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World Cup 2006 Blog

From our reporters in Germany

Svan in Belgium

paul_fletcher.gifMONS, BELGIUM - After a lot of thought we have decided to go with a suggestion from Tom and name our camper van Svan.

It works on so many levels - it made us laugh, it has a great England connection and is just four letters, making it easy for the less co-ordinated of us bloggers to type.

There was a great response to our appeal for a name, with some pretty wacky and others hinting at a thought process well beyond our capabilities. Much appreciated.

By the way, where are you Gregory Sibret?

I say this because I went into a bank in Mons and tried to use the cash machine.

Obviously the language on the screen was a bit beyond me but it was clear that something was not as it should be.

Eventually I pressed cancel and a card belonging to the aforementioned Monsieur Sibret popped out.

Perhaps Gregory was a bit distracted at the time, wondering just what went wrong with Belgium's World Cup qualifying campaign.

The people of Mons have a beautiful town square, some fine fruit beers and, it appears, a fascination with motorbikes.

What they don't seem to have is any interest whatsoever in the World Cup. Shops do not seem to be using football as a marketing device regardless of how tenuous the link to their produce, while I have yet to see a single car over here with the national flag suspended above it.

Furthermore, I thought I was going to go through my first day on the continent without spotting a single England fan until I saw someone with the red away shirt making a beeline for McDonalds.

Comments  Post your comment

  • 1.
  • At 11:16 AM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Marcus wrote:

Hi Paul,
if you and Martin decide to stay in Munich or nearby just pop in at the "Funkhaus" of ARD Radio & Television (national public broadcaster) and have a good Weiss-Beer with us. Technical support - if needed - is included.

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  • 2.
  • At 11:29 AM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Gary Thornton wrote:

Ha got to laugh at the Svan typical of my cous tommo!

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  • 3.
  • At 11:29 AM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Gary Thornton wrote:

Ha got to laugh at the Svan typical of my cous tommo!

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  • 4.
  • At 11:57 AM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • mistajohn wrote:

Hmm, Mons in Belgium. No World Cup flags in the town. Is that post-ironic?

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  • 5.
  • At 12:34 PM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Andrew wrote:

FROM BRUSSELS
TO "SVAN IN BELGIUM"

You are correct the atmosphere here in Belgium doesn't give you the feeling there is a World Cup ahead of us, the main reason is simply because Belgium didn't qualify.

Infact there have been several sightings of Belgium colours this week but this is in support of the All Belgium Ladies Semi-final at Rolland Garros.

I must say living here now for almost 10 years you tend to choose not to walk down the streets in your teams/national colours, Unfortunately the hooligan image has given a terrible stereotyping to the people who choose to wear football shirts, especially since each weekend there is still a considerable amount of crowd trouble in the league games over here.

However, I certainly will choose to wear my new England shirt in my reserved seat at the local Irish Pub and will proudly fly my St George flags from the house window and the car.

Come on our "IN-GERR-LAND". The pundits out here are all for us..............

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  • 6.
  • At 12:35 PM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Andrew wrote:

FROM BRUSSELS
TO "SVAN IN BELGIUM"

You are correct the atmosphere here in Belgium doesn't give you the feeling there is a World Cup ahead of us, the main reason is simply because Belgium didn't qualify.

Infact there have been several sightings of Belgium colours this week but this is in support of the All Belgium Ladies Semi-final at Rolland Garros.

I must say living here now for almost 10 years you tend to choose not to walk down the streets in your teams/national colours, Unfortunately the hooligan image has given a terrible stereotyping to the people who choose to wear football shirts, especially since each weekend there is still a considerable amount of crowd trouble in the league games over here.

However, I certainly will choose to wear my new England shirt in my reserved seat at the local Irish Pub and will proudly fly my St George flags from the house window and the car.

Come on our "IN-GERR-LAND". The pundits out here are all for us..............

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  • 7.
  • At 12:59 PM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Simon Schafer wrote:

Right guys, lets create a bit of inter Svan rivalry. I assume you'll both be willing England to win the cup. But what do each of you think the top four will end up being? As a tiebreak, who's going to win the golden boot?

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Well first up Simon, I had a bet on Cisse at 50/1 to win the Golden Boot, so with his broken leg that's me scuppered - but i'll go for Luca Toni now.

Top four, without looking at the draw, I think will be England, Brazil, Argentina and Italy.

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  • 9.
  • At 04:10 PM on 08 Jun 2006,
  • Ottawa Pompey wrote:

I spent two years in Mons as a kid. Make sure you rub the head of the iron monkey in the square - it'll bring you (and England, hopefully) good luck.

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OK, lets get this right.

I do realise that Belgium did not qualify for the World Cup.

The point I was making was perhaps more of a personal one - that as an Englishman in England I felt the nation was moving into World Cup overdrive.

It was a little strange to suddenly find myself a few hours later in a nation where the World Cup might as well not be happening.

That said, Ricco and I have spent the afternoon in Luxembourg and they seem pretty up for the Cup.

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