Tight marking at the Allianz Arena

Tight marking at the Allianz Arena


Daniel Carey

WHEN Bayern Munich won the European Cup in 2001 – after losing three successive finals – an article appeared in the English newspaper The Observer describing the mood in Bavaria.
There was, the writer said, ‘blessed relief for everyone at the club’ as the German side finally landed The Holy Grail for the first time since 1976. Everyone, that is, with the possible exception of Maria Meissner, the then 91-year-old polisher of the trophy cabinet. “She has been trying to find somebody to take over for some time,” The Observer continued, “but reluctantly admits she can't find anyone qualified enough. Until she does she flatly refuses to give up. Bayern all over.”
I assume Frau Meissner has since handed over her duster, or perhaps even gone to the great trophy cabinet in the sky. So when I arrived at the Allianz Arena last Wednesday, I wasn’t expecting to meet her. And I didn’t. Thing is, I hardly met anyone else either, unless you count scores of wandering students and the odd shop assistant.
In any city with a famous footballing tradition, a stop at the stadium has become part of my holiday itinerary. I’ve gone around Anfield, the Nou Camp, Hampden Park and the Bernabéu, and have seen games at Zuiderpark (the old ADO Den Haag stadium in the Netherlands) and Tynecastle (home of Heart of Midlothian in Edinburgh).
So when I spotted a brochure for the Allianz Arena at my Munich airport hotel, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. Having taken a bus tour of the city we boarded the S-Bahn, changed trains, and braved the rain on the short walk to the stadium.
“It looks like a big tyre,” my travelling companion observed, and indeed it does. Opened in 2005, the Allianz Arena came to international attention during the 2006 World Cup. It’s the first stadium in the world that has a full changing colour outside, and is pretty spectacular even in day-time white.
Spotting a group who were circling the stadium, my companion added: “It’s like the basilica in Knock, with people doing the stations.” I’m not sure there was anything ritualistic in what was going on, but one possible reason for the round-the-house walking came to light soon after – it wasn’t possible to see much else.
We walked up a flight of steps and were confronted with a snack stand and a whole heap of the kind of ‘go away’ wiring you associate with building sites. Maybe there was construction work going on – it is the off-season, after all – but that wasn’t clear either. What was clear was that we had missed the guided tours (a few in German, one in English) and it seems there was no other way to see the stadium. You couldn’t simply pay at the gate and make your way around, as you can in Barcelona, Madrid and – perhaps one day – McHale Park in Castlebar.
It’s not that all of the stadium was inaccessible – the shops were open, all doing a decent trade among fans who, finding themselves in the sticks, presumably figured they might as well buy something. I got a red-and-white Adidas Football Celebrations No 3 t-shirt, an article of clothing which features goalscorers doing The Helicopter (jersey being whizzed over one’s head), The Salto (a somersaulting manoeuvre that may have lost something in translation), The Ears (where one’s hands are clasped to one’s lugs in the aural equivalent of ‘Are you watching, Jimmy Hill?’) and The Gun Man (where the index fingers and thumbs are used to form a firearm).
Pleased and all as I was with my new attire, I was in danger of falling dangerously close to that cliché called ‘I Went To Munich And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt’. So I bought a scarf commemorating the Bayern Munich-Barcelona Champions League quarter-final as well.
But the stadium seemed a little bit too much like its major host club for my liking – ‘shut up shop early and keep things tight’ has long been the Bayern way. The Champions League final will be played at the Allianz Arena in 2012. Hopefully they’ll leave the place open that night.