The championship of the European Cup took place in Austria last month had brought me away to the most crowded place throughout the world. Being a journalist that covered an international event was one of my dreams ever since I worked at TRANS TV. It is paid off. An Media ID issued by the host country was officially released for me. It was really nice, I became a reporter again. This turn was not for TV, but for a news web portal, detik.com. I had to say that it was so much easier doing the report for an internet news- based rather than TV based. I could spontaneously write things happened right in front of me on a cellphone or took notes down on a pad. And that's it. I simply searched for a cafe or sites around providing the wireless inter networking, I opened up my laptop, typewrote it, and sent it, and clear. So much different to TV news delivery in comparison. It is still a crystal clear about the days I had to be well planned, well behaved, well organized, and perfectly kitted out prior to the on air time. A complicated delicacy where a careful handling needed that now I miss so much. Uhh... I long those memorable days..
Okey, back to the story. Among millions of people everyday at the fan zone was a real show. From the day beginning on June 7-29, I always had to stand by the fan zone area which stretched 5 kilometers along Ringstrasse, the main street in Vienna. A full time match
90 minutes 
or a bit more, that I had to care about. Moreover, I got to be aware in case fights or riots occurred at the scene was also in my concern. There was once the most hectic day when Austria, the co-host team played against Poland. Both teams had a job to play life death match in order to get the quarter final ticket. Thus, flocks of supporters flooded the fan zone. In such condition, both supporters were apparently more unusually temperamental and what's more, most of them were under alcoholic drinks control. They easily lost their temper to any intrusion. Hence, groups of police officers who patrolled surround were alert at this sort of tension. And it happened, shortly after Poland scored a goal within first twenty minutes, there was an incident between supporters. I could see it clearly from up the media tower where I was standing on. Numbers of fans were fighting and hitting each other in the middle of a crush. I had no idea what led them to a fight. Minor things triggered to battle in such state. Instead, the others who initially were not involved then afterwards became allied with. A fan zone with thousands humans turned to be a fighting show at the same time. I myself kept aiming my photocamera dan camcorder to the scene and didn't miss a single frame. Or when it escalated, I grabbed my stuff quickly, and rushed down onto the mass. As for me, that view, I could say, was the first chaos scene I had ever seen throughout my career as journalist. And, after that "preliminary incident" I faced more and more incidents time after time, one after the other, bloodier than I expected. In the past, when I was in TRANS TV, I was often assigned to report numbers of events which potentially burst into riots such as people rallies, demonstrations, raids, or slums relocation yet such dramatic conflict never happened to be. Well, in my analysis, there is a difference between typical fight here and in Indonesia.
People here, or perhaps in other developed countries, are fighting for worthless things, I suppose, like ball team solidarity, freedom of sexual behavior, or a protest against new policy over pets possession, While Indonesians are fighting and vying for stomach needs, if I couldn't say it as the worthwhile one. It's so much ironic right? Here, people spent over 100 -300 Euro per month to spoil dogs or cats, some Indonesians living in poverty starve for rice grains in contrast. Das ist das. Life in this regard, is an irony.
