Footballers FC Goes Old Skool!
June 6, 2008
Footballers FC goes old skool with their new blog theme. Come get all the news, and info about your game, body and mind just in time for the Euro 2008. The helium-filled ball which is 49 feet in diameter was slowly inflated Thursday on Lake Geneva. It has been a troubled symbol for the European Championship host city after it was damaged by storms and disappeared from view.
“For us, it is really like a sculpture. Our ambition is that after the Euro it is the image of Geneva that will stay,” said Joelle Snella, spokeswoman for Geneva Tourism which led the project that cost 360,000 Swiss francs (US$346,000; €220,000).
The ball will be floodlit at night and tethered by cables to appear to be sitting atop the landmark Jet d’Eau fountain.
But the tourism office had faced a race against time to get the ball in place before Saturday’s Portugal-Turkey match at Stade de Geneve on the opening day of Euro 2008.
The ball was first inflated in April but soon had cable problems. It was then damaged in storms and had to be sent back to the manufacturer in England for emergency repairs.
English designer Alan Noble said his team worked round the clock to meet its deadline.
“I sincerely hope that after we have worked night and day to get the thing back, we don’t have any more problems,” Noble said.
Engineers repaired a small tear in the helium cell and a larger rip in the air-filled compartment that regulates the temperature and pressurizes the helium.
“We’re the guys that built Bertrand Piccard’s Breitling Orbiter balloon that went from Switzerland round the world, so compared to that this was a stroll in the park,” Noble said. “We’ve been watching the balloon on Web cams in Geneva and the chosen site is inspired. It looks absolutely fabulous.”
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