September
7-13
Hello everyone!
Just when we thought we had settled back
into the school routine, we discovered that the country had been invaded. This
is the tale of the arrival of a collection of funny-talking, funny-walking,
heavy-drinking men and woman from an island far, far away.
Kazakhstan has had a history of being
invaded or ruled by other tribes and nations. From the times of Ghengis Khan
and his Mongols, who conquered the area in the 13th Century, through
to the Soviet rule throughout the vast majority of the last hundred years, this
vast terrain has often had to listen to the voices of others shout and sing
their way through her lands. More recently, they have had border issues with
China, the latest of which resulted in the discovery of a dozen or so dead
Kazakh border guards in the east of the country. Though Astana itself is on the
whole very safe, other parts of the country unfortunately have more serious
problems with defending their country.
This latest invasion, however, was readily
accepted and even welcomed by the citizens of Astana, particularly those who
own pubs and bars. The reason? The Irish were coming to town.
The main sporting roads lead to Rio de
Janeiro over the next few years. Before the next Olympic Games in 2016 is the
small matter of the FIFA football World Cup. Qualifying for the 2014
extravaganza began for European teams on September 7th. In spite of
its geographical proximity, Kazakhstan is classed as a European football
nation, so has the privilege of playing some of the continent’s superpowers.
I wouldn’t call Ireland a major footballing
power, particularly after what we witnessed, but it was nonetheless a fixture
that interested us as British expats in Astana. More so when the tickets were a
quite frankly ludicrous 1000T, or £4. The Irish fans we met told us that they
would have to pay 10 times that figure to watch the return match in Dublin.
The travelling supporters are certainly not
as stupid as the pub owners of Astana may think, either. A new Irish bar has
recently opened, which we searched for as a natural place to go before the
football match. We realised why the Irish fans had avoided it when we noticed
that a Guinness cost 2450T. £11. For one pint of the black stuff. We found them
in a bar less than 200m away that sold good beer for one fifth of the price. As
you would expect, they were a lot of fun to be around.
The game itself started at 10pm local time
in order to satisfy European TV viewers who care enough about the beautiful
game to watch two technically poor footballing nations. Initially it was a
rather turgid affair that was living up nicely to the 0-0 prediction suggested
by a few football pundits. That was until the hero of the hour, Captain
Fantastic, whose name of blah rolls off the tongue, soared highest to glance a
header into the rippling net. It is the first goal that I have seen Kazakhstan
score, and the crowd went wild.
It is also the only goal by Kazakhstan that
I have seen. They defended heroically in the second half, against some
admittedly woeful Irish attempts at attacking, and held out until the 89th
minute, when a penalty broke local hearts. This was then made much, much worse
when the visiting side somehow concocted a winner a minute later, in the final
minute of the match. The whole crowd was depressed. The Kazakhs had snatched
defeat from the jaws of victory; the Irish had been appalling against a team
ranked 116 nations below them.
We celebrated in true Irish style, swapping
tales over beers and consoling our Kazakh friends. The Irish were very
sympathetic towards their defeated opponents, and also fascinating characters –
one had only missed one home match in 43 years…because he had suffered a heart
attack. He asked if he could have an ambulance to take him to the game, and was
livid when they refused. Their commitment to the Irish cause is unwavering and
very special.
A lovely weekend was spent enjoying the
sunshine on the Ishim river and relaxing outdoors. This year we are aware of
the harsh winter that is in front of us, so know that we need to spend every
possible hour outside until the cold begins to bite.
So Ireland had a lucky escape, and flew
back to Kazakhstan with three points but their egos very much bruised. The
Kazakh team did their nation proud – hopefully they can get a more positive
result when Austria visit the Astana Arena next month. On a personal note, it
was nice to see more English speakers braving the unknown to come and enjoy
Kazakhstan. The fans we spoke to were unanimous in their praise for and
surprise with Astana, and will perhaps encourage more people to come and visit
European football’s most easterly outpost.
Love you all
Matt
