Kieler Woche in Review

A few weeks ago I posted a blog entry about Kieler Woche, the huge sailing event that takes places here every year. I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew that it was a big event, however it was far bigger than I imagined.

For those people that live in Brisbane, it is very similar to the Ekka, but with Beer stalls everywhere. People everywhere, drinking, dancing, and partying. It was such a great atmosphere. Most of it was set along the water, hundreds of boats docked, and people everywhere watching the World Cup. I am sure that the World Cup was also a huge draw card, and meant that Kieler Woche was more popular than usual.

The website for Kieler Woche says that some 3 million people come to Kiel over the 10 days, but I am sure it was more this time. Doesn't matter where you went in Kiel, there were stages everywhere, with live bands of all different types of music. There was something for everyone.

As always I took heaps of photos, but still they don't capture the atmosphere as well as I would have liked. Most of the photos were taken after Germany won through to the round of 16 in the World Cup, so there is an obvious theme.

Down on the water front. Stalls lined the road, selling food, beer and lots of ice cream.

People trying there best to get to the other side of the river, where Kieler Woche continues. The bridge is quite small and is retractable allowing boats to pass at certain times of the day.

So many sailing boats of all ages. It was quite expensive to go for a ride so I decided against it.

Some of the fun and entertainment.

One of the many stages with live entertainment. The Welmeister flag shows just how confident people are that Germany will win the world cup.

One of the streets of Kiel with 1000s of people wandering through, enjoying the entertainment.

More people wandering the streets.

People sitting on the back, and hanging out of cars with German flags is very common at the moment. I am surprised the police don't crack down on this.

As you would expect BMW had a stand. The M6, very very nice! I can't remember what the price was but it was somewhere over 100 000 euro.

Kieler Woche finishes with a bang.

All in all, we all had a fantastic time. Made it pretty difficult to go to the gym with all this excitement. Back to it tomorrow!!

Thanks to those German's who also supported the Aussies during our World Cup campaign.

Niko the famous Australian Supporter. He was gutter when we lost!!! Don't howl too loud Niko!

Olaf, me, and Schners after the Croatia game.

At a local pub watching the match with some other Aussies. The guy opposite me was a German, who decided to come and tell us what a great team we had. I didn't catch his name unfortunately!

Thanks to all those people that made the world cup a great event for Australians. Cheers!

Fußball

Well what can I really say about the Socceroos missing the Germany 2006 quarter finals? I too could write a rant (just as many Aussies have done) about how poor the referee was, what a bad decision the penalty was, how Australia dominated procession and the match and deserved to win. But I think I will leave that to everyone else.

In my opinion, Australia's performances were some of the best at the World Cup. We qualified for the round of 16 in what was one of the toughest groups at the tournament. We played and matched it with some of the best teams in the world. We won our first World Cup finals game ever! We made so many opportunities, but just didn't quite have enough to stick them all in the back of the net (mind you not one side in the world can finish every single chance!). We just didn't get that luck that is needed to win a World Cup.

I have to say that to loose the match in this fashion was heart breaking. If it had of been a clear foul, and it was awarded, fair enough. If Italy had of scored a goal in regulation time fair enough. Even to loose to a goal in extra time, or loose on penalties fair enough. Fairs fair right?

I have to make the observation that there always seems to be a lot of controversy at the Soccer World Cup. If you do a Google search for “controversy World Cup” you come up with some 300 000 matches, and this is just in English. The first one that pops up was this link:

http://worldcup.uk.msn.com/features/Worldcup~refereeing~decisions/

This article details the top 10 most controversial moments of the World Cup. It seems that every four years there is some controversial moment that denies or robbs a team from achieving what they deserve. How can FIFA continue to let this go on? Do they like it this way? Fairs fair right? It seems not.

This is disappointing, and in my opinion is one of the reasons that Soccer is not so popular in Australia. Australians, myself included, like to see a fair contest. How can it be fair when a player takes a dive, and ends up rolling around on the ground, in pain, when there was clearly no contact? That isn't fair, its just plain stupid. It spoils what is an excellent sport, and destroys the image of the sport.

So what is needed? Why is it still possible for everyone watching at the stadium, and on TV to know a wrong decision was made, but to have the match carry on. What are the refs at the World Cup wearing headsets for? What a waste of time.

Australia now has the A League. Why not stamp this behaviour out in our national league and make a statement to the world? Introduce the video referee, allow them to help the on field official, review all goals, and penalties. This can't take too much time because there is sometimes only 1 or 2 goals scored in each match. Get tough on diving! More serve penalties should be imposed on players that dive. There should be a video match review committee just as in other Australian sports that look for this type of behaviour and punish those offending with match suspensions.

I am sure there are more things that would help make this sport better. I would love for the A League to make something like this happen, and show the world it can be done. Maybe then other leagues around the world would introduce similar rules, and then maybe FIFA might get with the times, and make the best decisions based on the information at hand.

Go Australia! Well done Socceroos, you did us proud.

We Can Make it to the semi-finals!

That was an amazing match! I really can't understand why Mark Schwarzer was dropped, but in the overall scheme of things, who really cares. We got the result! I just hope that Mark Schwarzer is back for the next game against the Italians!

This means that Australia, a little country of about 25 million people, is now one of the top 16 countries in the world, in a sport that is at best maybe the 3rd of 4th most popular. Just imagine how good we might be if all true Australian's (like Mark Viduka) played for the country of their birth!

Lets go Australia. I want to see Australia vs Germany in the WM Semi Final!

My Prayers have been answered!

Yesterday I posted a rant about how stupid it is that only 2 of the four games in the final round of the Soccer World Cup are being shown on German free to air TV. I checked last night, and the Danish TV stations are doing a delayed telecast. I would love to know the reason for this decision, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. There maybe a perfectly logical explanation. I still think the host nation should do its best to offer each game on Free to Air.

After my post I received a comment from Olaf (Odro), telling me that the game was on live on pay tv. It just so happens that Odro has pay tv, and Olaf and Schners have invited myself and Britty over to watch that game!!!! I would like to publicly thank them for their hospitality in helping out an Aussie!!!

One more thing!

GO AUSTRALIA!!!!!

Project Paint

When you are an IT person, much of the day is spent sitting at a computer, fixing some problem. As you can expect sitting most of the day, you don't get the opportunity to do any physical work. At my last job, the most physical task involved lifting some heavy network devices every once in a while. Other than that, there really wasn't much to raise a sweat with. (Some of course may argue, there is a good chance you will sweat if everything starts to crash around you!!)

Being in Germany, and only having very limited knowledge of the language, really doesn't serve well for finding an IT job. In the first few months while I am learning as much German as my head can handle, I have lots of free time. So to help me out, Britty's parents have been nice enough to give me a few little projects around their house. This not only means I have something to do, but it means I am required to speak German, because they only speak a little English. It makes things a little difficult, but so far we have managed pretty well.


The first project was to re-paint the shed/cottage in the Garden. Firstly, I sanded it back, and then gave it two coats of paint. I also put some new sand under and around the shed. With all the rain here, it is pretty easy for the soil to wash away. Check out the finished product.

The Shed, Finished!!!

Me doing some physical type work. Who would have thought?

And again, just to prove it!

Close up of the finished product.

Now it looks like a scene from a movie! :)

Doing physical work has certainly been a real change. For now I am liking it, but I dare say after 6 or 7 months, I will want back in IT . For now it is a great way to improve my German, and if I want to find an IT job in Germany, this is just what I need.

Big Game for Australia

Today is a massive game for the Socceroos! I can't wait to see if Australia can make it to the round of 16. The only problem is that in the last round of the the first stage of the World Cup, they have moved to having 4 games per day, and only two of the games are selected for German TV. I have no doubt they will choose to show Brazil over the Australian game, and Australian fans in Germany will be left to view the 5 minutes of highlights put on by the networks after the "main" game is finished!

Have they not heard of a delayed telecast? Why not show both games? What about all the fans that have traveled to Germany, who do not have tickets to their teams last pool match, and are still on holidays here spending money? Shouldn't the networks play the games for these people? What's going on?

Here in Kiel I have noticed that I can also receive some Danish TV stations. Maybe the Danish TV stations will show the match! I can only hope.

Go AUSTRALIA!!!!!!