In her book, The Year of Living Danishly, the author Helen Russell admitted that emigrating to the Jutland peninsula had been something of a culture shock. Among the most important lessons: “Religion can’t make you happy, but traditions and special cake can.”
A little further in land, in the city of Viborg, there are corners in which sport has become a religion in its own right, from the rich tradition of handball, to the rattling rafters of the local football “Arena”. Home to just 9,566 fans at any one time, Viborg FF’s hub of dedicated supporters are typically aficionados of the Danish national team.
Except this weekend, there will be a rare exception to their faithful flying of the Dannebrog flag. Emerging from a traumatic and yet ultimately triumphant group stage at Euro 2020, eyes now turn from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, where it is Wales – and a familiar face – who lie in wait.
Ben Davies was at risk of missing the last-16 tie, carrying a yellow card from the 2-0 victory over Turkey. The left-back was spared most of the defeat to Italy for that reason – as this is one game he will not want to miss.
“Since he became professional for Swansea and got his debut in the Premier League, there has been a lot of attention on him from Viborg fans and the local media,” Viborg’s Nicolai Kristensen tells i.
There are David Beckham shrines erected by Thai buddhists in Bangkok, and Ronaldinho has found unlikely support in Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak temple – but Davies’ unlikely support base in a place far from home has a more conventional backstory.
Back in 2001 when he was eight, the Tottenham Hotspur defender’s father was invited to work for Grundfos, a Danish company which specialises in making pumps. It was a short-lived exile from Wales, lasting no more than two years in a city with a population of around 45,000, but one which took the promising youngster to Viborg’s newly-established academy.
“Viborg was in a really good shape that time – one of top six to eight teams in Denmark,” Kristensen says. “The club won the Danish Cup in 2000 and played in the Uefa Cup against Russian side CSKA Moscow and Spanish side Rayo Vallecano.
“The youth academy in Viborg FF was founded in 2002 so when Ben played here, we were in the really early stages of our academy. The club was financially stable – but we have never been a rich club. We built a new stadium in the early 2000s so that part was modern, but the training facilities were really old at that time.”
The new ground is indeed in fine nick. Its capacity, nonetheless, could fit into the South Stand at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium almost twice over.
Modest pitches were not the only challenges facing Davies, who was the only foreign player in the youth team. Football, as they say, is a universal language. “And luckily we learn English early in school in Denmark,” points out Kristensen. “So everybody could communicate with him.
“One of our Club Ambassadors – Torben Primsø – was a neighbour to Ben and his family and they have been in contact since. I guess Ben would call him his ‘Danish dad’!”
At Spurs, that Scandinavian affinity translated into a close friendship with Christian Eriksen, with whom Davies has been in contact in recent days as he continues to recover from a cardiac arrest in his nation’s opening Euros fixture against Finland.
When they trained together at Hotspur Way, teammates were often surprised by Davies’ fluency in Welsh – but many did not realise he had once dabbled in Danish too, though he admits he has now forgotten his third language almost entirely.
Still, the bond has never gone away. He has won an international cap in Aarhus – about an hour’s drive from Viborg – and has fond memories of his playing days in the country, even if he had to train indoors in months when the sun set at 3pm and thermostats plunged into minus figures.
His reunion will take place on neutral ground in the Netherlands, Denmark having enjoyed home advantage in all their matches so far. In the meantime, they have become, as Gabby Logan put it, “everyone’s second team”. That was probably true of Davies right from the start, even if he plays in England and has teammates playing for the likes of Italy and France.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, another of his Spurs colleagues, has been among the Danes’ most influential midfield maestros so far. For one of them, the tournament will be ending on Saturday.
If it is to be Wales who embark on another surprise march to the latter stages of the Euros, Davies will no doubt be at the heart of it – and will relish a tie which means more to him than most.
More from i on Euro 2020
- England aren’t ‘rubbish’ and Southgate isn’t a ‘fraud’ – we just need a bit of patience
- What the Premier League could learn from Euro 2020’s controversy-free referees
- The football nomad who became a hero for his role in saving Eriksen’s life
- How Ronaldo’s Coca-Cola stunt could change the face of football sponsorship
- How to watch every Euro 2020 match on TV and online in the UK
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/35OUrwT
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