Last week Austria and Czech Republic hosted the spectacle that is the EuroVolley. As an avid fan and volleyball writer/blogger/commentator/gun for hire I had the privilege of attending a number of games. My conclusion: An extremely entertaining, well organized and healthily attended tournament. Major negative: It was difficult to find a lot of coverage on TV or online.

Two matches which stood out for me involved Serbia, the team that went on the take the title. The first was against Austria, a friend of mine summed up the game perfectly. It was like a match between real volleyball players, and a bunch of guys who were alright at volleyball that had been picked up 20 minutes before and thrown into action. The significant height difference was the telling factor, even the Serbian libero was taller than most of the Austrian players. Clearly a diet of schnitzel and “Leberkäse”is not the best to encourage growth.

The highlight of the match however was the cheers of “Auf Wiedersehen” (goodbye or more directly translated see you again sometime) by the Serbian fans. There are a lot of 2nd generation Serbians living in Austria now who can speak perfect German, and they certainly made use of this during that match to rub salt into the host’s wounds. A huge compliment has to go out to the organizers for the “school support” initiative. Offering free/cheap tickets to schools for the entire Austrian group games ensured that the games were well attended and also ensuring that children have the chance to experience something which they, to be honest, probably would not think about attending. These kind of offers really are a perfect way to attract fans to the sport at a very early age, something which is extremely needed for a sport like volleyball.

"The Serbians really were this big compared to the Austrians"

The 2nd match which really stood for me was the final. The atmosphere was simply electric in the sold out Vienna Stadthalle and it was like a home game for Serbia. The small travelling Italian contingent did their best to cheer their side on but they never stood a chance against the passionate and at times aggressive Serbian crowd. It always seemed as if the supporters were literally going to pull Serbia on to victory. The Italians slowly but surely went into themselves and made unnecessary mistakes, greeted by huge cheers and whistles from the crowd. Overall it was a deserved win for the Serbian team but unfortunately this great evening was ruined by unsporting behaviour on the part of the Serbian fans who continued to boo and whistle at the Italian team even after the game had finished and during the awards ceremony. This was a completely unnecessary act which left a sour taste in the mouth of the many fans who were there to respect both teams and their performances. It came as no surprise when a number of the Italian players, led by the visibly annoyed Luigi Mastrangelo tried to leave the arena early before the Serbian celebrations began, only for them to be ushered back to the podium. It really was a shame that the fans let themselves down in such a manner after providing a wonderful atmosphere throughout the tournament.

The women’s tournament will be hosted by the two finalists at the end of September. Let us hope for another great tournament and as much quality volleyball as we saw this week, without the booing.

My final note is a word of warning. It is never the best idea to rest your foot in the gap of the folding chair in front of you. If you do opt to live so dangerously, then ensure you stay alert, and if you notice that someone is about to sit on the chair in front of you, then move your foot away and as a reaction to having one foot squashed DON’T rest your other foot on the chair next to it while another person is also attempting to sit down. I saw this happen at the weekend and it was not a pretty sight.