Text: Jörg Dierkes

Ostróda: The Euros Before the Euros

It came to pass at the time when everyone was looking forward to the European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine. Yes, yes, it was peaceful there once, and Crimea … but that’s another story. Anyway, it came to pass that just a few weeks before the professionals’ tournament, the journalistic hackers were invited to a memorable competition in Ostróda, Poland. We answered the call.

Early in the morning – and six o’clock is extremely early for a journalist – the small team of valiant ball players boarded the budget flight to Gdańsk. Shortly before eight, which is still early, we were there and were picked up at the terminal by a friendly tournament helper. The sports bags were quickly stowed in the hold of the small coach, and off we went on the wild ride towards Ostróda. Past the football temple that was to be the German national team’s home during the group stage, out towards Masuria. Poland’s preparations for the tournament were in full swing, as could be seen from the asphalting works all along the route, so that traffic could flow smoothly for the big event just a few weeks later. For us that meant lots of traffic jams and slow progress.

Quite soon we asked for a short break – partly to visit the tiled facilities of a service station, and partly, having been awake for so long, to allow ourselves a first taste of local fermented barley juice brewed in the Bohemian style. We should have become suspicious at this point, as both the bus driver and the tour guide were pressing hard for us to speed up.

So we reached the Masurian lake district, with its gentle hills and a pretty lake glittering in every valley. Around noon we arrived at our rather upmarket hotel right on the lake in Ostróda. But even now the pace stayed high. Bag in the room, a quick freshen-up, and the next bus was already waiting for us, along with the Iberian team. We were going for lunch, we were told, and it was to be in Olsztyn.

So another 90 minutes on a bus to another lake, this time in Olsztyn. At the elegant yacht club, a welcoming delegation of the mayor and the district administrator with their entourage was already waiting. Now it finally dawned on us: this was not going to be a relaxed start to a laid-back football tournament. It was going to be a tourism promotion event.

After a tasty three-course lunch, the whirlwind tour of the impressive sights of the former Allenstein began.

Over the next five hours we sailed pretty dinghies across the lake and were shown the brand-new swimming arena with its Olympic pool and diving area. We visited the municipal planetarium – entirely logical when you know that Nicolaus Copernicus once worked in Allenstein, or Olsztyn, and carried out his astronomical studies there. In the medieval castle we saw what Copernicus had drawn into the fresh plaster, and we roamed the historic, fully restored old town in the footsteps of the city’s most famous son. After a lavish five-course dinner and the one-and-a-half-hour drive back, we finally found our way into our hotel beds long after midnight.

It had been a long day – the start of a tournament that will surely remain unforgettable for everyone who was there. We were courted as if on a state visit. There was a lot of everything: many impressions, lots of information, much local pride and endless hospitality.