World Cup in London: Bosnia-Hercegovina

Yesterday, I went to watch Bosnia -v- Iran with London's Bosnian fans...

...but it was pretty hard going to find any.

After some searching, I heard about Bosnian fans congregating in a bar in Fulham, so I headed there.

I'd seen some photos of fans there watching Bosnia's previous match; the atmosphere looked good!


But when I turned up, there really wasn't anyone I could say was Bosnia. Maybe that woman in the Bosnian blue dress? The guys in suits? Maybe not...

I stayed around, half-watching the match. Bosnia were soaring and scoring 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1. It was only on the third goal that some guys cheered loudly, I realised that they were Bosnian. And so was the woman in the blue dress!

Then just before the match ended, a guy turns up draped in a Bosnian flag.

So, in the end, there wasn't a great Bosnia-supporting atmosphere, but it was good to finally find some Bosnian fans in London.

Variations on a Brazilian flag

When I was in Belgium, I saw this flag hanging from a building. It's the Brazilian flag re-purposed with Belgian colours.

I love this take on the Brazilian flag, re-purposed to support Belgium in this year's football World Cup.

So I decided to make a few more flags:

 This could be any number of countries - Australia, Costa Rica, Chile, France, Croatia.

Cameroon.

Colombia or Ecuador

Netherlands - though I suspect they're more likely to have a big, bright orange flag.

Germany

 Portugal

1

Iran or Mexico or Italy

Ivory Coast

 Nigeria

Spain

Switzerland

Uruguay or Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ahmet's map of Bosnia & Herzegovina

This weekend, Ahmet drew a map of Bosnia and Herzegovina for me.

I met Ahmet at The Abbey Centre, a wonderful community centre where a Bosnian school takes place on Saturdays.

Ahmet drew his map showing the main cities, including Bihać where he comes from.

Ahmet told me that, in Bosnia, he was a professional. But he arrived in London not speaking English, and has since dedicated his time to learning English while working as a post man - something he likened to the Japanese Kaizen philosophy.

I'm delighted that Ahmet has drawn his map for me, particularly as it's my last map and I've now collected a map for every European country.