Many would think Anthony Jucha is totally mad. He caught 35 trains, eight buses, four planes and three ferries all to watch a sport he cared little for, as MICHELLE GIGLIO writes.
Soccer fans across the country who may be weary after four weeks of intense World Cup emotion in front of the television should spare a thought for Anthony Jucha.
The London-based Australian has travelled 11,000km, zigzagging around Europe to watch Cup matches with European fans. He has spent 240 hours on trains, buses and ferries to make each kickoff on time, often foregoing sleep – and personal hygiene – along the way.
Jucha ditched his job with a London law firm four weeks ago just so he could pursue this crazy adventure. Since the cup began on May 31, Jucha has joined face-painted Swedes in Stockholm, bottle-throwing Danes in Copenhagen and headhunting Englishmen in London.
The 27-year-old admits he’s no soccer fanatic (he’s actually an Aussie Rules man), but describes himself as a “fan-watching fan”.
“I will never forget the joy I felt standing at the Paris Town Hall with thousands of fans before the first match of the tournament,” Jucha says. “Even now, just imagining the scene chokes me up.”
It all began in early May when Jucha was watching highlights of the last World Cup.
“I was thinking how much I would like to see the Europeans’ passionate support for their teams in the world’s greatest competition,” he says.
It was also the perfect opportunity to pursue his dream to be a travel writer. After two weeks of planning, Jucha was on a bus to Paris, working on a tiny budget of $3000 – now blown to pieces.
The self-confessed “manic” went all out to achieve his goal. He caught 35 trains, eight buses, four planes and three ferries, averaging five hours of broken sleep a night. All to watch a sport Jucha cared little about before the Cup. In fact, he’d never even seen a soccer match before starting his epic journey.
Fourteen matches and 32 pubs later, Jucha says he is finally beginning to appreciate the game.
He’s documented all his experiences on the writers website www.abctales.com, but he doesn’t get paid a cent for his devotion.
For Jucha, the “comedies, truth and pain” will finish with tomorrow’s final, which he will watch from Berlin. He did attempt an 80hour train trip to Istanbal to watch Turkey play in the semifinals, but had to turn back after 20 hours when he realised visas were required for several countries between Germany and Turkey.
It begs the question: why not just go to South Korea or Japan to watch the Cup?
“That would have been a most unmiraculous achievement, Jucha says. “Anyone can do that. I defy almost anyone to do this.”
This has involved hours of planning, often undone by unhelpful ticket agents or train breakdowns. At one stage, he visited seven countries in seven days, beating all package-tour records, and losing some sanity in the process.
The seven-day dash resulted from Jucha’s allegiance to his Polish ancestors, forcing him to squeeze three matches and three countries into 36 hours just so he could see Poland beat USA. Arriving there with no language, no map, no money and no idea, he uses hand gestures to ask confused Poles for help: “What I thought were universal gesticulations for football, television and drink gained me no ground.”
But an acute nose for beer-coated fans leads him to the ultimate arena — a pub with no vodka. It is only after Poland scores that the punters drop their guards and Jucha “becomes everyone’s friend” he writes.
“That was my happiest celebration and I left Poland on top of the world,” he says.
Whether it was getting sunburnt with thousands of Parisians outside the Town Hall, or watching Swedes writhe in agony on the floor of a cinema, Jucha shows he knows how to find the people.
Lugging a 20kg backpack, he develops a standard “prematch jog” in each new city, searching anxiously for action. Weaving his way through Brussels for Belgium v Tunisia, he grows nervous when no fans materialise.
“Did I have the schedule wrong or was I the only one for whom the game mattered? I tightened my gaze, searching for some love of the game. Then, I saw them. Viking horns in black, red and gold! They cared!” All Jucha wants to see during his crusade are locals dancing in the streets, celebrating their nations win. A draw with Germany caused the Irish to roar in a Dublin pub.
“They nearly screamed the screen off the wall! The room bounced and heaved. Arms all in arms. The game had ended, but it seemed the chanting never would,” he writes. English “suits” in London’s financial district got emotional after England’s 10 win over Argentina. Crowded into a pub singing “we love England, we do,” they shared group hugs, tears of relief and a kiss with Jucha.
But the European teams did not perform so well overall. The record so far is three wins, seven losses and four draws. The Spaniards took their semifinal loss badly in Madrid: “I respectfully observed a sad procession exit the pub and enter the streets,” he writes. “Some sat and wept. Most just disappeared.”
With Germany in the final, Jucha is hoping for a win, “so I can see some reaction,” he says. He’s already seen broken bottles spread through Munich after Germany’s victory over South Korea, with police putting a stop to dancing and drunken revelry in the streets.
Once ensconced in a city, Jucha does not content himself with viewing the match at one location, but switches at half time. In Copenhagen for Denmark v England, he gatecrashes a party in a “swanky apartment, then sneaks past an angry mob of Danes to join expat Brits in the The Old English Pub”.
Two free beers and a few chants later, he exits to join 100,000 people in the town square who are outraged at Denmark’s losing scoreline.
“I positioned myself directly under the screen,” Jucha writes. “Right in the line of fire. And it was. Bottles rained down from the frustrated crowd.
“I hung around for a while just to see if I would get hit on the head just to give me something interesting to write about. But I had to catch a train in a few hours and could not afford any injury time.”
From Italy to Germany, locals intrigued by his crazy adventure buy him beer after beer. Although he admits the occasional nonbeliever thinks what he is doing is “just stupid. One travelling Californian tells him to “get to Japan and Korea like everyone else”.
However it is Jucha who has the last laugh. In all his stories, you’ll struggle to find an in-depth analysis of what actually happens during the game.
“Imagine pumping out 24,000 words on the World Cup and never naming a player,” he says.
Such is Jucha’s drive that he is prepared to sacrifice physical wellbeing and sanity. He has lost 10kg and says the trip has become “the ultimate test of guts and determination”.
Adversity does seem to hit Jucha the harder he tries to complete his mission. In Munich last week on route to Italy, Jucha found himself on the wrong train. “I stood one foot on the platform and one foot on the train, the door trying to shut through my chest, the conductor screaming at me.” He throws himself out of the carriage on to the platform just in time. He ends up listening to Italy v South Korea on a train to Milan, “trying to tune into a commentary in a language I could not understand,” he writes.
“I could only judge the game by others reactions and slowly they gathered around. [Then] South Korea scored, or so I reasoned watching an old gent slamming his head on a door in frustration.
Despite the complications along the way, the pain has been worth it, Jucha says. Roaming the streets of Berlin, he says there’s “lots of talk” of tomorrow’s match, many waiting nervously to see Germany play its first World Cup final in 12 years.
Once the journey is over, Jucha will spend three weeks “resting, meditating and practicing yoga to repair all the damage”. Then, he plans to visit Europe at a more leisurely pace. One thing is for sure, he won’t have any trouble finding his way.
He travelled 11,000km in 30 days:
1. FRANCE – Paris
May 31 France v Senegal
2. ENGLAND – London
June 2 England v Sweden
3. IRELAND – Dublin
June 5 Ireland v Germany
4. ENGLAND – London
June 7 England v Argentina
5. BELGIUM – Brussels
June 10 Belgium v Tunisia
6. GERMANY – Cologne
June 11Germany v Cameroon
7. SLOVENIA – Ljubljana
June 12 Slovenia v Paraguay
8. ITALY – Venice
June 13 Italy v Mexico
9. POLAND – Szczecin
June 14 Poland v USA
10. DENMARK – Copenhagen
June 15 Denmark v England
11. SWEDEN – Stockholm
June 16 Sweden v Senegal
12. ITALY – Verona
June 18 Italy v South Korea
13. SPAIN – Madrid
June 22 Spain v South Korea
14. GERMANY – Munich
June 25 Germany v Korea
15. GERMANY – Berlin
June 30 Brazil v Germany
Travelling Statistics:
Countries: 12
Cities: 14
Trains: 35
Buses: 8
Ferries: 3
Planes: 4
Pubs: 32
Travelling time: 240 hours
Waiting for transport: 35 hours
Sleep: 5 hours a night
Budget: more than $4000
(The Daily Telegraph – 29 June 2002)