The
Day We Went to VaasaThe
Day We Went to Vaasa
Thursday
2.00pm - With the Saintees population reaching it's peak the
domination of O'Malleys led to coverage of the ever so handy scaffolding
outside.... God knows what the locals will make of Luncarty, Errol and the
other banners that appeared.
We bypassed the pub and headed for the delights of the railway station to
meet up with Steve, Neil and the gang on the train from Helsinki. Then it
was back to the hotel to pack for the trip home and lay out the ceremonial
garments for later that night.
3.45pm
- By the time we got to the pub the Saints were in full voice - a football
match in the street had been rudely ended by a Finnish bus running over
the ball but we weren't going to let that stop us. The only problem was a
lack of bar staff with only 2 on duty. So that meant buying 2 pints at a
time but it helped keep the vocal chords lubricated. The pipers were in
the bar and the word began to be passed around that they'd be leading the
fans in the march to the ground at 6 o'clock. Of course for those of us on
the official trip it looked like we'd miss it as buses were laid on to
take us and our luggage to the game then straight to the airport
afterwards.
5.30pm
Went to a burger bar for some stodge. Sitting eating quietly and another
mob of Saints appear from the pub completed with pints of beer. Some
chants of "We hate Dundee" got under way but it was only
when 3 local girls left and the last one out shouted "We Hate
Dundee" that the potential impact on the Finnish tourist trips to
Juteopolis became apparent to us.
6.00pm- A quick trip back to the hotel let's us check out and for
those of us who wanted to a chance to dress up in full Saintee regalia for
the game (see fashion disaster on the right). Heading out we loaded the
bags onto the bus and noticed the March From O'Malleys beginning to leave
the pub. Sod this we thought (along with almost everyone else who was
meant to travel on the bus), the luggage can bus it we're walking. That
was the best decision I made over the entire trip and the march to the
ground that followed is easily the best memory of my Saintee supporting
days.
200 plus Saints fans in full regalia and voice followed the two pipers
working our way through the complete songbook. "Hello, Hello,
Saintees are back", "Oh When the Saints", "We hate
Dundee", "Vaasa, Vaasa give us a song" were all belted
out. Approaching the town square, we managed to silence the pre-carnival
band that were playing as loads of locals looked on in what can only be
described as amazement.
Once over the square, the March headed down the main street towards the
ground (breaking most of the Finnish laws on jaywalking on the way as the
traffic was forced to give way to us). Everyone we passed had a smile on
their face and when we began on the "Sit Down if you Hate Dundee",
the atmosphere was excellent.
You
may have seen snippets of the pictures on Friday Sportscene but nothing on
earth compares with having been there. Once we started playing at being
matadors with the oncoming traffic (whose drivers looked totally lost),
but chickening out with lorries and kissing the grannies who got held up
in their Volvos by us it was decided that the pavement was just too small
to handle such a procession. Even major crossroads weren't a problem when
wanting to sing about not liking our Tayside rivals from a seated position
- we just sat where we wanted. The odd VPS fans started to appear from the
bars en route but even their air horns were no match for the singing. And
the one thing to bear in mind is that for the entire March (which will go
down in club legend), there was no stewards or police presence.
Yet
there was no trouble at all from either set of fans and if anything the
locals were enjoying it as much as us - I didn't even see on angry
motorist despite the delays we no doubt caused them.OAPs looking over
balconies were greeted with "Get Yer T*ts out for the lads"
and "We Love You Vaasa" as we wound our way down to the
ground. Then at the approach to the stadium entrance we stopped. Silence
for a moment then it was time to "Sit Down if you hate Dundee".
With no police there the stewards at the ground lining the entrance to the
Saints section didn't know what to do. Until we began the march again
shaking hands with every one of them and repeating the stand up sit down
routine up to the turnstiles.
Even
the frisking from the man with the magic gloves (and he had a lot of fun
dealing with the numerous kilts) turned into a laugh.
Once past the security the complimentary match programmes were handed
out and the majority of fans either made for the Bogheadesque portaloos or
else the VPS souvenir stand which did a brisk line in tops, t-shirts,
ties, pennants, pens - the whole works. Unfortunately for one Saintee I
saw the assistant wasn't available (she turned down his marriage proposal
on the spot). Once we were in our section of the ground it became apparent
that VPS fans weren't the loudest on the planet. So the 260 or so Saintees
decided to do enough singing for both sets. "You only sing when
you're fishing", "You're Finnish and you know you are", "You
only ski when it's snowing", "You're supposed to be at home",
"Stand up / sit down / do the twist (!) if you hate Dundee", "Oh
when the Saints", "We hate Jimmy Hill", "Wheres the
BBC", "I'm horny...." and many others were sung out
loud and clear with the only moments of respite being when it looked like
the home boys were going to give us a song. Even Geoff Brown made his way
over to our end to show his appreciation. The players came out to warm up
to the same applause and cheers with Danny getting a special rendition of
"Charlton Athletic are shite" whilst Dolph took some
fans cameras to take the pictures of the crowd. 
Vaasa's
PA system wasn't great and there was the surreal moment when there was
some sort of classical interlude played which given the mood the Saints
fans were in didn't stand a chance of being heard properly.
As for the game itself well the actual match report can be found
here. In terms of atmosphere though,
we never let up for most of the game (except for a small time when we went
behind) despite the, shall we say, "embarrassed" state of a few
Saints fans. Still the 4 police that I saw in the ground didn't even need
to mingle with the fans and the stewards spent most of the time laughing
at the Braveheart style arse-slapping of the kilted mob. Even being kept
in for 15 minutes after the match was punctuated by the chants of "Cheerio,
cheerio" at the home fans.
Once out the ground we had a short trip to the airport with most of us emotionally drained after the long day. There was still some good moments like when the players (delayed at the ground because of drugs tests), turned up to face the fans and were met by a massive round of applause. Th flight back was fairly subdued but there was the tannoy announcement halfway "This isnae yer captain speaking...." began oor Geoff before giving us a nice thank you speech for the support and laughs of the last few days.
So that's it really. If you missed the trip you have my deepest
sympathy. From the party on the Wednesday night to the March to the ground
on the Thursday it was nothing but one long laugh. None of the photos or
video clips can even begin to get over the feeling of saying that you were
there.
And we should remember to say thanks to all the locals and fans of Vaasa
that made the trip worthwhile, the staff in O'Malleys for remaining
reasonably cheerful, the Vaasa town clerk for his help with the flag, the
club for going some way to rebuilding the PR relations with the fans and
finally the guy with the strawberries in the town square on Thursday.
Before going on the trip I thought it might be the only one finances would
allow. After those two days though I'm already looking forward to the next
round. All we need is the players to do us a favour.
Back
to the Start Again....