The lazy day on the beach and relaxed evening beers watching Ireland draw against Zlatan in Monaco gave us our next energy boost, before heading off to Lyon. We only got as far as the train station for two hours, finding out our train had been cancelled, really good after the painfully early wake-up. The next available train would take us back via Marseille.

Our delay meant we had less time in Lyon, before heading to St. Etienne, a forty-minute train journey away, for our evening match of Portugal, with star players at Real Madrid, Monaco and Fenerbahce, playing the minnows of Iceland, whose players made up the teams at Udinese, Swansea, and Nantes. The Stade Geoffroy-Guichard was hosting the game, probably most famously known as the venue where David Beckham famously got sent off for kicking out at Diego Simeone, as well as it being the home ground to AS Saint-Etienne.

Outside before the start of the Iceland vs Portugal Group F Euro 2016 game.

Ticketing Issues

For this game, we also had a couple of tickets spare, and quickly sold one, before moving on to find a spot for beer, where we watched the throngs of fans arrive. We moved onwards into St. Etienne to find some food, down a few streets, almost surprised at the lack of fans, compared to the waves of fans we had seen in other cities. In a city square, we dropped bums on chairs to order some food, to have a lovely waitress asking if we had any tickets. We did, and after prolonged negotiations, which involved her husband inspecting “the English hooligans”, we flogged the spare ticket without really trying too much, whilst also making a friend in the process, before getting directions for our next football fix, via a fairly direct tram, to leave us a short walk to today temple.

Security, following the nightmare in Marseille, was subsequently boosted, with Policemen present every 5 meters at the perimeter of the ground, with it’s boxy stands rising from the green roof of leaves as we walked through the park. The first rain also decided to descend upon us, reminding us of the English weather we were not looking to bring with.

At the entrance, security touched me up, but told me I wasn’t allowed in with a marker pen I had used to craft a gorgeous sign for the successful sale of our over ordered tickets. However, the large bulge of a plastic beaker, which would have quite comfortably fitted a flare in it’s gaping chasm, went unnoticed.

There had been some consideration to build a new stadium, probably in the arse end of nowhere, and this stadium, home to record league winners AS Saint-Etienne, consigned to luxury flat status. However, the four main fan groups protested heavily, and in 2009 it was decided to renovate the stadium, improving its capacity and updating the standards to host football for the 2016 festival of football. I am glad this decision was made, as the stadium is orientated for football, with a steep roof to keep the noise and atmosphere at a high, keeping fans close to the pitch.

Panoramic of the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard

A marker pen lighter, my standard discovery mode of the stadium got underway, and although able to scale the stand vertically, getting right to the back for a good view of the ground, getting to other stands, for the first time, was impossible, prompting me to take my standing position with my friends at the front of the stand, just to the side of the goal.

When attending games, I am not normally keen on being so close to the pitch, but I have a man crush on Ronaldo, and seeing him up close is always a pleasure. Our tickets were in the Iceland stand, and as we stood at the front of the stand, 8% of the population of Iceland congregated behind us, clad in blue, faces painted of their iconic blue, red and white flag. This tiny nation of 330,00 had qualified for the Euro’s, and done so from a tough group of Holland, Turkey, and the Czech Republic. The game got off to a solid start, Iceland and Portugal exchanging chances. Portugal maybe a little timid at times.

The Icelandic Clap

Behind me, this noise, tribal and thunderous erupted, accompanied with a sharp clap. Then silence. Then again. The noise sparking the hairs on my skin to stand on end. Silence followed, before again the noise, the interval of silence decreased. This was the start of the now famous “Icelandic Clap”, as it continued into a crescendo as the silence got shorter before the fans chanted for “Eeeessssland”. Little did we realise that we witnessed the birth of the iconic chant (and team) of Euro 2016.

Before half time, Nani had put Portugal into the lead, with a smart finish. The contest was fairly even, with Iceland putting some decent football together, whilst Portugal with stars galore were struggling through the game.

The second half started, and after 5 minutes Bjarnason pulled a deserved goal back for Iceland, the fans around us going crazy, with the smallest nation to ever appear at a major tournament scoring their first goal!

The game continued, Ronaldo becoming more and more agitated with proceedings, Iceland playing well, defending their opponents and pushing on occasionally. We received notification that you could see us with ease on the TV after another Ronaldo free kick had sailed over our heads.

The final whistle came, and Iceland, deservedly, celebrated the draw as a victory, with all players and staff approaching the fans in the corner to show appreciation of their support.

The Iceland Team celebrating their draw against Portugal

The Origin of the Icelandic Clap

We left the wonderful ground in the cover of darkness, and snaked our way into the city, our train back to Lyon was still some time away, and a helpful lady took us to an area with a couple of bars for post game talk over a fresh beer. We hit back to the train station, joining up with a lot of people who had our idea to journey back and forth between Lyon. The game was by no means legendary, however, the introduction of the Icelandic Clap to Euro 2016 had occurred, and would go on to become legendary. But where did it come from?

Britain. Well, Motherwell, to be precise. The supporters reportedly used the chant in a game against the Icelandic side Stjarnan (famous for their whacky goal celebrations) when the two teams met in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League in 2014.

Stjarnan were eventually knocked out of the tournament by Inter Milan, but returned home with the chant, which was then adopted by supporters of the national side!