In the months leading up to Euro 2024, we heard a lot about the German passion for “das Public Viewing”. Interviews with players would frequently lapse into nostalgic childhood memories of watching the 2006 World Cup in parks or town squares. Friends enthused about the way whole neighbourhoods would come to life in tournament summers, joined together in what was by now an authentically German cultural experience. You’d smile, and nod, but silently you’d think: “All right pal, we’ve all seen a big screen before.”
Then, around the start of June, the screens started to spring up. Not only the big set-piece screens outside the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, but smaller screens, everywhere. The local kebab place with three tables has a screen up. The local Italian restaurant that doesn’t take credit cards has somehow summoned the technological expertise to attach a 75-inch ultra HD television to the side of the building. The Spätis – basically off-licences – have screens outside with benches where you can sit with cans. The newspaper stand across the road has installed a screen and six deckchairs.
