GERMANY: Tobias Techmann has what seems like the dream job: he is paid to attend World Cup matches.
But while the capacity crowd watches the action, Tobias watches the crowd. He's one of hundreds of orange-vested stewards visible around the edge of the World Cup pitches. Although he's just metres from the pitch, turning around is verboten.
"I'm not in the stadium for my own amusement," said 26-year- old Tobias, who is deployed in Hamburg for the tournament. "I have a task I've been trained for and I'll carry that out."
Like many colleagues, Tobias responded to a newspaper advertisement looking for World Cup stewards and though there were no particular requirements, a lack of interest in football was a bonus. Tobias says he is a passionate tennis player and seldom watches football, so he doesn't feel like he's missing out on anything by spending hours standing between the fans and the advertising hoardings, looking the wrong way.
"My entire concentration is on the movements and actions of the fans," he told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. "If something happens then it's my responsibility." Security has been the top priority of the German World Cup organising committee and private companies have been contracted in each host city to provide stewards to patrol inside and outside the arenas.
Outside, the stewards check bags for bottles, fireworks or other forbidden items. Inside, the number of stewards to be deployed at pitch-side is calculated before each match based on the number of fans attending, the importance of the match and what police expect.
During a recent match in Berlin, for instance, more than 200 stewards watched the crowd, twice the level at other matches, though without incident.
So far Tobias says his favourite match, or more precisely his favourite crowd, was the Ivory Coast fans in their match against Argentina. "That was the best entertainment, I had goosebumps 90 minutes long," he said. "Otherwise I'm always halfway in the picture, particularly during penalties and goals."
The security companies watch their staff closely on cameras for any infringements of their rules.
"It is strictly forbidden for stewards to turn around because then a hole emerges in the security net. Even if it's just for a second, that might be all someone needs," said a spokesman for one security company. "But I think it's okay for a quick look over the shoulder. No one will say anything about that."
