You'll kick yourself if you skip World Cup

OPINION: Self-confessed football tragic Coen Lammers, who covered the last World Cup in Germany, says the event is an experience not to be missed.

Forget about that engagement ring for the girlfriend, that long overdue people-mover for the family or the extension the house. They can wait until after the World Cup.

Thousands of football fans around New Zealand will face a dilemma in the coming weeks, torn between the signals from their brain and from their heart.

Well, on behalf of millions of football tragics around the globe, who regretted doing the sensible thing: please listen to your heart.

Most of us will buy several cars or houses in our lifetimes, but the likelihood that your personal and financial situation lines up with an All Whites presence at a football World Cup, is once in your lifetime ... if you're lucky.

Two friends - one Kiwi and one Scot - have regretted for the last 27 years not taking their life savings to Spain in 1982. The mere mention of Spain by their friends who did make the trip still feels like a kick in the guts.

If you love football, support the All Whites and are not opposed to the odd party, you do not want to miss the biggest one on the planet.

Even if you are not sure whether you will get a seat in the stands, the cultural experience of celebrating the beautiful game with millions of other fans from around the globe is worth the air fare alone.

If the last World Cup in Germany in 2006 is anything to go by, the one in South Africa next June will be one to remember.

As the world is shrinking into a global village, even the distance from the main football capitals to Johannesburg is no longer an obstacle.

In 2006, we met numerous wonderful people from the Arctic parts of Norway to the southernmost towns of Chile, from the beaches of Belize to the Himalayan heights of Katmandu. And they weren't even in the World Cup.

Everyone there was united through their love of football, which broke down any cultural and language barriers.

To distinguish between the best moments of that balmy month in Germany is near impossible, but interestingly enough most of the memorable flashbacks are off the pitch, in the streets of Dortmund, Leipzig and Kaiserslautern.

Until 2006, no-one in Australia had heard of that last town, stuck in the hills on the French border. However, after the famous victory over Japan at the Fritz Walter Stadium, no Australian who was there will ever forget the green-and-gold tsunami rolling over this village, swallowing every beer and sausage in its way.

The same goes for the multicultural beach bonanza in landlocked Munich a few days later, ahead of Australia's clash against Brazil. While the Oktoberfest is limited to the beer halls, this celebration spilled into every cobbled street in city, with dozens of nationalities joining in.

During the match between Argentina and Mexico, it seemed that the old city of Leipzig had been teleported to South America, after 50,000 Latin Americans poured out of the Zentralstadion and brought Carnival to central Europe.

These were just a handful of magic moments that will be repeated in South Africa and are awaiting the brave ones that take the plunge.

Hopefully your partner will be as understanding as mine. Or even better, bring him or her along and enjoy it together.

- © Fairfax NZ News