BLOG #6: Sergiy Pronkin, Donetsk, 05/04/2012

News from Donetsk

Our blog is travelling back to Ukraine, to the host city of Donetsk awaiting among others the supporters from England. Sergiy Pronkin tells us about preparations under way there. And we can promise you: It won't be frosty in June!

Spring (in calendar) and meetings, meetings, meetings

So far, it has been spring only in calendar in Donetsk. Outside the window it still was cold and frosty. But despite this our work for the preparation of fans' embassy service in Donetsk was continued. Before the visit of representatives of mobile fans' embassies at the end of March we had a lot to do.

First of all, Donetsk has a problem with cheap accommodation during EURO. So we organized a meeting with the head manager of the camping park Donetsk to ask about preparation, prices and cooperation during the tournament. The price for accommodation agreed was less than in the hostels but still high price for football supporters. About this we had a long discussion later at the meeting with the Host city in the framework of the Fans' Embassy network meeting. The representatives of the English mobile fans' embassy asked to organize a direct meeting with the manager of the camping park and another responsible manager of accommodation in Donetsk to explain the experience of previous tournament and pricing policy. The meeting is scheduled for the first days of April and we hope that everything will be great and that the accommodation managers will hear the voice of supporters.

Clichés about supporters

The second meeting was a fruitful discussion with the representatives of British Embassy (the real one!) who found time to meet up at an official meeting with Host city, Vice Mayor and other officers of city council. It was an honor for me to communicate with the Vice Consul and the Deputy Head of Mission who told me about their experience with the fans during World Cup in South Africa. Also we discussed the clichés that the media put on all supporters of the English national team and many other supporter groups. We decided to keep in touch to solve problems which might arise.

And last. Of course there was the Fans' Embassy network meeting which I mentioned earlier. We had two main check points during the visit: Host city and stadium. In the evening Tommy, Ken and me walked around Donetsk night streets and personally looked for the place for the English mobile fans' embassy. After a one hour stroll Ken decided which place would be the best choice for him and after consulting with Kevin made a decision about this issue. So now I have a clear position and I'll defend it on future meetings with a Police Department Donetsk and after this I hope we'll fix the place.

That's all about our preparation in brief. Now I pass the baton to Gdansk for the next blog article. Hope to see you guys in May. All the best from Donetsk!