Ian Saville, Dave Billington and Steve Scott, all from Sussex, England, have been going to football tournaments for 25 years now. The three friends had to miss the 2010 UEFA World Cup because trips to South Africa were prohibitively expensive.
Ukraine, on the other hand, greeted the trio with low prices: 30 to 40 percent cheaper than any country they have been to for tournaments, they say. They arrived in the morning on June 8.
“All the newspapers in UK were saying that it was very expensive, the hotel prices were high, so we started research on the Internet and found an apartment that is literally five minutes from here [Kreschatyk fan zone] for a very good price, just $190 per night. We couldn’t be happier with the apartment, we were blown away by the quality for the price,” says Scott, 53, a retired policeman.
The English friends are here to see all games of their national team at the stadium, and rest – in the fan zone. England is playing all of its games in Ukraine, on June 11, 15 and 19.
The men will leave for Donetsk on June 11 to see their team playing France.Again, they thought buying tickets wasn’t that difficult, and they feel they’re getting good value for their money.
“Train tickets were not expensive, about 30 pounds for the second class and the agent who helped us getting them charged us about 35 pounds, which is OK. The website for Ukraine trains didn’t work for a long time, so we couldn’t do it without him,” says Saville, 45, a sales manager.
Scott said he has read multiple scary stories about racism and violence in Ukraine, but nevertheless he had no qualms about coming here.
“Anywhere in Europe I can go down the backstreet in the night and see racism. It is our first day today and it seems that hopefully it’s going to be a festival of football,” he says.
Moreover, he found that Swedish, Polish and English fans tend to stick together. So far, the locals have been extremely friendly, too – even when they spoke no English.
“Even the construction workers we met, who didn’t speak English, greeted us and shook our hands,” says Scott.
When the trio neede to change money, they got help from a man from Cyprus who has lived in Ukraine for three years. “He explained to us how the supermarkets and banks here work, and he was so, so friendly,” Scott says.
When Saville mentions the low beer prices, his friend Billington chips in, asking “not to stereotype English fans” for that.
They might need that beer, stereotypes or not, because they are not too optimistic about their team.
“It is the first time we’re going to the championship where we don’t think we will win,” says Saville.
Ian Saville, Dave Billington and Steve Scott in Kyiv’s fan zone on Khreshchatyk street. (Ganna Bernyk)
