This is absolutely priceless.
From the Guardian.
Uefa has its way with Haddaway
A chance meeting with pop's finest asks questions about how Uefa is spending its money at Euro 2008
Barney RonayJune 11, 2008 4:38 PM
The combined efforts - and lavish budgets - of Uefa and the Austrian tourist board have already thrown up some bizarre moments during the non-match hours of this tournament.
Last night, for example, I spent several hours in the company of 1990s Euro-pop star Haddaway. You know, Haddaway. As in, "What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more."
Haddaway was scheduled to perform in the Innsbruck media lounge, a wonderfully lavish marquee with strobe-lit (free) bar, banquet buffet table and swarms of incredibly attentive flunkies, most of whom seem to have PhDs in something high-powered.
I say, scheduled to perform, because in the end all he did was stand on stage going "uuuunhh... uuuunhh ... one, two ... Haddaway... uuunhh!!", for a bit (his sound check). The rest of the time Haddaway hung with the English journalists present, doing his duty as part of the thorough and lavish - if slightly overwhelming - entertainments laid on to promote the Tirol, Austria and Uefa 2008.
For what it's worth, then, here are the thoughts of Haddaway on football, Euro 2008 and the business of being Haddaway.
1. Haddaway believes Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard can play in the same England midfield. "They are top players. They run and they fight," he says.
2. Haddaway's favourite English player is somebody he keeps calling "Dwight", who turns out to be Shaun Wright-Phillips.
3. Haddaway is a close personal and professional friend of fellow Europopstar Whigfield.
4. He still gets mobbed whenever he goes to Moscow, where there are giant billboards bearing his image.
5. Haddaway is currently working with Dr Alban. Haddaway is also a doctor (of politics) and looks slightly askance (I sensed) at the dentist Alban's use of his full title. He doesn't call himself Dr Haddaway, does he?
6. Haddaway still hasn't found an answer to the question "what is love?" "Everybody has to work that out for themselves," he says.
7. Haddaway loves the novels of Ernest Hemingway and likes to "rock out" on the guitar.
8. Haddaway thinks Holland will win Euro 2008 (he is Dutch) despite the absence of his friend and favourite player Clarence Seedorf, who Marco van Basten "hates".
9. Haddaway doesn't really like being called Haddaway. His friends call him Hadders.
10. Hadders in his pomp was on Top of The Pops 28 times in two years, only matched by Take That (according to Hadders). He is still "prominent" in many countries. He also owns a cafe.
Admittedly, this information might be of limited appeal outside the main corpus of Haddaway's international fanbase. The point of mentioning it is really just the way Haddaway was served up, to the media, and paying customers at €50 a head, as an official piece of entertainment. The composer of What Is Love? reduced to another bizarre piece of ephemera with a tangential relation to football, dished out unceasingly by the extended Uefa publicity machine.
The massed wonks, vest-wearers, jobsworths and clipboard-holders of Uefa have formed a highly visible presence in Austria. This really is the most nannying of tournaments, an utterly controlled environment served up by an organisation with deep coffers and huge political and economic clout.
Just as an example, you can't use a Visa card at Euro 2008. As at least one incensed Russian fan discovered in the Uefa-run tournament shop in Innsbruck on Tuesday night, this is MasterCard territory. Normal rules of the modern commercial transaction are suspended here. And don't even attempt to drink any Austrian beer: this is Carlsberg country.
It's not all bad though. If you're lucky, and you've got the right pass, it's free Carlsberg. With Haddaway on stage bawling "Unnnhh! One! Two!" chucked in. Not much of this is anything to do with football, but a lot to do with promoting Uefa.
Could European football's governing body be distributing its vast annual budget on something more worthy, more meaningful and more directly related to what actually happens on the pitch, professional and amateur? Who actually decided all this was necessary anyway? What is love? Eternal questions, all of them.
From the Guardian.
Uefa has its way with Haddaway
A chance meeting with pop's finest asks questions about how Uefa is spending its money at Euro 2008
Barney RonayJune 11, 2008 4:38 PM
The combined efforts - and lavish budgets - of Uefa and the Austrian tourist board have already thrown up some bizarre moments during the non-match hours of this tournament.
Last night, for example, I spent several hours in the company of 1990s Euro-pop star Haddaway. You know, Haddaway. As in, "What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more."
Haddaway was scheduled to perform in the Innsbruck media lounge, a wonderfully lavish marquee with strobe-lit (free) bar, banquet buffet table and swarms of incredibly attentive flunkies, most of whom seem to have PhDs in something high-powered.
I say, scheduled to perform, because in the end all he did was stand on stage going "uuuunhh... uuuunhh ... one, two ... Haddaway... uuunhh!!", for a bit (his sound check). The rest of the time Haddaway hung with the English journalists present, doing his duty as part of the thorough and lavish - if slightly overwhelming - entertainments laid on to promote the Tirol, Austria and Uefa 2008.
For what it's worth, then, here are the thoughts of Haddaway on football, Euro 2008 and the business of being Haddaway.
1. Haddaway believes Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard can play in the same England midfield. "They are top players. They run and they fight," he says.
2. Haddaway's favourite English player is somebody he keeps calling "Dwight", who turns out to be Shaun Wright-Phillips.
3. Haddaway is a close personal and professional friend of fellow Europopstar Whigfield.
4. He still gets mobbed whenever he goes to Moscow, where there are giant billboards bearing his image.
5. Haddaway is currently working with Dr Alban. Haddaway is also a doctor (of politics) and looks slightly askance (I sensed) at the dentist Alban's use of his full title. He doesn't call himself Dr Haddaway, does he?
6. Haddaway still hasn't found an answer to the question "what is love?" "Everybody has to work that out for themselves," he says.
7. Haddaway loves the novels of Ernest Hemingway and likes to "rock out" on the guitar.
8. Haddaway thinks Holland will win Euro 2008 (he is Dutch) despite the absence of his friend and favourite player Clarence Seedorf, who Marco van Basten "hates".
9. Haddaway doesn't really like being called Haddaway. His friends call him Hadders.
10. Hadders in his pomp was on Top of The Pops 28 times in two years, only matched by Take That (according to Hadders). He is still "prominent" in many countries. He also owns a cafe.
Admittedly, this information might be of limited appeal outside the main corpus of Haddaway's international fanbase. The point of mentioning it is really just the way Haddaway was served up, to the media, and paying customers at €50 a head, as an official piece of entertainment. The composer of What Is Love? reduced to another bizarre piece of ephemera with a tangential relation to football, dished out unceasingly by the extended Uefa publicity machine.
The massed wonks, vest-wearers, jobsworths and clipboard-holders of Uefa have formed a highly visible presence in Austria. This really is the most nannying of tournaments, an utterly controlled environment served up by an organisation with deep coffers and huge political and economic clout.
Just as an example, you can't use a Visa card at Euro 2008. As at least one incensed Russian fan discovered in the Uefa-run tournament shop in Innsbruck on Tuesday night, this is MasterCard territory. Normal rules of the modern commercial transaction are suspended here. And don't even attempt to drink any Austrian beer: this is Carlsberg country.
It's not all bad though. If you're lucky, and you've got the right pass, it's free Carlsberg. With Haddaway on stage bawling "Unnnhh! One! Two!" chucked in. Not much of this is anything to do with football, but a lot to do with promoting Uefa.
Could European football's governing body be distributing its vast annual budget on something more worthy, more meaningful and more directly related to what actually happens on the pitch, professional and amateur? Who actually decided all this was necessary anyway? What is love? Eternal questions, all of them.
