... the Fairy tale

Tournament link -> Helsinki 2017 - ECHA

The Footie Fairy thanks you!!!

... and so the story ends... we feel we owe this to all of you who supported us, encouraged us and were close to us and more than anything, kept alive the footie fairy (don't say again you don't believe in her, she's the only one left!). Also, we want you to feel the envy that you could have joined such a great experience, but you preferred not to.

Preamble

one more year, high hopes, training programmes, organisation, change of plans, team updates, test matches, lower hopes, gusts of realism, new plans, last moment changes, and here it came, the departure day.

Day 1 - Friday 16

on Fri 16, mid morning, the ones willing to take their cars to the airport picked up all the other ones, high spirits again, and drove hastily to the turin airport. it's not often that  those 21 of us met all together, and there were two more who we would meet in stockholm, leaving with a different flight.

time for lunch already, pick up a sandwich (bloody hell, they've changed the location of the bar at the turin airport, beware, now it's where Tiger used to be), pick up some drinks, take several selfies with Luca Argentero who happened to be there, took the traditional picture in front of the big ETF advert,  start to  panic as the flight got delayed, and we only had 45 mins to change un Munich, board the plane. it was the second day of free roaming (thank you EU), luckily the stewards tell us that our connecting flight is also delayed, so we relax... remember, this was no low cost EasyJet or Ryanair, bare, zero service - this was LH - so sandwich, drinks (if you wonder why using the generic term, well, it's because 1) I don't know what each of us had, and 2) I don't want to leave the impression that beer had any impact on our later performance) ... this was a small plane, air dolomiti, we were occupying probably half of the plane :-). transit in Munich was quick, train to terminal K took us to the right place quicker than you could spell Münchengladbach, boarded this time a real plane and relaxed... we will be arriving, afterall, in Helsinki.

And arrive we did. there were two minivans to pick us up (flourishing russian business) with a big sign "Fabio el capitan" (the other sign "Mirciulica Capitanul" got lost, unfortunately) and for 30 minutes we crossed a very green city, big spaces, some blocks of flats, quite old cars (high taxes?), but unexpectedly sunny. it is important to know that for the whole preceeding week the organisers terrorised us with the weather - it did snow like three weeks before, and the forcast was about 15°, cloudy  and showers. we had all that, eventually, but not in the first day, which was sunny and bright,  fizzy air, lovely. eventually we reach the hotel.

because a hotel it was. well, more of a hostel. Eurohostel  - please note the loyalty which we express even in things as simple as choosing a ho(s)tel. Filippo (invented character, for the protection of the football team members I will only use fake names) said immediately "minchia, sembra una prigione!" (euphemistically translated into "it's a bit small") - and here the other two members of the group arrived with the early flight were waiting for us, smiling behind the window (no, no bars at the window). It was already 8pm, and the now 23 of us agreed that it was about time to think about dinner. we did book a place (we told you we're organised) somewhere in the center, pretty close about 30 mins walk.. and we started... Mass is a property of matter which is only observed when accelerated, and deforms the space-time continuum.  The move of the 23 of us was a loooong accordeon snake, paying tribute to inertia and other less physical laws as the law of curiosity ( on the main street we saw something that look like a church but had a name like a Senate - what was that?). we find the place (Harald, just behind the Hard Rock Cafe), get in, and get shown our tables. the kind lady tells us that being Friday, the kitchen stays open for longer, therefore we still have 15 mins to order. we had mixed orders (quite a reduced choice, only one plate with raindeer) , had some _drinks_, took some silly pictures wearing funny viking horned helmets, and at around 10:30 we were the only ones left in that place... ok, time to go, we all stroll outside... stop, wait. what time is it? 10:30? no way, can't be more than 8-9, sun is still up!  and what a sky! lighted white and orage stripes of clouds, a small breeze, still relatively warm (that meteoterrorist of an organiser!) - can't go home that early... stroll again through the center, in front of a monumental train station, try to enter a pub to have some _drinks_, rigid laws raised against us (you cannot enter with your jacket on, need to leave it at the guardaroba, oh, and the kids can't get in) - ok, keep your _drinks_, of course you don't need the business of 23 thirsty italians. Back to the center , back through the main street (we were about to find out, next day, that the immediate parralel was way-way nicer, with a big promenade in the middle), and finally we're back on our small island, with our small hotel. one last _drink_  on  the terrace at the bridge and all to their beds. next day the real fun starts. at 7:30.

Day 2 - Saturday 17

we had to ask for the breakfast to be exceptionally anticipated to 7:30 (otherwise planned for 8) as at 8 we had the minivans taking us to the pitch. the orgnisers have planned the "checkin" from 8 to 9, with first games starting at 9 (we were lucky, our men team had their first game at 10, and the mixed team at 11). the organisers gave each captain an envelope with invitations for the Saturday evening's party, which were later to be changed into _drinks_. they also gave a box of water, with the instructions that when it ends it should be refilled from the tap, as tap water in Helsinki is way better then bottled water.  tension was raising, we got changed in our sport gear (men with red shorts and tshirts, mixed with black, all with nice ETF logo - thank you COMM! - that was a present of several years ago) and identified our pitch for the next game (there were 6 natural grass pitches, with small tribunes on the sides)... this is not about the games themseves, they do not matter (especially if you loose), it's about the spirit of the competition. the weather was again nice, we started to worry about the sun cream (nobody thought of that - that meteoterrorist!), had our first games, elaborated  strategies, changed strategies, called about the Mister to take the right decisions, had some snaks  , had more water (here I can be more precise in the type of drinks, as there was only water in the area), luckily Pierre (another fake name) goes to the nearby supermarket an brings some bananas and some real _drinks_, and at the end of the day, after 3 games for each of the teams, we call it a day. take stock of damage (notmuch, only a swollen-hopefully-not-broken thumb) , and call the minivans to take us home (it was quite a long way from the hotel)... 50 mins later, we were still on the side of the dusty road, having phone conversations with the russian businessman, with the bus which kept being postponed by "10 more minutes"... one of us decides to jog home (bloody youngsters)  , other teams struggle with taxis, uber, etc, Thierry (fake name as well) decides to test how well the road rules are respected and keeps crossing (yes, on the crossing line) the 3-lanes-per-side road , with all the cars immediately stopping (great country!)... and the bus comes, a 40 place white Mercedes, delivered at the same price of the minivans - that is style! Thank you my russian friend - we board it, give a lift to the center to other playes from our sister agency EFSA, and in no time we pick up also our jogging friend on the way, and it's done, we're home.Shower, one hour sleep (or some _drinks_ for re-mineralising our exhausted bodies), and it's time to go to the party... this party tradition started with the first toutnament to last two days - Cologne. the first ones - Lisbon and Parma , having all games in a single day, only organised a small dinner on the agency's premises. Cologne instead invited all the participants to one of the city's brauhaus (?) , and since then the hosting agencies have tried to excel (they were followed by Barcelona, London, Alicante). So we get to this place, our invitation ticket gets changed into 2 coupons for _drinks_, and we're let loose in this big bar on the harbour. Music, speach, music, food, _drink 1_, _drink 2_, around 11 they have closed the roof in order to create some athmosphere - the 11pm sun being unbelievably strong and determined to show that midsummer was only 3 days away... strategicaly we leave home in small groups (the time is irrelevant, but it was still light), and pull the curtain over the first day of the tournament. until now all ok. 

Day 3 - Sunday 18

could not convince the nice hotel ladies to repeat the 7:30 breakfast, and both teams had games very early, starting at 9. our russian friend arrives as requested at 8:15, but only with one of the two minivans we got used with - what? All uokey, no prioblem, we go and we return and then we go again... well, we had no other choice, boarded the top players with the first batch and prayed that he will make it. he did make it, and at 5 to nine we were all on our pitches, warriors ready to take whatever life would throw at them. Life was kind, but weather was not - cold, cloudy, windy. 10-15°, some drizzle... we did our bit, played our games, won few matches, lost some, get a raw with the referee (amateurs!)... the final was played around 16, we were all there to see it, had a shower, now relaxed... Well done home team Echa winning, pitty for Frontex (second time they loose the finals at penalties), well done our friends fron EMCDDA (Drugs - Lisbon- the initiators of the tournament- several times winners, now third), well done EFSA, well done everybody. Well done ETF, great games, great team, great friends. some of us go straight to the airport (people have to work on Mondays), the luckier remaining ones head to hotel. This time my russian friend is in time, with a 16 places dark-windowed (but champaigne-less) Mercedes Sprinter Limousine (wow!) cheaper than all the previous minivans, and flies us to the hotel. no need to rest anymore, time is running short and we-re missing one of the objectives: raindeer. asked the hotel for a nice place, they give us some names of places (all around that Hard Rock Cafe), we go (this time we go via the promenade, nice!) but, without a booking, they don't let us in... bye-bye raindeer, there's a nother restaurant just in front, we look at the menu all Italian (Italian? no way we're going to eat italian, nobody abroad does pizza as it should be made, nor pasta, nor ...) - fine, let's keep going the 16 of us remaining, hoping to find, at 9pm, a restaurant with finnish food without a reservation. We wonder around other italian restaurants, McDonalds, some Tapas bar (no way, we didn't come to finland to eat tapas!) and at around 10 (did I say it was still daylight?) we find a czech restaurant. czech! Vltava. they have places, we agree that the group could eventually split if somebody still insists in finding finnish food, but in the end here we are all seated along two very accomodating tables. We ordered immediately some beers (now I can mention it, because 1) tournament is over and 2) because the czechs make great beer  ), we also get some food (no reindeer)... how would you like to pay? one single bill or individual bills? funny, in Italy they would avoid at all costs individual bills, but here they seem OK, so given that we had different food and different number of beers we go for individual bills.  we stand up, heading for the till to pay, when the   waiter panics and yells:"sit down!!! if you move I will not remember what each of you had!". and we sit, obediently, and sit, and 30 mins pass and she's not there yet... finally she comes, gives each of us his own bill (I'll grant her that, she was precise) and we're released... we pay, walk home in the lovely midnight sun, and end the last day of the tournament. but not the last day of this trip.    

Day 4 - Monday 19

no more games today. don't care about breakfast, anyway it closes at 9... there could have been free sauna, but it was only until 9, so we didn't bother... we meet up downstairs at about ten, with the intention to visit the island - Suomenlinna. One of us had started working already, as he combined the tournament with a business mission. another one (the thumb one, which by now looks slightly deflated) has some work to do, and yet another one would rather sleep...  other two - Chiara and her cousin (and here not only the name is fake, but also the kinship) were having their plane much earlier than the rest of us, therefore they had left for Suomenlinna well before we did. Before taking the boat, we walked around the Helsinki harbour market, the SkyWheel, the harbour swimmingpool, together with tourists deposed by the several cruise ships moored there. Suomenlinna is an ex garnizone, heavily fortified, nevertheless conquered by the russians,  one hour walking very slowly in the glorious sun, found a terrace at the far end of the island (Walhala), had a bite, had a _drink_, then laid down in the sun as if there were no tomorrow... awaken by the seaguls (throwing shoes at them does not help, trust us) , we head back for the harbour & hotel. we split for a last time, last shopping (raindeer bresaola anyone?) and then the Mercedes Limo, timely delivered by our russian friends (this time with an estonian driver) takes us to the airport, passing by the football pitches. it's 6pm now , the same sun up there in the sky, a late plane again endangering the connection, but who cares anymore?

what matters is the result. and the result was good. there were 26 men-teams and  13 mixed ones. well, we were not the first, we were not the last. it really does not matter that the sum of our places was 29, and the difference 5. Exactly like all previous years, this year was fun.