News

Day 38

The day that we had all been waiting for had arrived - the World Cup Final between Croatia and France at The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

My colleague Nico (who is French) and I would be attending the final. We were pretty sure we would get one ticket, but two was looking unlikely, FIFA have an interesting ticketing system which I won't go into but I had told Nico if we only got one ticket then he couldn't miss watching his country. When we arrived, as predicted, we only were able to get one ticket and I had resigned myself to watching it from the media room. I was happy though because I was at the World Cup Final soaking up the incredible atmosphere of both sets of fans.

There was a sea of red and white everywhere and there were way more Croatians than French fans, although they too were making themselves heard. The previous day we had filmed the links for our bulletin from across the river from the stadium.The view is just magnificent and its not until you are next to the stadium you really understand how impressive it really is, I think you could call it a modern day Coliseum like the one in Rome.

Nico was an absolute bag of nerves, as I had been for the Semi Finals when it was my team playing. Every football fan goes through such a mix of a emotions on a big day like this; so much to loose but so much to gain if you win. Having settled in to my seat in the media room, I came across my football guardian angel who I had seen a couple of hours previously and she had learned I didn't have a ticket to see the game. She came over again to chat and to my absolute shock and wonder she presented me with a ticket to watch the game, I was elated my dream of seeing a World Cup Final was actually going to happen.

We rushed to the seats and from there on in it truly was one, if not the highlight of my career to date. I don't need to tell you what happened but the game had everything from a VAR decision, pitch invader, goals galore and all the drama you could ask for. I was in awe.

The weather the whole way through the game had been turbulent, and on the final whistle I hurried out of the stadium to begin the real work of speaking with the fans and capturing both the elation and commiserations of the Croatian supporters. As I started to Vox the fans the heavens opened again and it poured and I really mean poured, hot was biblical the rain and it wasted for abound 35 mins. It was the only day I was not carrying an umbrella ,of course, and I managed to seek refuge under a Russian man's umbrella. He was so kind as I had my camera, microphone etc and it was not looking good. It really blew us around and to my displeasure, my jeans and shoes had changed colour as I was soaked through. I was again presenting the bulletin links and I looked like a drowned rat. It also meant fans were very delayed coming out of the stadium, but we managed to speak to many elated French supporters, who also kindly sang and chanted behind me to give my links a bit of colour. All in all the day was spectacular and far beyond my wildest dreams.

Day 39

The last shoot of the World Cup would to be to film France leaving their base camp as they headed to the airport. We took two cameras and positioned ourselves in two spots along the road leading out of the complex onto the main road. It was a 30 second shot as the bus would pass by us, but the moment the World Champions left Russia to their Heroes welcome had to be captured. These kind of shoots you can't get wrong - there is only one chance at it so it has got to be good. We managed to get a good sequence of the bus leaving and so we made the hour long journey to our hotel, with my sunburnt neck (head in hands).

My time in Russia had finally come to an end and I can honestly say that my first World Cup was everything I had expected and much, much more. The games I had been to, the players I had interviewed and all the fun moments with my colleagues... it was unbelievable.

I will never forget Moscow, the people, the hospitality and any misconceptions or misgivings I had about Russia before the tournament were quickly removed. The fans and the players that brought the tournament to life, from all over the world were exceptionally behaved and made this tournament only about what was happening on the pitch. This really was the best World Cup ever!!!

Day 40.

So I am sat at the airport writing to you and I hope my ramblings have given you a small glimpse to what it has been like out here on the ground. Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the World Cup as much as I did,

For one last time, this is me signing out from Russia with Love

Louise

Share this article