Remember the fan fests? The parties which exploded in the summer of 2006 when Germany staged the World Cup with a panache which took the host nation itself by surprise?
Of course it helped that the weather was fine and that Jurgen Klinsmann’s national team went all the way to the semi-finals, thus maintaining home fans’ exuberance. But the party atmosphere was seized on by FIFA itself as a way in which to expand and extend the grip of the World Cup drama on the planet.
As Wolfgang Niersbach, the German federation general federation, said at the time: “We wanted people to join in the party. What we did not expect was the extent to which people would come from all over the rest of Europe to share in it. We always thought fans without tickets were unhappy fans. Now we know that need not be the case.”
Where FIFA leads, every other major international sports federation follows. Hence UEFA with the European Championship and the week-long festival in central London before last season’s Champions League Final at Wembley.
The latest prediction is that the World Cup fan fests will become almost as big an international event as the World Cup itself with a network spreading beyond the host country to 20 or 30 of the biggest cities on earth.
That prospect for a brave new world was unveiled first by the Japanese federation when it bid – in vain, as it turned out – to host the 2022 World Cup.
Japan’s supporting technology partners offered a vision of hologram-style virtual stadia in fan parks in major cities all around the world; they would reproduce the appearance of the matches being played out in the World Cup venues themselves, complete with the stadium noise and atmosphere. The technology did not exist yet, said the Japanese, but they were working on it.
The visionary who has picked up on the concept of the worldwide fan fest is FIFA’s head of security, Chris Eaton.
The Australian former policeman and Interpol officer was hired by the world federation to lead the attack on match fixing and corruption fuelled, fired and financed by internet betting syndicates. But his brief also extends to event security and safety – and, for him, the future of football events means not only the ‘live match venue’ but all the associated sideshows.
Talking up the likely fan fest explosion, Eaton says: “Fan parks have become the second most important feature of the World Cup. They are now international and by 2022 there will be at least 20 international fans parks in iconic cities such as London, Paris, Rome, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow and so on.”
The unfortunate downside will be the need for enhanced security at all these events. But Eaton believes that this will be facilitated by the international co-ordination systems already devised for major sports events.
As he says: “In terms of security the fan parks are going to need to meet an international standard to which host countries will have to adhere.”
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Keir Radnedge is one of the foremost observers of international soccer. He has reported at every World Cup since 1966 and is a regular contributor to TV, radio, newspapers and magazines worldwide. He is London-based Editor of SportsFeatures.com and is chairman of the Football Commission of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). Visit www.KeirRadnedge.com for further information. Follow him on Twitter for more sports industry updates.
The views of our regular columnists are independent, and as such do not represent those of Leaders in Football.
