England fans watered back to life

By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News, Frankfurt, Germany

The party atmosphere is set to continue into the night

England's opening World Cup match against Paraguay was a little flat, but not so the atmosphere in the streets of Frankfurt.

It was as if a switch had been pulled to start the party, 10 minutes after the final whistle.

The moment the water hoses came on, as thousands of England fans filed out of the fan festival on the river, the laboured performance of the team was forgotten.

Fans immediately danced in the street, while being showered down by the German fire service, and a chorus of "England till I die" rang out.

On every street corner along the banks of the Main hundreds of fans sang and jigged.

'Good show'

The carnival, which had paused for an hour as the England team failed to lift the crowd, was back on and set to continue long into the night.

Summing up the transformation in atmosphere, Barry Walker, 49, who lives in North Wales, said: "They've given us free bottles of water, then the fire brigade began cooling everyone down, and it's given everyone a lift.

The Hiltons enjoyed being shoulder to shoulder with fellow fans

"The problem was the England supporters thought we were going to win two or three nil, easy, but we didn't even score a goal.

"Now everyone will have a big party in the square and we'll have a good atmosphere. The Germans are first class, coming up with such a good show."

The day had started sleepily after a late night spent drinking in the city, or behind the wheel of a car on a long drive from the UK.

One group of fans from the north-west of England had set a tone of fan friendship by arranging a football match between an English mental health project and a German one.

And good spirits characterised the build-up to the game, as more and more England fans streamed into the city's main square, Romerberg.

The Fountain of Justice in the middle of the square was soon bedecked with St George flags bearing the names of towns like Scarborough, Blackpool and Nottingham.

And with two red double-decker buses parked up, as British police in uniform mingled with fans, it was a very English scene.

Black market trade

The Paraguayan fans who had made the trip were hugely outnumbered but they enjoyed the odd vocal skirmish with the hordes of red and white shirts.

Men and women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds made up the army of England support.

One fan looking for a match ticket said he had been offered one for £3,000.

There were two hour queues for beer at times

Those without were not disappointed with what the Germans had organised - two huge video screens at the river, one of which was erected in the middle of the water.

Both banks of the Main, for about one kilometre, had been turned into a "Fanfest" area, with beer tents, food stalls and sideshows, for between 10,000 and 20,000 fans.

'Amazing'

In making this the first tournament which encouraged people without match tickets to come, the hosts had provided all the ingredients for a festival.

And the atmosphere reflected the English appreciation.

Chris Peart, 20, who drove through the night with his twin Jon from Basingstoke, said: "This is amazing. It's my first trip with England and it's even better than I thought."

Iain and Jenna Capelin enjoyed the view from the river "Fanfest"

And Danny Hilton, nine, from Deptford, said: "It's great, it's like everyone around you is like you because they are all supporting the same team."

Even some of the Germans were supporting England. Moritz Cappel, 21, made a two-hour journey to watch the match on the river.

Despite his diplomatic face paint which had one cheek English and one Paraguayan, he said: "I'm supporting England, because of the fans, they're friendly. They are like the Germans, but they drink more."

The early goal prompted an eruption of joy but the mood soon turned to frustration as England struggled to impress.

Two-hour queues for drinks, including water, compounded the irritation and not even the odd burst of "It's Coming Home" could lift the mood.

At the final whistle, Natalie Read, 28, said: "The atmosphere has been good but unfortunately the beer is quite a major factor for England fans."

Ten minutes later the frustration was forgotten as the party swung into action.