FridayNightListeners - May 2022

Friday, May 6:?Tankard - Schwarz-Wei? wie Schnee

Friday, May 13:?Jamala - 1944

Friday, May 20:?Queen - We Are The Champions

Friday, May 27:?Melissa Etheridge - Bring Me Some Water

Dear #FridayNightListeners,

The song selection in the month of May was influenced by Eintracht Frankfurt's entry into this year's UEFA Europa League final. Apologies to all those who have nothing to do with football. As many of you know, I have been a fan of this club for many many years, since the late 1970s to be precise. In these more than 40 years, there have been countless magnificent, but also heartbreaking moments. Four relegations (1996, 2001, 2004, 2011) and just as many promotions (1998, 2003, 2005, 2012), a European victory right at the beginning of my fan existence (UEFA Cup, 1980), 3 German cup victories (DFB-Pokal, 1981, 1988, 2018; the 1974 and 1975 I unfortunately didn't consciously witness) and the so narrowly missed first Bundesliga championship in 1992, our trauma of Rostock. Not for nothing is the club nicknamed "The Diva from the Main".

My first game in the stadium, if I remember correctly, was a 3:2 against Hamburger SV. Together with my dad, I attended many more games after that, the memories on Block F in the old Waldstadion, parking at the Gleisdreieck car park, the "stadium sausage".... It's these things that you never forget - and that always come back to me when witnessing fathers today, going to the stadium with their kids, and you see the shining eyes, of fathers and kids!?

Friday, May 6

There were also many shining eyes on the 5th of May: Eintracht Frankfurt welcomed West Ham United in the semi-final second leg of the Europa League to secure their place in the first European final since 1980. The entire city was ready for a historic evening of football. Eintracht had won the first leg 2-1 in London a week earlier - but due to the now defunct "away goals rule", a 1-0 win would have been enough for West Ham to at least reach extra time. And after an early injury to central defender Martin Hinteregger and a generally nervous start, it didn't look so good. But an early red card for West Ham and the lead goal soon after paved the way for a 1-0 win and a place in the final on May 18, in Seville, Andalusia, Spain.?

During the whole match I was standing nervously at the stand of the Deutsche Bank Arena ala Waldstadion (btw: wanna see the arena in detail? check THIS out!). Because of the pandemic, it was my first live football game since late 2019 (beside the Sunday kicks in the 8th league);?the ticket have been offered to me by a good friend who was unable to attend due to illness. But the reason for being nervous was not my first visit at the arena for such a long time, it was the fact, that since Tuesday this week, I was aware that we would have tickets for the final. "Hopefully they don't screw it up!", were my thoughts during the 90 minutes.

When I was back home at 1 a.m., we booked our journey - I had asked for holiday in advance, just in case - , which was indeed a challenge if you didn't want to spent a fortune or travel for 20 hours.. But around 4 a.m. all was done and when I fell asleep I was humming softly to myself Tankard's: "Schwarz-Wei? Wie Schnee"...

Friday, May 13

I have to admit: The Eurovision song contest (ESC) is one of the few TV dates, which I have on my calender. It's not so much about the musical performances, these are average at best, usually less so, but rather the event itself.?

And if I'm completely honest, not even that. Perhaps it is a piece of the transfigured past, but this European music show, is in a way a trip down memory lane.?Back to the time when, as a child, you were only allowed to stay up very late on a few rare occasions. This was one such exception - we had crisps, cheese cubes with grapes and punch. Friends often visited - and it was somehow very exciting when the juries gave their scores.?

And my 11-year-old - she's not in singing class for nothing! - is now going through a similar experience. Will she remember these evenings in 40 years? In any case, she had invited her BFF to the ESC and sleepover party. And the two of them had a lot of fun... But in this context, of course, we also talked about the war in Ukraine. Because Ukraine was considered the favourite among the bookmakers and we discussed why that was so. Well, as expected, the Ukrainian participant won. But regardless of the current situation, Ukraine is one of the most successful participants in the competition; so far, the country has won three times, taken two second places and one third place, and has placed in the top ten a total of ten times. Before the band Kalush with "Stefanija" this year, the winners were Ruslana with Wild Dance in 2004 and in 2016 the singer Jamala with 1944.?

Friday, May 20

Our journey started at 4pm on Monday afternoon with a bit of stress - our booked shuttle service stood us up and we had to drive our own car to the airport - but then took off on time with the plane to Madrid. The prices for direct flights were off the charts, hence the diversions via the Spanish capital. Despite additional costs for train and hotels, this option was much cheaper.?

After a late dinner (and the first high-five with some rangers fans) and a short night, we took the high-speed train to Seville on Tuesday. There we went to our hotel which was a bit out of town. We spent some hours at the pool and in the early evening we went back to the city and enjoyed the atmosphere as the city was full of football enthusiasts, in particular from Glasgow. We had some delicious tapas near the cathedral, afterwards we headed for the Fan Festival and celebrated there with many like-minded people until 2 a.m. On Wednesday, the match day, we, together with two other Frankfurt fans who were at the same hotel, commuted to the Fan Festival in the afternoon, of course all dressed in white, from where we joined the fan march to the stadium (more on that in the post).

When the game and the award ceremony was over, well, we felt empty, burnt out, knackered - but infinitely grateful, relieved and euphoric. Everything seemed completely surreal. It was quite hard to find a taxi or UBER, so it took two hours to get one. However, it was an incredible experience to walk through Seville at night, seeing and talking to so many people on the street, dressed in white or blue. Back at the hotel, still 28 degrees, the jacuzzi was the target and with a final beer, we recapitulated the last 18 hours!?

On Thursday, we went back to Madrid around noon, where we met up with our Spanish marketing team for some tapas in the evening. It was a great way to end the day and, of course, also the transition from partying to business (although I have to say, I would have loved to be in Frankfurt, my home town, at that time because all hell broke loose there on Thursday!) After another short night (I have calculated that we slept a total of 18 hours within in these four nights and I'm not in my 20 anymore), we took one of the first flights back to Frankfurt on Friday morning. At 10.30 a.m. I was back at my desk. In retrospect, it was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime event, something you will never forget in your entire life. And I am very grateful that I was able to be there. Europa League winner 2022 and participant in the Champions League 2022/23: Eintracht Frankfurt - or also: We are the Champions.

Friday, May 27

Earlier this week, on Monday 30, Eintracht Frankfurt, Rangers FC, and Football Supporters Europe (FSE) release a press release, which I'd like to quote here. There is nothing to add:

"Last Friday, representatives of Eintracht Frankfurt, Rangers FC, and Football Supporters Europe (FSE) met to debrief and discuss several significant organisational issues during the recent UEFA Europa League final in Sevilla. These issues could easily have led to even more severe problems on the night and it was only thanks to the calmness and mutual respect of both sets of fans towards each other that there were not more severe injuries suffered. All three parties applaud the remarkable calmness of the two fan bases, given the situation they faced. Apart from the severe lack of food and - even more critically in the soaring temperatures - of water, there were several organisational problems around policing, body searches and beyond. Both clubs, as well as FSE, received a huge amount of complaints and witness statements from fans present in the stadium. All three parties will now work jointly to report back to UEFA and the local public authorities in Spain, and will make recommendations to ensure these problems can never occur again at a European final. Fans spend a lot of effort, time and money following their teams all over Europe and expect to be treated with respect and dignity while attending football games. This expectation was not met at all at the Europa League final in Sevilla."

Unfortunately, this final was no exception, as last Saturday's Champions League final in Paris also revealed glaring organisational shortcomings that ultimately had even worse consequences. But at this point, let me deliberately come to the defence of the police officers. A friend of mine is a member of a hundred-man squad - and I can tell you that these guys are not comfortable during such operations either. The pressure is enormous and they often have to pay for what was neglected in the planning. Even if the boys look martial - they are also very often young family men who abhor violence.?So, let's hope that this will not happen again in the future. In this respect; also at UEFA, we are talking about human beings. And I'm sure nobody has planned that bad on purpose. The most important thing when things have gone wrong: reflect, understand and than act.?Incidentally, the next final involving Eintracht Frankfurt will take place on 10 August in Helsinki, Finland: the opponents in the UEFA SuperCup will be Real Madrid, as they were 62 years ago in the final of the national champions. I'm curious to see who will drink champagne afterwards and who will quietly say: Bring Me Some Water.

Thank for listening and engaging during last month! The next #FridayNightListeners post is planned for tomorrow, Friday, June 3, 5pm (CEST) - stay tuned. As last month, some stats (as of June 8) for the ones interested in.