliganism, they'll be loads more police than usual too. I reckon that bbc documentary deterred a load of English from going.

[whoareyaaa]

Why have US got so many tickets was they expecting to qualify or something?

[Alf Bentley]

6 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

Why have US got so many tickets was they expecting to qualify or something?

 

Not sure if you're asking seriously or just taking the piss out of the Yanks. 

 

Some probably did buy expecting US to qualify - they missed qualification in their last match.

I'm guessing some just follow "soccer" and wanted to experience the WC and do a bit of tourism in Russia? Similar with the Chinese, who were never close to qualifying.

 

Or maybe Russian secret services hacked Trump's credit card and bought a few thousand WC tickets without him noticing?

 

It's the figures for Colombia and Peru that I find astonishing - fair-sized populations, but not many people with loads of cash & a long way from Russia.

I guess I was under-estimating just how big the WC is in Latin America. 

[Jaspa]

Think it'll be quite sane tbh, most of the hooligan malarkey looks like posturing. The way they do it there is organise big groups of lads up and then take it and fight out in the sticks in a semi-organised fashion, main reason being the Russian police are 100x more hardcore than the worst skinhead hoolies; so it's gonna be on lockdown in that regard.

 

Atmosphere in the stadium is harder to say really, it is the World Cup so there's obviously gonna be alot of vibrancy. I doubt there'll be a Voovoozela of 2018 and the rest comes from the football being played, the weather and the country's hospitality ease of travel ect. - I think it'll be better than 2010 for sure.

Edited 4 June 2018 by SpazticChicken

[Voll Blau]

I think Serbia will get decent backing from Russian fans. Orthodox Brotherhood etc.

[whoareyaaa]

Anyone playing down the hooligan threat are probably going to be in for a shock, 100% there will be trouble it just depends how bad

[Footballwipe]

4 hours ago, whoareyaaa said:

Why have US got so many tickets was they expecting to qualify or something?

Loads of Mexicans in the USA, those stats only tell you where the tickets have been bought so I bet many of those will be off to watch Mexico, with a fair few Americans too.

 

Aren't American tourists one of the highest spending per person or something? Bet FIFA and Russia are gutted they missed out on that tourism boost.

[Saxondale]

By 'atmosphere', do you mean 'extreme physical violence'?

[CosbehFox]

3 hours ago, Voll Blau said:

I think Serbia will get decent backing from Russian fans. Orthodox Brotherhood etc.

 

Yeah, still trying to get a request a bet off the bookmakers for a SS/Nazi symbolism to be displayed by Serbian/Croatian fans. 

 

31 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Loads of Mexicans in the USA, those stats only tell you where the tickets have been bought so I bet many of those will be off to watch Mexico, with a fair few Americans too.

 

Aren't American tourists one of the highest spending per person or something? Bet FIFA and Russia are gutted they missed out on that tourism boost.

Add to Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and other Southern American nations too. 

 

I personally think the hooligan threat is overrated. There will be incidents just like World Cup 2006 but very few will be in the eyes of the public. The Russian police will be in discussions with the hooligan/ultras groups and you can bet the punishments will be heavier than the norm too over this summer. Add to that a lot of the cities hosting very rarely have tourism, the experience will be so alien that they will be 'protected' as such. 

Edited 4 June 2018 by Cardiff_Fox

[Alf Bentley]

15 minutes ago, Saxondale said:

By 'atmosphere', do you mean 'extreme physical violence'?

 

That's certainly not what I'm hoping for. 

 

What I'd like to see is plenty of partisan crowd involvement creating a lively atmosphere, but no violence (though I'd enjoy Benalouane sending Dele Alli crashing into the advertising hoardings).

 

Just interested to see what the crowds will be like. I hope the Russian fans who'll form the majority will be genuine football fans, not people who've come along to do the Mexican wave.

Glad to see that there's going to be a lot of South American fans there - good for TV shots of beautiful women, as well as atmosphere.

 

I hope that most participating nations have a decent contingent of fans there, that they all mingle well and have a lot of laughs - and that the Russian police don't get heavy-handed over a little rowdiness.

By "rowdiness" I mean drunken singing and general tomfoolery, not extreme physical violence. If hooligans want to engage in their strange S&M battle rituals, I hope they do it out of town and that the police give them a good hiding if they annoy any peaceful fans or passers-by. I had the time of my life at Germany 2006 and loved the international mingling and random encounters. Hope anyone going has a great time. 

[Finnegan]

Let's be honest, it says 34'000 but we all know every game will be full of the 500,000 cocknies and northerners with their moody tickets. 

 

For all the talk of Russian hooliganism, I'd still bet strongly there'll be England flags at basically every game, every England match you'll have about 80% of the crowd in the ground and violence near stadium will be at a Putin enforced minimum. 

 

There will be isolated stories of English lads getting their heads stoved in after taking the misguided approach of trying to get one back on the Russkis that'll get blown out of proportion and 95% of normal England fans will have a great time. 

 

[KingsX]

5 hours ago, whoareyaaa said:

Why have US got so many tickets was they expecting to qualify or something?

Trump Tours sold a package trip led by Ivanka

“Chat Russian Birds - Get Banged”

Match tickets and all hospitalization included

 

Who could resist?

[yorkie1999]

If it's anything like Rocky IV, then the atmosphere's gonna be pretty crap, until the americans come back from being 6-0 down.

[Guest MattP]

Crazily, there are some England fans travelling for revenge for Marseille, I know one Man U fan who is doing so and I'm actually quite worried for him, to say it's nuts is crazy, nothing good can come of it. You will either take a kicking from the ultras or the police or end up in prison if you try.

 

I'd still be surprised if there is any large scale disorder, Putin is a very proud man and he'll want to make sure his country is shown in the best light to the World. We had all sorts of scare stories over South Africa, Brazil, Ukraine etc and the authorities are generally very good at getting it right.

[Wymsey]

18 hours ago, Tuna said:

Really surprised by those figures.

Not surprised we (England) received the least, given the deteriorating relations between us and Russia currently.

[Voll Blau]

20 hours ago, MattP said:

Crazily, there are some England fans travelling for revenge for Marseille, I know one Man U fan who is doing so and I'm actually quite worried for him, to say it's nuts is crazy, nothing good can come of it. You will either take a kicking from the ultras or the police or end up in prison if you try.

 

I'd still be surprised if there is any large scale disorder, Putin is a very proud man and he'll want to make sure his country is shown in the best light to the World. We had all sorts of scare stories over South Africa, Brazil, Ukraine etc and the authorities are generally very good at getting it right.

You've got to be absolutely off your head to think that's a good idea, especially if you're a bit, erm, "old school" and long in the tooth. I saw one of the tabloids quote a Boro fan who was 57 (!) about what he reckoned was gonna go down.

 

As an aside, I know it's a bit of a cliche but I genuinely didn't think many Man United fans were into following the national team.

[Guest MattP]

2 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

You've got to be absolutely off your head to think that's a good idea, especially if you're a bit, erm, "old school" and long in the tooth. I saw one of the tabloids quote a Boro fan who was 57 (!) about what he reckoned was gonna go down.

 

As an aside, I know it's a bit of a cliche but I genuinely didn't think many Man United fans were into following the national team.

I know a group of three who go and they claim to know quite a few more who do, they don't even take MUFC flags though to England games because of the shit they get for it so it works both ways.

 

There are quite a gew United who believe in the Republic of Manchester bollocks but I don't think it's that serious among the idiots who sing teh anti-England songs for a wind up.

[MC Prussian]

Surprised to see so many posters not realizing that Peru are featuring at a World Cup for the first time in 36 years.

Of course, the fans will travel in masses to Russia to witness that glorious occasion.

 

I'm personally surprised to still see so many Brazilian, Argentine, Colombian and Mexican fans at the World Cup, given the fact that they tend to be from rather poor countries. Besides, they'll be traveling half of the globe to get there.

 

US and China? Fairweather fans. "Let's go and see some Soccer, like they're playing in the Premiere League, like!".

 

Edited 5 June 2018 by MC Prussian

[Alf Bentley]

58 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Surprised to see so many posters not realizing that Peru are featuring at a World Cup for the first time in 36 years.

Of course, the fans will travel in masses to Russia to witness that glorious occasion.

 

I'm personally surprised to still see so many Brazilian, Argentine, Colombian and Mexican fans at the World Cup, given the fact that they tend to be from rather poor countries. Besides, they'll be traveling half of the globe to get there.

 

US and China? Fairweather fans. "Let's go and see some Soccer, like they're playing in the Premiere League, like!".

 

 

 

Brazil and Mexico have much bigger populations than the other Latin American countries - or European countries.

They also have proportionately more people able to access the cash to make such a trip, I'd say (as well as a lot of poor people, obviously).

Colombia is a bit better off than Peru, I think. Argentina certainly is (though plenty in poverty there, too).

 

I was aware that Peru hadn't qualified for decades - and that there was a lot of excitement there when they qualified.

I'm looking forward to the atmosphere at their matches. Was it you who posted the video of scenes at their friendly in Switzerland with 18,000 Peruvian fans going mad?

Peru could be one of the highlights of the WC. Hopefully their fans will push them to qualify for the last 16 as I've got a couple of bets including that (they're better than Australia.....and if Kasper drops a clanger or two for Denmark... ).

 

I wasn't surprised that a fair few Colombians and Peruvians bought tickets, though they'll be there in greater numbers than I expected.

But I was surprised at the comparison with Europe: more Colombians than Germans, more Peruvians than English, with Sweden, Spain & Poland not even making the list (the French never travel in numbers to football, I think).

Maybe Europeans are more fearful of what Putin's mates might do to them, whereas Latin Americans are more used to a bit of danger in everyday life?

 

I'm really looking forward to it now - including the Peruvians. 

 

 

[Detroit Blues]

1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

Surprised to see so many posters not realizing that Peru are featuring at a World Cup for the first time in 36 years.

Of course, the fans will travel in masses to Russia to witness that glorious occasion.

 

I'm personally surprised to still see so many Brazilian, Argentine, Colombian and Mexican fans at the World Cup, given the fact that they tend to be from rather poor countries. Besides, they'll be traveling half of the globe to get there.

 

US and China? Fairweather fans. "Let's go and see some Soccer, like they're playing in the Premiere League, like!".

 

 

To put it in perspective, there are more Hispanic / Latino Americans than there are people who live in England, and most of them support their own national team rather than the US.  So i'd be willing to bet 99% of those tickets are for people who are going to Russia to support other teams. The cost to travel from the US to Russia is just too high for most people who are just going as tourists. 

 

 

 

[SheppyFox]

Money changed hands when Russia won the bid to host this. It is going to be a disaster and I’d urge all England Fans to stay at home and safe. They’re animals out there, Neo Nazi scumbags without morals, mark my words there will be atleast one fatality.