Pop singer Thomas Helmig, a kind of Danish bono with a leather jacket, sunglasses and gray hairstyle, stands on the lawn of the Aarhus football stadium. Helmig agrees with “Malaga”, the club anthem of the Aarhus GF football club. “Good night, Malaga. Good night, Copenhagen. But I close my eyes in Aarhus,” says the text. More than ten thousand fans sing it – everyone in the stadium and in his own home at the same time.
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The fans in this game are connected via the video platform Zoom. They form the first virtual grandstand in European football. Aarhus GF came up with something special for the restart of the Danish Superleague on Thursday evening. Because physical presence in the stadium is not possible due to Corona, the club has digitally invited the fans to the stands. 22 large screens are in the stands. You could register online for the individual blocks. Anyone who films himself at home with the webcam is visible to the players in the stadium. And for all block neighbors too.
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You hardly understand a word
In block C2, lower part of the opposite grandstand, 226 people are gathered at kick-off, more men than women, many children, most of them wearing white AGF jerseys. Everyone can hear everyone in this virtual room – and that’s a problem. One always talks. Nobody can make excuses because the algorithm gives priority to the next soundtrack. A new video tile is constantly moving to the foreground. You hardly understand a word.
Because oral communication turns out to be impossible, viewers switch to the public chat, a few “hejs”, proud greetings from Singapore, the USA and Argentina. And again and again the letters “KSDH”. The Aarhus GF conveniently has an easy-to-type battle cry: “KSDH”. That means: “Kom så de Hvide” – let’s go, you whites.
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Players see fans on screens in the stadium, but fans only see the game on the second screen
HENNING BAGGER / AFP
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One quickly finds that KSDH is used as a greeting, as a cheer, as a question and as an answer, as a universal expression of belonging, identification with the same goal: to win here today against Randers FC. He is only seventh in the table, Aarhus third, but he is still a fear opponent. Eight of the last eleven games against Randers were lost to Aarhus, the last home win was five years ago. With virtual support, that should change. So into the game – if you can see it.
“Is this a second screen experience?” Writes an American shortly after kick-off. Can’t you see the game here? Do you need a second screen? Yes, you need. The ticket to the virtual grandstand is only the entry ticket to celebrate together. The association has no broadcasting rights for what is happening on the pitch. In Denmark, pay channels broadcast. Internationally not even that. In Germany you have to switch to the live stream of a betting provider.
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That is too much work for many fans this evening. Five minutes after kick-off, over 40 spectators who had been prevented from leaving have already left block C2. Others remain persistent. A Portuguese asks if someone in Denmark could film their television. Someone can – but immediately their video tile turns black. The moderators turned the camera off. The association has parked four of them in order to ensure order in this block alone. You have special digital rights, can mute individuals or remove them from the video session.
Glance into someone else’s living room
In the event of serious violations of the virtual stadium regulations, the police will be informed and the perpetrators’ data passed on, the association’s invitation email said. But in block C2 the moderators do not have to intervene again. Are fans more controlled when you are not where the action is?
Aarhus against Randers is considered a derby, the two cities are only about 40 kilometers apart, the fans can’t stand each other. But already in the middle of the first half, in Block C2, many are not looking at the game or the other viewers, but at the third screen: the cell phone. After half an hour, an American guest in English, obviously still without access to the game broadcast, asks: “Has a goal just been scored?”
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A fan on the virtual grandstand: A backlog looks the same everywhere
HENNING BAGGER / AFP
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