Doni Rostov vs Istanbul
Doni Rostov vs Istanbul, Pan-Armenian Games, Ararat, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007
One nice feature of the Pan-Armenian Games has been the holding of events outside of the capital, Yerevan. For example, all the football matches are being played in Ararat, Artashat, Ashtarak and Abovian. Yesterday’s match between Istanbul and Doni Rostov was held in the stadium in Ararat although it was hardly well-attended.
Probably there were only about 100 people in the crowd which is kind of strange given that entry was free and there’s really not much to do in places out in the regions. Anyway, Istanbul beat Doni Rostov 3-0 and the match passed peacefully although one local man did curse the Diaspora Armenians he came across.
Armenians from Germany were speaking German to each other, he said, and the Turkish and Russian Armenians were also not speaking in Armenian. I asked him if he would speak in English to any Armenians he knew from Armenia if he lived in the United States or England.
No, he said. He’d speak in Armenian so it’s one rule for one group of people and another for everyone else, I suppose. On the other hand, the local kids who did constitute the bulk of the audience did appear to be very vocal in their support for Istanbul so that’s positive at least.
Doni Rostov vs Istanbul, Pan-Armenian Games, Ararat, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007
Finally! Some football! Olé! Hey Onnik, if you manage to upload any photos of the Aussie camp, do you mind passing along some direct links, or links to a gallery, or whatever. I’d like to see some footage of the trouble-makers. Cheers.
Comment by Eso — August 21, 2007 @ 7:01 pm
Maybe the games were not promoted in the local media.
Comment by nazarian — August 21, 2007 @ 7:26 pm
I guess, but in a place like Ararat where nothing much happens and which is so small anyway…
But yeah, overall for these games, I’d agree. Like I said in the last post, it’s as if they really only cared about the opening ceremony being beamed by satellite to the Diaspora and that’s it.
There has been no other media at any of the games — basketball and football — that I’ve attended so far at least.
Comment by Onnik — August 21, 2007 @ 8:00 pm