Robbie Fowler Still Having Fun Playing Football
This afternoon former Liverpool FC player Robbie Fowler joined a practice session with the Danish team Aalborg KFUM on centre court and, clearly, he still enjoys the game of football.
‘I actually think that I can still play. I love the game; loved it when I was a kid, loved it when I played for Liverpool and I still love it now, although I can’t run around as much now as I did. Basically, I love being part of any kind of football,’ said Robbie Fowler, who actually returned home early from Hong Kong in order to be at Dana Cup.
One of the fortunate winners from Aalborg KFUM, who had won the practice session with coaches from Liverpool FC and Robbie Fowler, was Christine Krebs.
‘It was fun to practice, in particular, to meet a famous person and to practice in a different manner than we’re used to,’ Christine Krebs smiles.
Fun in New Balance Football Cage
In the Event Area at Dana Cup you can test two different types of football boots by New Balance while playing soccer in the small football cage with your friends. Promoter Dennis Mørk at New Balance stresses that all participants are very welcome to try out the new boots by New Balance.
´We’re going to be here every day during the week and we’re going to be open from 9.00 am till 6.00 pm. Grab your friends and have a nice game with us. If you are not enough players, we can still help you,’ Dennis Mørk smiles.
Pro Evolution Soccer is very Popular
In between the matches participants at Dana Cup have already found a way to continue the fun. In the Event Area players flock to the PES2018 tent, in which they laugh and talk while playing the football game Pro Evolution Soccer. Senior Director of Brand & Business Development at KONAMI Digital Entertainment, Jonas Lygaard, states that the company is interested in connecting with young people.
‘Dana Cup is the perfect place to be with 25,000 young people. We would be happy, if we can show them that PES2018 is a great game; and, afterwards, they will hopefully tell their friends at home, in schools and in sport clubs, how fun and interesting the game is´, Jonas Lygaard underlines and adds that he hopes that the players have a lot of fun. Moreover, if you come to the tent you have the opportunity to learn from a professional player.
Livestream in Demand
During this year’s Dana Cup the subscribers of Bergenavisen in Bergen and Ringerike Blad in Oslo, Norway will be able to watch livestreaming of games involving Norwegian teams, in particular, teams from the areas around Bergen and Oslo. Jonas Johansen from BA states that livestreaming of local matches is in high demand and, consequently, they are in Hjørring testing if livestreaming from international tournaments like Dana Cup is just as popular.
The subscribers of the two papers can watch livestreaming on the papers´ homepages: www.ba.no and www.rb.no.
Referees Gain Experience at the Dana Cup
In New Zealand rugby is the biggest sport whereas football is not as popular. So even though Calvin Berg and Benjamin O’Connell have refereed football for several years, they still gain a lot of experience by refereeing games at Dana Cup.
Calvin Berg became a referee in 2008, while Benjamin O’Connell started 7 years ago. They are the first referees from New Zealand and they are both very excited.
’We’ll definitely return, but the trip is expensive and we had to travel for two days via Australia and Dubai before arriving in Denmark late Sunday night,’ explains Calvin Berg, who does not really originate from New Zealand.
‘I was born and raised in the USA, but five years ago I moved to New Zealand to finish my education. New Zealand is much more relaxed and unpretentious then the USA,’ he smiles.
‘After the Dana Cup we travel to a tournament in Sheffield in England. We are on a long and expensive journey, so we use the opportunity to gain more experience from European football,’ says Calvin Berg, who has swopped New Zealand winter with temperatures close to freezing with a typical Danish summer.
280 Referees Ready
At any football match it is a really good idea to have at least one person, who knows all the rules of the game. At Dana Cup 2017 280 well-qualified referees are ready to referee the matches from early Tuesday morning.
’As something new two referees from New Zealand and three from the Ukraine visit Dana Cup,’ explains the head of the referees, Thorsten Vekens, who had gathered all the referees for an overall briefing on the tournament on Monday.
At this year’s Dana Cup the referees come from 12 different nations.
Plan the Trip Home
Staff at the tournament’s department of transport have felt rather warm today, even though temperatures have only begun to rise slightly. For several different reasons, a number of teams have forgotten to inform Dana Cup that they need transport from, in particular, the ferries to either the centre area or one of the schools. The missing busses have presented some challenges for the staff at the department of transport.
‘Consequently, we encourage all teams in need of transport to ferries, trains or airplanes to make sure that transport home has been booked. As a matter of fact, deadline for ordering transport is on Tuesday, so that we can inform the transport companies in advance’, head of transport, Jørgen Nielsen, underlines.
Hjørring Supports Dana Cup
‘Of course, our members support Dana Cup and 70 shops stay open the entire week until 8.00 pm enabling the participants to shop when the last goal has been scored,’ smiles Rikke Ejsenhardt, who also invites the participants to a number of free events in the town centre.
Tuesday afternoon, while playing Sweeper Arm, it is possible to test the ability to stay on your legs with the boom arm charging towards you, also known from Ninja Warriors. Thursday and Friday afternoon one can play Rodeo Football and Barcelona Kicker, which is partly about keeping the balance on a football and partly about testing the leg muscles with Barcelona Kicker.
2705 Games Before the Winners are Found
With 1067 participating teams in this year’s Dana Cup, 2705 matches will be played before the winners are found in the last final Saturday night.
’That’s how it looks right now, but things might easily change. As late as this morning, we found out that a team from Nigeria had just been granted a visa and is therefore on its way to Dana Cup,’ the head of the tournament Ole Vang Bruun explains.
The first games will start Tuesday morning at 7.30 am.
Last Adjustments before the Tournament Starts
This morning the boys from Norwegian Arna-Bjørnar were in full swing with the final preparations before the games start Tuesday morning. Coach Jørn Frode Mjelde is looking forward to the players taking action in U14.
’We do an easy practice session to get in a good mood and to avoid injuries. But, first and foremost, it’s about training on the grass pitches,’ explains coach Jørn Frode Mjelde and also mentions that he is very happy to stay in a school close to the pitches.
Finally, coach Jørn Frode Mjelde says that it is not important whether or not the end up in the A or B finals but, on the other hand, having fun.
Boys and Girls Specially Selected
