Word: chelsea
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...lost for business," grumbled a top Russian banker on Wednesday. His sentiment may have been shared, at the end of the day, by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, whose London-based soccer team Chelsea was beaten 6-5 on penalty kicks by Manchester United in the European Champion's League final played in the Russian capital. But the banker's complaint was simply that he had no way to move around the Moscow to keep appointments, given the traffic restrictions all over the city to allow smooth passage for the 970 special buses whisking Chelsea and United fans, separately, from airports...
...them visas, the Moscow authorities were not about to give some 42,000 British soccer fans - a group who have, rightly or wrongly, earned a questionable record for maintaining public order - the keys to the city. Some some 15,000 policemen were deployed to maintain crowd control, while the Chelsea and United fans were segregated both from one another and, as far as possible. Their charter flights landed at different airports, and most were taken directly to separate fan stockades connected to the stadium by special galleries to prevent any mixing. Alcohol sales at the stadium were banned...
...over the city, squads of anxious riot police manned street corners as Chelsea and United fans - easily distinguished by their, respectively, blue and red-and-white regalia - strolled the streets, drinking beer and riding the famous Moscow subway. In Red Square, a football pitch had been set up right by Lenin's tomb, and Russian and British fans played pickup games under a bizarre combination of Bolshevik stars and Imperial eagles. The combination of official goodwill and vigilance appears to have been successful - just a single brawl among the Russian and British fans was reported throughout...
...Official commentators covering the match tried drumming up Russian support for Chelsea on the grounds of it being owned by oligarch Abramovich, which, they suggested would mean it could bring Russia a victory by proxy. But the proxy result was a defeat. Much as connoisseurs enjoyed the often dramatic match, a touch of bitterness lingered. A friend summed it up succinctly: "That's what Abramovich spent a billion dollars on? To buy these blue-clad fumblers? What a waste of our money...
...We’re funding more on a weekly basis,” Flores said, adding that FiCom has been more consistent with its funding policies this year. Britt said the UC will still conduct its annual review of funding practices. —Staff writer Chelsea L. Shover can be reached at clshover@fas.harvard.edu...