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    Watching A World Cup

    To stop the derailing of the Maradona thread, where were you at various World Cups?

    #2
    I was in Italy in 82, from the quarters to the final...as you can imagine, it was pretty wild...

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      #3
      I was in Edinburgh the day Brazil beat England in 2002. There were less Brazil shirts in Rio.

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        #4
        I watched the last few minutes, after Eusebio`s penalty, of the England - Portugal semi final from behind the sofa.

        I watched the England - Germany semi final in a small bar near the beach in Gijon, trying to keep calm with aseries of enormous cognacs.



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          #5
          1990, 1998, 2002, 2006,2010 I was there, saw 63 games in total, some unforgettable, others less so. I didn't go in 1994 (England didn't qualify and I'd just bought my first house) but I think I watched most games

          1974 I know I watched the final on TV

          1978 and 1982 I was at boarding school so wasn't able to see much

          1986 at Uni I saw every televised game, I remember being annoyed that only the second half of one of (I think) the Iraq games was shown

          2014 I didn't watch much - our son was only 4 months old so busy with other things

          2018 I saw loads of games but started to flag in the knock out stages

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            #6
            I’ve barely missed a televised World Cup match in over forty years. I just down tools when the tournament’s on. (Well, re-jig my day anyway. The best for this was 2002, when all the games were done by lunchtime.)

            But, agreed, the BBC’s ‘second half live’-policy was hugely annoying during Mexico ‘86. There was one first-phase game - Bulgaria vs South Korea - that they only joined for the last twelve minutes because the pundits were so busy prattling on about how England were going to bury Morocco the following night. (Which, of course, didn’t happen.)

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              #7
              German TV is excellent for watching football.

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                #8
                464444444

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                  #9
                  I remember that 2002 one for a lot of early starts watching matches in pubs that had opened early to get fans in for a pint* with breakfast. Ireland - Cameroon I was having a bacon butty and a pint of guinness with some fellow "Anglo Irish" fans at about 8 in the morning. I recall being quite pissed by the time Germany beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 at lunchtime.

                  *that you had to pay for after 11am, iirc, 'when we're allowed to sell it'.

                  The first Roginette's first experience of watching football in a packed pub came during Ireland's defeat to Spain on penalties. She was in her pushchair, aged about 14 months, quite enjoying the novelty of being given bags of cheese puffs to eat on a Saturday morning.

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                    #10
                    I saw the 2014 7-1 semi in our university canteen after a lecture. I showed one of USA's games on our classroom screen in the same tournament to students who stayed behind after another one.

                    Euro 88 and Italia 90 started at uni in our student bar but we went home before the semis.

                    I think I went into work early in 2002 so I could watch games in the canteen rather than miss action that coincided with my normal commute. I also watched the Twin Towers come down in that canteen on 9/11 because I had gone in early due to needing a lift.

                    I watched the round of 16 and QFs of 2018 in Greece

                    I saw the Women's final one summer in the theatre of a cruise ship.
                    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 28-11-2020, 10:36.

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                      #11
                      1990, 1994, 1998; at home in Doncaster

                      2002; split between Lincoln where I'd dropped out of Uni after one year and Doncaster

                      2006; Lincoln, but then I flew out to the USA at about the quarter final stages. Watched Spanish language coverage of the final on a battered TV in an insufferably hot motel room in San Antonio

                      2010; Worcester - watched every single match for a World Cup blog I was part of and made an appearance on the BBC World Service as a guest pundit.

                      2014; London - watched most games, but not all

                      2018; London - caught something of the all matches and wrote a book about it.

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                        #12
                        One of the advantages of working in a call centre is there’s usually a bunch of TVs kicking about the office so the only games I missed of the 2018 World Cup were strangely on days where I was off work (Basically my wife’s birthday and not much else). I nearly got a disciplinary during the final group games for having iPlayer on my PC watching the concurrent game from the one they had on the TV though.

                        Also, as a teen and a student I did not drink heavily at all. A pint or two in the pub watching a game but nothing to get me melted. By Euro 2016 though, I had developed the taste and watched a lot of the tournament in either work or the pub next to my work. Two major memories from that tournament:

                        1) England vs. Wales was the deadest I’ve ever seen a call centre. Literally no one phoned all game.

                        2) I make avantgarde electronic noise music as a hobby and got asked to fill in as a support in Edinburgh at the same time as the France vs. Germany semi final. So what I did was walk on stage, tell them who I was, explained I didn’t want to do the gig because of the game before pressing a button to play 25 minutes of generative music while I walked out to the pub next door. Came back at the end with a branded pint from the pub next door, turned it off, thanked everyone for being a great audience, told everyone the score and immediately left again. I was worried the guy putting the gig would be pissed but he loved it.

                        This all ended very badly at World Cup 2018 where I drank way too heavily celebrating England getting knocked out by Croatia that I spewed so much that night, I had to take five days off work because I’d burned my throat badly and couldn’t talk or eat.

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                          #13
                          Hmmm. Tricky. I have a feeling I must have seen something in 1970, somewhere, somehow, otherwise why did I get that Brazil shirt? But we didn't have a telly in Newcastle did we? Was it on telly anyway? I was three, anyway. I'll ask my brother, he might remember.

                          1974, we'd moved down to Crawley, but again we didn't have a telly. But my dad did, at school, in colour - he even had a VCR there too. We watched the 1974 FA Cup final there, at his school. I thought of myself as a Liverpool fan then, you know? But the World Cup...hmmm. Were England there? They weren't. I couldn't be sure that I'd seen any of it. The final maybe? I mean. Who did I want? Don't know. Probably the Dutch.

                          1978, now that I do remember. The tune, what was it? Bloody Andrew Lloyd-shitbox wasn't it? I was in Crawley, at middle school. England didn't make it did they? No, I checked. That makes sense. When was that England game I went to? Where The Netherlands creamed them 2-0 at Wembley? 1977 was it? So I was already pretty anti-England by the 1978 WC anyway. Not sure I remember any games, mind. Maybe the final. Yeah, pretty sure I saw the final. I wanted the Dutch, I'm sure about that. Politics politics.

                          1982, that was Schumacher, right? I have a feeling we were in France, at my godmother's. For some of it, anyway. She had a b&w telly with shit reception, from memory. It was in Spain, right? Was the criminally over-rated Bryan Robson injured yet again? Oh no, that was '86 right? So '82 was the fuss about Brooking and Keegan, yeah? So England had to beat Spain well and Keegan came on and did nothing, or something. Yeah. Again, can't remember seeing much, but I think I saw that game. Can't remember the final.

                          1986, now where was I & what was I up to? That summer I'd just jacked in uni and was kinda sofa-surfing, I think. I remember watching the Argentina v England game at the family home of a mate, in Horley. A mixed crowd, schoolfriends and some of the host family. Some like me not supporting England. So I was able to enjoy celebrating Maradona's first goal as a thing of beauty with a few, and then the second as such a different thing of beauty, with more. Supported Argentina for the rest of the tournament obviously. Have no recollection of the final, mind.

                          1990. Housesharing with mates in Crawley. Probably he World Cup I've watched the most of. Yeah, definitely, I'd say. That Goycochea shirt stands out, for me, big time, yeah. And a brief but unpleasant falling-out with my mates following a mustard incident after Germany beat England. We all did world cup sticker books - I guess they were Panini? No-one completed one, of course. I wonder when I chucked mine out. I was trying to want Argentina, though the opening game was quite funny. It would have been so much better if Cameroon had beaten England.

                          1994 - this is probably the last one I watched much of at all, though I can only really remember the final, at a mate's place in Crawley. For some reason in my head it was at a ridiculous time, but it wasn't was it? I think that year we watched games at various mates' places and each host did something relevant to the game itself. Ooh, was that the year we were in Brighton for a mate's stag do during the tournament, and watched a game on the pier? No, that must have been 98.

                          1998 - So this one was in France, Wiki tells me. So a much more likely World Cup for the impromptu Nigeria game we watched on the pier, with a bunch of Nigeria fans appearing before kick-off and disappearing straight after, having enjoyed the heck out of the game and made us enjoy it so much more too. That must have been the game they beat Spain 3-2. That was excellent. Ah, hang on, the final that year was the whole weird Ronaldo thing wasn't it? Did we ever find out what really happened? That was the year Beckham got sent off v Argentina right? I might have watched that game with some mates in a bar in London. That seems unlikely, but there you go. So Owen dived for the penalty for the England equaliser, then scored a good second. And Argentina equalised with one of those training-ground free-kick things that never ever works. Oh and Shearer's foul meant Campbell's "goal" wasn't awarded. the Beckham's ludicrous kick, what a way to get sent off. And the penalties.

                          2002 - I was busy reforming a football club, and didn't pay a huge amount of attention tbh. Beckham's toe - I remember that being the most important story in the days before the finals started, much more important than the FA giving permission for franchising in English football. Bollocks to the lot of them.

                          2006 - Zidane's headbutt was the highlight for me. I was watching the final, so yeah. God, Rooney's absolutely bang-on righteous sending-off for a stamp. I'd forgotten that. I think i was watching. Again, don't remember much.

                          2010 - Tedious bores whining on about the vuvuzela, what else?

                          2014 - I remember more about the protests by Brazilians than about the tournament itself tbh. England were utter rubbish weren't they?

                          2018 - An absolute disgrace. Didn't watch any of it, of course.

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                            #14
                            2010 also had the octopus. 2018 had the injury time Iranian somersault throw-in incident which i think you'd have enjoyed

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                              I remember that 2002 one for a lot of early starts watching matches in pubs that had opened early to get fans in for a pint* with breakfast. Ireland - Cameroon I was having a bacon butty and a pint of guinness with some fellow "Anglo Irish" fans at about 8 in the morning. I recall being quite pissed by the time Germany beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 at lunchtime.

                              *that you had to pay for after 11am, iirc, 'when we're allowed to sell it'.

                              The first Roginette's first experience of watching football in a packed pub came during Ireland's defeat to Spain on penalties. She was in her pushchair, aged about 14 months, quite enjoying the novelty of being given bags of cheese puffs to eat on a Saturday morning.
                              I seem to recall that the following day there were four matches back-to-back: I just about woke at 6.30am to watch Argentina beat Nigeria with a Batistuta header (and a cup of tea) followed by Paraguay vs South Africa. Went to the pub with TV’s Colin Poppshed for the England/Sweden borefest before a spot of brunch and his latest love-life woes during Spain’s routine victory over Slovenia. How times change. (I think that the only ‘breakfast booze’ of which I partook was a Guinness or two during the q/f defeat to Brazil.)

                              Seems so fresh in the memory that it’s hard to believe we’ve had four tournaments since - and there have been further quadruple headers as well: on the other end of the spectrum, I was certainly up at some stupid hour with my sister watching Japan play Ivory Coast during the 2014 tournament, on the same night that England binned it against Italy.

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by Nesta View Post
                                2018 had the injury time Iranian somersault throw-in incident which i think you'd have enjoyed
                                Are you saying I cut off my somersault-throw-in-incident nose to spite my Russia-boycotting face?

                                (Or is it the other way round?)

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                                  #17
                                  1970 I was 6, only things I remember is liking Peru, and that everyone supported England.

                                  1974 I nearly drowned halfway through it, ended up in hospital for 5 days. Watched West Germany against Sweden and Poland while I was in there. I liked Haiti and remember dancing around the room when they scored against Italy.

                                  1978 The first one I was really involved in, my first sticker album, which I completed by sending away for the 5 stickers I needed. My strongest memory was coming home from school, for once I had the house to myself, and when I turned on the TV, instead of Blue Peter it was Live Football!!. It was like Christmas Day in July. ( Italy 2 France 1 if you're interested).

                                  1982 First time I ever watched games in the pub, I remember the place going mental when Gerry Armstrong scored. I was a West Germany fan at the time, so I didn't appreciate at the time what a cunt Schumacer was. I watched the final in a pub in the Isle of Man.

                                  1986 Working so missed most of it. Liked Denmark and the Hand of God but it was all a bit meh apart from that. Stopped supporting the Germans after this.

                                  1990 Like everyone else, spent the whole thing doing fuck all work and bunking off to the pub.

                                  1994 see above. Both tournaments were fairly crap, and the two worst finals.

                                  1998 Watched the opening stage of the Tour de France go past my local pub, then walked inside to watch Zidane and co destroy Brazil, that was an enjoyable day.

                                  2002 Roy v Mick, got as mouldy drunk as I've ever been watching Ireland v Spain. We had a TV in work, so I watched a lot of this. Enjoyed how well the USA did. The final was on Sunday morning after my mates stag night. I got up to watch it, but have no memory of anything about it.

                                  2006 Great tournament to watch in Dublin. It was in the middle of the Celtic Tiger, and it was the first time that I really noticed how international Ireland had become, with great atmosphere in the pubs at a lot of games.

                                  Maybe I'm just getting older, but while I have watched the last three tournaments as much as I can, there's been few highlights that spring to mind.

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                                    #18
                                    I have to say, sending away for stickers, that's cheating, really, isn't it?

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                                      #19
                                      I was 14, and I've always been a completist. Those 5 spaces would have haunted me forever.

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                                        #20
                                        1978, At home in London. Barely remember it.
                                        1982, At home in London. remember it well
                                        1986, In Lagos Nigeria
                                        1990, At home in London
                                        1994, At home in London
                                        1998, Was in France for the Nigeria group games. Would have stayed out longer but had a six month old child and another one one the way so had to return home and work........
                                        2002, At home in London
                                        2006, Was working in the midlands at the time so watched most of it in Telford. Watched the final in Stourbridge with a handful of posters from OTF.
                                        2010, Watched a few games from the opening weekend in South Africa including Nigeria v Argentina in Joburg before racing to Rustenburg to watch England v USA. I then came out for the final week to watch Argentina v Germany in Cape Town (shout out Gman), Spain v Germany in Durban and the final in a very freezing cold Joburg.
                                        2014 Watched at home in London. I had planned to go to Brazil to watch it. I had been in Easter 2013 for my 40th, but I had just bought a new house and the renovation bills were alot higher than anticipated.
                                        2018 Watched the opening week whilst on Holiday in Jamaica and the final week on holiday in Cape Verde. I had planned to go over in between but spoke to some work collegues and decided not to as it might affect my security clearance and harm my work prospects.

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                                          #21
                                          '74 - Complete unaware of its existence
                                          '78 - Had the Panini album but I'm not sue I actually watched any games. Have a vague recollection of the tickertape thing, but that might be from seeing photos later
                                          '82 - At home in Oxford. Watched quite a lot of it, I think. Have little recollection of England, but I remember the bonkers Kuwaiti walkout, and I remember being utterly scandalised by Schumacher-Battiston
                                          '86 - I felt like the only person I knew who was even aware of its existence. I tried to watch matches when I could, but my friends were all too cool for football, and my family are the least sport-aware people on earth. Watched most of it on a tiny black and white TV in my bedroom. Favourite recollection is the Vasily Rats goal
                                          '90 - First half of it at university in Manchester. The whole city seemed to be buzzing with the whole New Order John Barnes thing. It was exciting as anything. Second half was back home in Oxford and, once again, I was the only person I knew who was even watching the games. It might have been my first inkling that I wasn't actually that much of an England fan despite what the media told me.
                                          '94 - In a houseshare with a football supporting friend, it was a tournament I actually watched properly. Loved watching Hagi and Stoichkov. It took me a while to realise that the back end of that tournament was very dull.
                                          '98 - Actually went to a couple of first round games. Watched a load in pubs around Tottenham Court Road with colleagues.
                                          '02 - Loved the early starts, mostly. Could watch games and then work. But discovered that I wanted to find places to watch games where I didn't have to drink and that was surprisingly difficult. I can't nurse a coffee for 90 minutes.
                                          '06 - A combination of at home and in pubs. But I remember almost nothing except trying to stay out of pubs for England games
                                          '10 - Thought I was going to go to some matches because the missus was working in South Africa for a major sponsor at the time. But her consulting gig finished a few months earlier, and the logistics got too difficult. I hardly remember the football and was mostly watching for scenes of South Africa.
                                          '14 - I must have watched lots of it - I always do - but I have almost no recollection of anything that happened. Looking at the results isn't triggering any memories. I was living in the US so it was all on a sensible schedule.
                                          '18 - I think I half-watched most of the games at my desk, not really concentrating. It feels like I have slowly declining interest since the turn of the century.

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                                            #22
                                            1994 - At home in Churchdown, Glos, or at my uncle's house in Brockworth, Glos. I remember watching the Netherlands-Brazil quarter final on the Saturday and also the Bulgaria-Germany game the following day. I also really vividly remember Luis Enrique's broken nose against Italy.

                                            1998 - I watched the vast majority of this tournament at home in Churchdown, apart from a couple of games I saw at my uncle's in Cheltenham. I was actually off school ill for the England-Tunisia game, which was awesome.

                                            2002 - The first time I'd been in a pub for football, watching the opening game between France and Senegal. Every other game was watched either at home in Churchdown again, or at my uncle's. I only watched the first half of England-Brazil because I had an English Literature A-Level exam. The teacher told us the score as we walked out - the bastard!!

                                            2006 - A cross between the pub (I think I watched games in 3 or 4 different pubs in Gloucester and Cheltenham) and my girlfriend's house in Matson, Glos.

                                            2010 - At my first home with my wife in Tewkesbury, apart from the England-Slovenia game which I watched at work in Stratford-upon-Avon

                                            2014 - As 2010, aside from the England-Uruguay game which I watched in a pub in Gloucester

                                            2018 - The majority of games I watched at work in Cheltenham whilst seeing out my redundancy, or at home in Tewkesbury. The England-Sweden game clashed with my son's football presentation so they played the game there, at the Rose's Theatre. It was like watching in the cinema.

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                                              #23
                                              2010's final I watched in a hotel in Ljubljana, while Signora Rogin was asleep in our room after a long day's travel from Venice. I honestly can't remember now if I watched the whole thing downstairs in the bar or just came up to watch extra time in our room with a bottle, but I do remember nudging her awake to tell her Spain had won and her saying "that's nice" before rolling back asleep. Top football fan, Signora Rogin is. Like the Queen.
                                              Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 28-11-2020, 19:26.

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                                                #24
                                                1966. At my grandmother's caravan in Wales, age 2. My earliest football memory, sitting in the corner of the family room at the site social club one sunny afternoon, people getting excited watching a football match on the black and white TV in the corner. I imagine that was the final. I can't honestly say I remember much about the game. The earliest game I remember watching is the 1968 FA Cup Final. I'd got bored and was playing with cars behind the settee when Astle scored the only goal in extra time.

                                                1970. I remember watching a few games, mainly England and the final. Not sure how many games were televised, but I watched the first half of the opening match, Mexico v USSR. At half time I went out to play football with my friend John, asking his dad to call us if there was a goal so we could watch the replay. He didn't need to.

                                                1974 on. Watched as many games as I could. Took a fancy to DDR in 1974. 1978 was the first WC I saw in colour, I fell asleep watching Poland play Argentina late at night and woke to a TV showing static about 5am. In 1982 I watched the final at a friend's house, we all wanted Italy to win after the Battiston incident. 1986 in the Lake District, England v Morocco,
                                                yelling abuse at Wilkins for his stupidity even before the red card came out. 1990 my friend Jon sitting on my settee with his head in his hands, muttering 'we can't be losing to Cameroon'. Then watching the worst final ever at his place. 1994, on holiday in Wales, Letchkov scoring against Germany. From 1998 on, while I've still watched as many games as possible, they seem to have made less of an impression- a goal here, a player there. Maybe it's an age thing. Next time round I intend to ignore the early stages completely- too many teams and games- and if I could I'd boycott the whole competition; we all know what's gone on for the competition to go to Qatar. But I expect I'll still be watching the knockout stages, it's the World Cup after all.

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                                                  #25
                                                  74 I remember flashes of but not much

                                                  78 I was supporting Scotland. We went on holiday in the first week and I remember following the first round on the radio. Once we got home to the TV it was all about the ticker tape

                                                  82 must have been doing my o levels around the same time. I remember many of the games but not really the circumstances of my watching them

                                                  86 at university, watched much in communal round-the-tv situations for the first time I remember. Missed the QFs as was at Glastonbury

                                                  90 living in Abu Dhabi. Watched most of it in bars. Vividly remember the UAE games surrounded by blokes in dishdash drinking (they weren't really allowed to). Very strong memory of the Platt goal in a packed bar. For some reason I think I was back in the UK by the time of the semi final

                                                  94 watched much of the first half in Portugal where I lived. But then went on holiday to Kenya with my girlfriend. Missed some of the QFs and the SFs then listened to the final at some ridiculous hour on short wave in a tent just outside the Masai Mara. A very close lion roared during the second half. This turned out to be the most interesting part of the match

                                                  98 missed it all. Was living in Micronesia which was one of the few countries in the world where there was no live TV coverage. We got the big US networks on one week delays due to video tapes being shipped out and ABC showed a game a week or something which I saw. But I always knew the score because by then the Internet had been invented

                                                  02 living and working in Vermont. Watched games from 2am and then went to the campus at 7 to watch the last game of the day with other foreigners

                                                  06 I was living here by then but don't really recall where I watched it. Vivid memories of moments of football (eg Grosso's goal) but no recollection of where I was

                                                  10 watched the semi and final in the UEA student union bar surrounded by Spaniards. Was fun

                                                  14 again don't remember

                                                  18 ditto

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