EHF Final 4 Championship
by Mary Chapman / June 02, 2010
I am generally not the kind of fan who will cheer loudly or paint my face, make posters or vehemently defend my cheering decisions, but I decided that this would all change for the championship game of the European Federation Final4. Around the arena in Cologne, both inside and outside, there are fan zones where people can practice throwing a handball at a goal, or see how fast they could shoot; but what I had my eyes set on was the face paint.
About midway through the first game, I decided that I was going to paint my face in preparation for the championship. I was going to pick one of the teams and actually cheer for them. I would be a true fan and shed all credibility I had worked so hard to gain with Susan. I had covered the event from my journalist prospective the day before, now it was time to get the real fan experience of team handball.
There were a few things I wanted to accomplish after watching Ciudad Real crush the Russian team, Medvedi: get my picture taken with the two remaining mascots I
hadn’t already gotten, eat some ice cream, and get my face painted. There are several different options you can get when painting your face at the EHF Final4. Since both teams in the finals: FC Barcelona and THW Kiel, had stripes as primary uniform patterns, most of the face painting revolved around stripes. FC Barcelona uses the same uniforms as the football team and have red and blue stripes and Kiel’s mascot is the zebra, so they have white and black stripes. Now, although I secretly wanted Barcelona to win, I wasn’t ready to commit to painting red and blue stripes on my face when surrounded by 17,000 screaming Kiel fans. And plus, I wanted to, for once in my life, cheer for the team that everyone else was cheering for.
So I decided to get the zebra stripes painted on my face. As a last minute decision, I painted my whole face instead of just little stripes on my cheeks. I was frightening. I really think that the paint allowed me to let go of inhibitions and really throw myself full on into cheering. And throw myself in I did. The official event photographers for the various news publications even took some pictures of me, so if you see a girl that looks like me in a German newspaper, well, it is me.
THW Kiel made another comeback in the championship game. Again, I think the crowd had a lot to do with this. FC Barcelona led for much of the game, only to have THW Kiel come back in the last ten minutes. When Kiel scored the go-ahead goal with 10 seconds left, fate was sealed and the celebrations began. The crowd went wild, the teammates hugged and even cried a little, and Kiel chalked up a win for the home team.
Tempers flared and a fight broke out at center court. The teams were escorted off the court for preparations for the trophy ceremony. While they were setting things up, we enjoyed a short concert by the cast of the new Queen musical: We Will Rock You. The trophy ceremony had all the bells and whistles one would expect from such an ordeal—fire and sparks and champagne and of course, Queen’s We are the Champions. These Germans really like that song. Later that night, the Old Town area of Cologne was full of the Kiel fans who were willing to battle the rain. We also saw the Kiel team out, all dressed in suits, to celebrate their victory. While I wanted to stalk them a little, I managed to contain my excitement and avoid any stalkerish confrontations. I just admired from a far.
All in all, the EHF Final4 was an outrageously exciting experience. I can’t really capture the full excitement of an event like it, but I think American fans have a lot to learn about supporting teams from our European counterparts. While a sport like soccer may be more in our viewing spectrum, a sport like handball is fast paced and exciting, with very little bull going on. People push and shove and make outstanding shots. I think Handball has an exciting future and hopefully it will become popular in the states, mostly so I have a reason to paint my face and act obnoxiously on a fairly regular basis.
About midway through the first game, I decided that I was going to paint my face in preparation for the championship. I was going to pick one of the teams and actually cheer for them. I would be a true fan and shed all credibility I had worked so hard to gain with Susan. I had covered the event from my journalist prospective the day before, now it was time to get the real fan experience of team handball.There were a few things I wanted to accomplish after watching Ciudad Real crush the Russian team, Medvedi: get my picture taken with the two remaining mascots I
hadn’t already gotten, eat some ice cream, and get my face painted. There are several different options you can get when painting your face at the EHF Final4. Since both teams in the finals: FC Barcelona and THW Kiel, had stripes as primary uniform patterns, most of the face painting revolved around stripes. FC Barcelona uses the same uniforms as the football team and have red and blue stripes and Kiel’s mascot is the zebra, so they have white and black stripes. Now, although I secretly wanted Barcelona to win, I wasn’t ready to commit to painting red and blue stripes on my face when surrounded by 17,000 screaming Kiel fans. And plus, I wanted to, for once in my life, cheer for the team that everyone else was cheering for.So I decided to get the zebra stripes painted on my face. As a last minute decision, I painted my whole face instead of just little stripes on my cheeks. I was frightening. I really think that the paint allowed me to let go of inhibitions and really throw myself full on into cheering. And throw myself in I did. The official event photographers for the various news publications even took some pictures of me, so if you see a girl that looks like me in a German newspaper, well, it is me.
THW Kiel made another comeback in the championship game. Again, I think the crowd had a lot to do with this. FC Barcelona led for much of the game, only to have THW Kiel come back in the last ten minutes. When Kiel scored the go-ahead goal with 10 seconds left, fate was sealed and the celebrations began. The crowd went wild, the teammates hugged and even cried a little, and Kiel chalked up a win for the home team.
Tempers flared and a fight broke out at center court. The teams were escorted off the court for preparations for the trophy ceremony. While they were setting things up, we enjoyed a short concert by the cast of the new Queen musical: We Will Rock You. The trophy ceremony had all the bells and whistles one would expect from such an ordeal—fire and sparks and champagne and of course, Queen’s We are the Champions. These Germans really like that song. Later that night, the Old Town area of Cologne was full of the Kiel fans who were willing to battle the rain. We also saw the Kiel team out, all dressed in suits, to celebrate their victory. While I wanted to stalk them a little, I managed to contain my excitement and avoid any stalkerish confrontations. I just admired from a far.
All in all, the EHF Final4 was an outrageously exciting experience. I can’t really capture the full excitement of an event like it, but I think American fans have a lot to learn about supporting teams from our European counterparts. While a sport like soccer may be more in our viewing spectrum, a sport like handball is fast paced and exciting, with very little bull going on. People push and shove and make outstanding shots. I think Handball has an exciting future and hopefully it will become popular in the states, mostly so I have a reason to paint my face and act obnoxiously on a fairly regular basis.
Go back to Mary Chapman at the Final Four
Blog Description
Follow Mary Chapman, a recent graduate of Rice University who won a scholarship for a trip to Europe to learn about handball, as she writes every day about the Final Four and handball in Germany. She will be accompanied by friend and photographer Jeremy Graney. They will arrive in Koln on May 27 and depart on May 31.
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