Murder on Gdansk Floor

If you read my blog, you likely read it due to the Facebook update. If you are on Facebook, you will have likely have seen some random pictures of me in Gdansk, Poland over the last three weeks.

I left UEFA around 18 months ago, but have been fortunate enough to have been invited to work on some Champions League, Europa League and now the European Championships as an external. I struck lucky in Gdansk with the Spanish in town, a fantastic group of people to work with, and a fantastic city. Gdansk is a cool place, though we actually spent more time in neighbouring Sopot. Both cities are in Northern Poland and are on the Baltic Sea, which means beach time baby. I managed to visit the beach twice. Once at 5am for a vodka-fuelled swim, and another time for a short part of a run which was clearly a bad decision. As a side note, Sopot will host the 2014 World Indoor Athletics Championships and I am sure it will host a fantastic event.

Weather-wise, we were not so lucky. It rained most days and was quite cold most of the time. We had one glorious day of 30c but unfortunately it was Spain v Croatia, and I was wearing the full suit. Not ideal, and with a classic blue shirt on, you have to wear the jacket if you're prone to sweating like me.

Events like this are somewhat unnatural from a work perspective and so much depends on the people you work with. The hours are long, and it can be reminiscent of Big Brother as you spend a lot of time with your colleagues. My team were fantastic to work with - everybody did their jobs, we all had sufficiently decent musical tastes (I did not subject them to Barry or JBJ though), and we had laugh after laugh, picking up a few nicknames along the way which cannot be printed. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

What did I learn from Euro 2012?

…..that as much as I tried to dislike Jose Reina and Fernando Torres when we interviewed them due to their Liverpool connections, I could only find them incredibly friendly and normal.

….that as glamorous as it sounds to be working on a European Championships, it is three or four weeks of incredibly long hours and hard work. I am not saying it was not fun, but it is not easy.

….that working behind the scenes with players and coaches is a fantastic experience. I learned some amazing secrets that are not in the public domain….and unfortunately, they will remain that way!

….that some people can deal with pressure and stressful moments, and others cannot in all walks of life, and I am thankful that I generally can.

….that the people of Poland are extremely friendly and fun with Sopot & Gdansk ranking up there on my list as fun places to visit.

….that the Irish fans are fantastic. The results were miserable, but the fans are an absolute credit. They just have fun, simple as that…nothing more, nothing less.

….that Twitter has become the place for breaking news and coverage in sport. It may have struggled to cope with the barrage of Tweets at times, but that is where it is at these days.

….that I have said it before and I will say it again, as much as I have enjoyed the tournament, the quality of it is not as good as the Champions League in my view.

….that Polish vodka is dangerous and should not be mixed with beer. Or Jaegermeister. Or Mojitos. Or anything else.

….that my favourite t-shirt in Gdansk was on that had ‘GERMANY’ printed in bold across the middle, and underneath it read ‘I’m actually Greek but we’re sponsored by Germany’. Hilarious!