Tag Archives: OGAE Rest of the world

competition

LONELY PLANET COMPETITION – ENTRY NUMBER FIFTEEN

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Thank you for your time by Luc Spencer-Gardner from Australia

I have been to 4 Eurovision Song Contests over the past 5 years.  The last two of these, Vienna and Stockholm, have been as a member of OGAE Rest of World.  My absolute favourite event to this date has to be this year, Stockholm 2016.  While it may sound cliché, this year Sweden really put on a show.  The purpose built “Euroclub/Euro Fan Café” provided a haven for us die-hard Eurovision fans, and by having both in the one venue, this made it easier to coordinate friends and fellow fan club members to meet with throughout the week.  But this was only one aspect.  Putting all the fans, delegations, press accredited persons, and the artists themselves in the one place made for the most integrated event.  Meeting people from fan clubs and media services throughout the whole of Europe was delightful, making many new friends and contacts.  Having the artists on site also allowed for impromptu stage performances, and random chance meetings.  Our very first night in Stockholm, we ran into the extremely engaging and charming Serhat, representing San Marino, and he was the loveliest man.  At 5am on Thursday morning, as the Wednesday night was coming to an end, we ran into two of the band members from Cyprus.  We spent a casual hour chatting and quite literally howling (at the sun however, not the moon).  We also met the band from Georgia, who I am a huge favourite of.  I literally ran into (my sincerest apologies again) Iveta from Armenia walking through the Euroclub.  We met and found many more of the artists throughout the entire week, at various events, and it was an absolutely unreal experience to be so close to them, and engaging in conversation.  The integration of the fans, delegations and press personnel this year was superb.

A quick note, we also availed ourselves to the fellow fan members in ROW and other fan clubs, and planned several meetings to ensure that the whole of our club and those from other clubs were able to integrate also.

I could not fault a thing this year.  The show, the hosts, the technology, the integration, and the fans.  Thank you for making 2016 Eurovision the best event yet!

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A MESSAGE FROM R O W – OUR FUTURE

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The start of a new year traditionally start with people having all kinds of new year’s resolutions as they reflect on the past year and see where things could improve in the new year. At R O W we are doing the same.
The club is now 10 years old and is regarded as one of the better functioning clubs in the OGAE family. Most of this is because both Andy and I do have in general more time to spend on club matters than the management in other clubs.
In 2000 I took a very drastic decision regarding my own future when my boss suddenly in February that year changed his mind about my leave in May for Stockholm when he approved the leave already 26 January 2000. I took the case to court and won and the company had to put me on “early retirement” so I could go to Eurovision. I decided not to work again full time and did just part time work if and when I feel like it. I stopped that also when I focused exclusively on Eurovision, the club and the covering of Euro songs in Afrikaans. it worked well.
It is, however, no secret that since 2014 and especially after Copenhagen, it has not been the same. Although I am mentally tough, there were times when things got too much even for me, but as things go in cycles, certain times thing again became better and then worse again. It took a strain on my health,the one thing I regard so high as no money can buy it and I started thinking about retiring from OGAE, R O W and Eurovision in general.
The day before the Copenhagen final I said to Morten I will only continue if Norway, Austria or Switzerland win (three countries I love attending Eurovision at), and the decision was made for me as Austria won.
Now I am going back to Stockholm in 2016, the city where things changed drastically for me in 2000 and now I am faced once again with a major decision.
I know you cannot please everybody, it is an impossible task, but something that is so special to me, is now routinely interrupted by 1 or 2 people – for me to enjoy Eurovision again like in the 90’s, I think it is time to re-think my involvement in especially OGAE. It is no secret that R O W is not liked by some at OGAE and we are treated like the Cinderella club, even virtually non existing clubs such as Bulgaria seem to enjoy a higher status than R O W. Yes, we do not have an own entry but we bring ten times more activity to fans than 50% of the other clubs put together – but more and more Andy and I get the impression that certain sections of OGAE (with the help of individuals inside R O W) will like nothing better than to see the end of R O W.
The term of the R O W board ends 31 May 2016 and new elections will have to do done. It is the ideal time to re-evaluate my own position. There are 5 months to go and unless things change, I will retire from OGAE on 31 May 2016. I know that Andy feels the same. We do not need OGAE and the club to enjoy Eurovision, and are part of the system because we enjoy it. The last year most of the joy has been taken away by others (and these people know who they are). We acknowledge their right to not like us but we cannot be treated differently from other OGAE clubs.
People who know me well, know I hate surprises and that is why I inform R O W members well in advance of the way we think after Stockholm.