(Host of) Problems (with Host)

[Duncan Gardner]

So, after last night's off field problems at the Men's final, is Ray de Galles right that Wembley/ England shouldn't be allowed to host a tournament for a very long time?

[Janik]

Arguably. But as BLT noted, the women's Football demographic in England is somewhat different from the Men's. It feels unlikely the people responsible for yesterday's violence, aggression, intimidatory behaviour, racism and so on will try and associated themselves with the Women's side. In fact they already weren't - 55 years since England made the final of a major tournament? Er, no, it wasn't anything like that. It's only the Men who have been that futile.
So maybe the limitation should only apply to the Men's team. That being where the problems lie?

[caja-dglh]

It is somewhat a shame (to put it mildly) that one of the most prepared countries to host a tournament meeting needs and stadium standards with near zero investment is significantly disadvantaged by its residents.

[tee rex]

And yet the London Olympics were a remarkable success. Preceded, let's not forget, by real fears that it would not be, for various reasons. On a smaller scale, many sports stage events efficiently and hospitably.

It's basically football, and England, and blokes.

[Janik]

I would place the general interest and engagement in sporting contests, whether there are locals involved or not, as unusually high in Britain. The recent Men's Football tournament would likely have been similar, if the England team had got knocked out in the groups. Or even better, in qualifying.

So Scots, Czechs, Croats, Kosovans and Bulgarians, it's all your (our) fault.

[Ray de Galles]

And yet the London Olympics were a remarkable success. Preceded, let's not forget, by real fears that it would not be, for various reasons. On a smaller scale, many sports stage events efficiently and hospitably.

It's basically football, and England, and blokes.

...and Brexit.

[delicatemoth]

And yet the London Olympics were a remarkable success.

I wish people would stop saying this. The Olympics were horrible, a massive fuck you to the population of London with people evicted, boondoggle developments and sinister security theatre screwing east London in order to make a few rich people richer.

The mindset that it's some kind of benefit for a city to host an international sports tournament needs to be banished. It's a real burden. If the Euros final buries any chance of London hosting one for years to come, that's a big win for us.

[imp]

Have the actual venues for next summer been decided yet?

[caja-dglh]

The mindset that it's some kind of benefit for a city to host an international sports tournament needs to be banished. It's a real burden. If the Euros final buries any chance of London hosting one for years to come, that's a big win for us.

I think that has been pretty clear for some time and - if not - Tokyo is going to make that very clear indeed.

[Benjm]

Have the actual venues for next summer been decided yet?

Here's the provisional schedule.

https://editorial.uefa.com/resources...0/schedule.pdf

At a very selfish level, I'd like the Brentford games to go ahead because the stadium is in walking distance from home.

[Patrick Thistle]

Looking at that schedule there are 3 venues in Greater Manchester, 2 in London*, 2 in Sheffield, 2 on the south coast, and Milton Keynes. None in the Midlands or the North East.

*edit, although only.1 game scheduled at Wembley

[ad hoc]

2 in Sheffield

You'll catch it from Gangster Octopus

[Patrick Thistle]

You'll catch it from Gangster Octopus

I realise it's a controversial take.

[ursus arctos]

To answer the question Dunc raised in the other thread, I haven't seen any suggestion that the women's tournament be taken away. The focus is very much on future hosting for men's tournaments (with some suggesting that it should extend to the Champions League).

[Patrick Thistle]

I totally support Benjm wanting the games at Brentford to go ahead. As none of the venues are less than 150 miles from my house I'm not going to be looking for tickets.

Given one of the venues is basically Manchester City's reserve pitch it feels a bit crap that there are no games in, say, Bristol that would be accessible to a large swathe of the population.

[tee rex]

The mindset that it's some kind of benefit for a city to host an international sports tournament needs to be banished. It's a real burden. If the Euros final buries any chance of London hosting one for years to come, that's a big win for us.

Fair enough, but that wasn't really the subject being discussed in the thread. It was about how people ("fans") behave at these events, and the organisers' ability to deal with that.

[Patrick Thistle]

Actually I've checked and it's only 112 miles to my nearest venue... Stadium MK. So, you know, sod that.

[ursus arctos]

I would place the general interest and engagement in sporting contests, whether there are locals involved or not, as unusually high in Britain.

This has become almost an article of faith among the organisers of such contests.

Thus all of the international friendlies between non-Home Nations, the long term commitment of the NFL (and MLB, and, serious interest from the NBA and NHL), ASO's focus on the Tour of Yorkshire, etc.

Britons turn out for such events (especially those not involving locals) in numbers that are hard to replicate elsewhere in Europe, while the available facilities, transport links and broadcast infrastructure are also of a very high standard.

[San Bernardhinault]

It is somewhat a shame (to put it mildly) that one of the most prepared countries to host a tournament meeting needs and stadium standards with near zero investment is significantly disadvantaged by its residents.

The obvious solution is to allow England to host tournaments, but forbid the national team from playing in them.

[Various Artist]

I thought you were going to say allow England to host tournaments, but forbid English people from turning up anywhere near them.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Arguably. But as BLT noted, the women's Football demographic in England is somewhat different from the Men's. It feels unlikely the people responsible for yesterday's violence, aggression, intimidatory behaviour, racism and so on will try and associated themselves with the Women's side. In fact they already weren't - 55 years since England made the final of a major tournament? Er, no, it wasn't anything like that. It's only the Men who have been that futile.
So maybe the limitation should only apply to the Men's team. That being where the problems lie?

Yes, there will be no trouble if England do well in the tournament (though I would say it's at least fairly likely the odious England band will show up). Any action by UEFA would be punitive rather than proactive (and tbh I don't think fans of the England women should suffer due to the actions of fans of the men's team).

[Benjm]

Actually I've checked and it's only 112 miles to my nearest venue... Stadium MK. So, you know, sod that.

The clustering of venues is very pronounced. Nottingham was originally on the list, replaced by Wigan/Leigh at some point, but that wouldn't have made much of a difference. Could it be a deliberate decision to try to maximise the atmosphere and excitement within limited hosting areas? It's best to make that explicit if so. I don't know how hotly contested the hosting slots were or how proactive the organisers were in soliciting applications.

[Patrick Thistle]

There are lots of smaller club stadia* that could have been approached. Although pitches do get relayed in the summer. Are the Man City Academy and Leigh Sports complex grass pitches? Hopefully, because games on artificial pitches are a bit crap for an international tournament.

*for example, I think Shrewsbury have hosted an England women's friendly. It might have been an u21 or something.

[longeared]

I heard that the requirements for hosting games are quite extensive and that one of them is that clubs have to basically give their ground over to UEFA while the tournament is on, so essentially they won't be able to host any pre season friendlies next summer. I imagine that might have put some clubs off.

I also notice from the UEFA ticketing portal that the Wembley final is a 5pm kick off.

[Janik]

When watching games from those venues on TV both look like grass pitches, which presumably means mixed grass/astro fibres. I suspect neither Man City or Man United want their male youth teams playing on artificial pitches...