It's 17 whole days since the European football season ended, but the long agony of soccer fans is over at last. The European Championship kicks off tonight, when co-hosts Belgium take on Sweden, and the competition runs until July 2nd, when the new soccer season will be almost upon us.
With no team of our own to cheer on, many Irish people will be getting behind our near-neighbours, Portugal, when they open their campaign against England on Monday night.
In the run-up to the game, authorities in Eindhoven have taken the precaution of halving the strength of beer on sale in city pubs. The 2 1/2 per cent-proof substitute is euphemistically titled "Festival Beer", but 2,000 police will be on duty anyway, in case the festivities get out of hand.
Fears of violence by English supporters took an ironic twist yesterday with the revelation that three journalists from the News of the World had been held for 24 hours by Belgian police. Working on a story about the availability of weapons in Belgium, they were arrested on Thursday after posing in a Brussels park with hunting knives and a crossbow.
It is against the law in Belgium to carry such weapons without a hunting permit, and even with a permit, you can only carry them openly in a hunting area. "Clearly, Brussels is not an ideal place to go hunting," a British embassy official commented. The journalists were eventually released without charge.
Cannabis enthusiasts hope the easy availability of the drug in the Netherlands - the competition's other co-hosts - may have a positive effect on fans.
Mr Roland Dam, founder of the Amsterdam Cannabis College, which disseminates information on the medical and recreational uses of the drug, said: "Have you ever heard of anyone smoking a joint and then starting a riot? Keeping the coffee shops open is good news for the city and the tournament as a whole." A coffee shop regular commented: "I hope the fans have a good smoke and just love each other."
Holland are favourites for the tournament, heightening the fears of Dutch economists that the feel-good factor generated by such a win would boost consumer spending and fuel inflation. Traditional favourites Germany appear to have no such worries, fielding a side which experts believe is about as strong as Festival Beer.
A notable absentee from tonight's match in Brussels will be former French star Michel Platini. Now special adviser to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Platini scored the penalty that won the 1985 European Cup for Juventus, in a game rendered meaningless by the deaths of 39 fans when a wall collapsed during a riot by Liverpool supporters.
Platini vowed never to return to the Heysel Stadium, and although the venue has been rebuilt and renamed, he still insists on staying away. The match will be televised live on RTE and ITV, kickoff 7.45 p.m. Irish time.
