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World Cup Diary - Day 11: A trip to the sticks as England arrive to a party on the Volga

England fans at Nizhniy Novgorod Stadium
England fans at Nizhniy Novgorod Stadium

All the negativity towards Russia, some warranted and some just fitting a narrative, put many fans off travelling to this World Cup.

The English contingent, not one to normally shirk a jolly up overseas, is much more modest in number than at previous tournaments because of these concerns, but those who have ignored the bad press and travelled to Russia have been incredibly well received, and the atmosphere could not be a more positive one.

In keeping a promise to a friend, I headed three hours into the countryside early in the day to watch a local team, FC Uren, in action. They had previously been a professional club who got as high as there second tier of Russian football, before financial constraints caused them to cease to exist.

Fortunately, thanks to some enthusiastic locals, the team in up and running again, but their bear mascot, a live one, not a man in a costume, no longer sits in a cage on the edge of the pitch.

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The ground itself looked like a Soviet relic, with a big iron gate at the entrance, leading to a wooden club house and the dilapidated stands.

More than happy to share tales of former glories, the club’s founder took us up to the “directors’ box” to show us pictures of their run to the quarter-final of the Russian Cup, before explaining his sadness at being unable to save the club from financial ruin.

Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.
Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.
Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.
Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.
Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.
Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.

The standard has slipped a great deal from Uren’s glory days, as the defending left much to be desired in a 4-4 draw. Nonetheless, the opportunity to see real Russia in a wooden house ladened village, where locals stared with bewilderment at a visitor, was not to be missed.

Back in Nizhny, the English were in town. The flags were up in the back of bars, beer in plastic cups was flowing, all to the dulcet tones on “Football’s Coming Home.”

The locals were lapping it up. Russians lay across the England flags spread over the pavement for photographs, asked relentless questions, and joined in in football-related, light-hearted, sledging.

There was a big police presence, of course, but they looked super relaxed as nothing untoward happened at all. Everyone behaved themselves.

It was one big street party in central Nizhny. “This does not happen in Russia, drinking on the street like this,” one fan told me. “The police are looking the other way for a month.”

Bars and clubs even had their speakers on the street, and sparked a bizarre scene where cars, trying to get down the road filled with Russian revellers, abandoned their cars, aside from one girl asleep in the back, and joined in the fun.

Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.
Our reporter Pete Hall has been travelling around Russia.

Sunrise is very early in Nizhny, around 3am, making for a lovely backdrop for the walk home. England v Panama is to come, where surely England will fire some goals to book their place in the last 16. Either way, England fans arriving on trains from Moscow will find certainly enjoy themselves in the 30 degree heat regardless.