Big Guns Fire – Alan’s World Cup Blog #7

Tomorrow is close to lift-off so there was packing to be done and some last-minute decision making of the ‘should I take x?’ variety.

One of the dilemmas is that FIFA has put out a very exhaustive list of what is prohibited at World Cup venues. Apart from the obvious things, there are some that are appear a little tough. Paper? Empty plastic water bottles? Selfie sticks? Ballons? Musical instruments larger than 12cm x 12cm x 12cm?

It’s clear however from the glimpses we get of fans that larger flags, instruments and items have been inside the stadiums. So there’s either some leeway or the FIFA Fan Material Request Form for larger items is actually working. Just answer 17 daft questions and away you go…

Fortunately I was able to find some dinky little horns that are, believe it or not, less than 12cm long, so away we go. And given that my uncle Brian once entered a contest for Loudest Man in the World and came third, I guess my shouting abilities have some pedigree.

We are actually flying Bogota to Monterrey on Thursday 18th, and need at be at the airport at sparrow-fart for an international check-in. But but but Colombia make their debut against Uzbekistan on the Wednesday night. So a while ago we decided to book a hotel near the airport for Wednesday and watch the game from there, so we can make a smooth getaway early the following.

Then it’s a five-hourish flight to Mexico, an airport layover and a short hop to Monterrey.

But back to packing. At one stage in the 1990’s I was covering the Darwin-Ambon Yacht Race for an Indonesian daily, Republika. I asked one of the yachtsmen how they decided what to take.

“Well in the case of Ambon mate it’s like going to the moon,” he said.

“Anything you think you might need, well, you put it in a big silver box and take it with you. Because you can’t guarantee you’ll be able to get it over there.”

Ever since then I’ve assessed my trips of going-to-the-moon-ness. How remote is it? How developed is it? How expensive is it? How much of a pain the butt will it be to get an x if I need it? What is the worst case scenario if I need a y and can’t get it? Those answers help me to work out how much I need to take, and what.

In this case our three Mexican destinations are all large cities and I’m very confident that anything I forget to pack I will be able to get over there. The other point to consider is that I’m likely to acquire a souvenir shirt, jacket, cap, etc. so there’s no need to overpack that kind of stuff. Also having been to Mexico before I have some idea of the crafts I might encounter…and the crunch issue of how much space they take.

Last time we were in Oaxaca and I wanted to get a tortilla press. I was thinking of the small aluminium ones that make side-plate sized tortillas. Anyhow I hadn’t seen them around the town so I asked the helpful breakfast waiter at our hotel, Alejandro, where we could go looking for one.

“Leave it to me!” he said enthusiastically. “I’ll get one and bring it in for you tomorrow and you can reimburse me then.”

Well that seemed fine until he turned up the next day with a full-sized cast iron semi-pro press, which weighed about eight kilograms. I happily paid him for it but my bag ended up overweight big time on the way home. I think I had to pay about USD$150 in excess baggage charges to get the tortilla press home to Tasmania, making it probably the single most expensive item I have ever purchased overseas. Of course it is now pride of place in my Moonah kitchen…

I was able to do my preparations while keeping an eye on the day’s games, maybe a bit less on the memes than usual.

After yesterday’s stack of draws it was back to decisive results, particularly for fancied teams. France got the ball rolling with a 3-1 victory over Senegal, see highlights here.

Norway v Iraq held extra interest for Australian fans with our former coach Graham Arnold now in charge of the Middle Eastern side. Despite a positive performance in many ways the Iraqis tired late and were suitably punished in a 4-1 loss. Highlights here. Oh, and Norwegian viking longboat rowing is now a stadium thing as well.

You know how flares are banned at Australian sports venue and even at watch parties like the one at Federation Square in Melbourne last Sunday? Algerian fans say hello.

That was about as bright as things got for the Africans as legendary Lionel (Messi) led Argentina to a comfortable 3-0 triumph (highlights linked). Much to the delight of Bangladeshis, but to the chagrin of new American converts to the game:

Yeah he only won the last World Cup with Argentina. And is representing them at the big dance for the 6th time. Going back to 2006.

The Algerians frankly were more impressive with their pre-tournament video which paid tribute to the great Algerian side of 1982, as well as a bunch of the obligatory national symbols:

Finally Austria-Jordan played in the last match of the day; update coming.

FIFA meanwhile appear to have cleared Australian referee Shaun Evans after he controversially displayed what looks like a white power gesture to the camera while in the Video Assistant Referee room. Evans had claimed that the gesture was involuntary.

And you thought your job sucked.

While we’re on FIFA, they are paranoid, no, absolutely fanatical about non-sponsor brands appearing anywhere within the venues. Take this for example. As pointed out by Kyle Sheldon, “The capacity at ‘Boston Stadium’ for the World Cup is 64,146. That means someone had to put 64,146 very small pieces of blue tape over every single Gillette logo on every. single. seat.”

Coming up on Wednesday in the Americas are Portugal-DR Congo, England-Croatia, Ghana-Panama and Colombia-Uzbekistan. I’ll let you know how the atmosphere is on the streets in Bogota.

Enjoy the football and have fun!

Alan Whykes is a Tasmania-based writer and an ex- too many things to list.

This blog is the start of a new section called Tas At Large which showcases stories of Tasmanian diaspora let loose upon the world. 

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