After the Holy Roman Empire formally recognized France's jurisdiction over the Rhineland, everyone here with any social standing had been racking their brains to curry favor with their new boss.
The reason fewer than 500 people had come to watch the match today was only secondarily due to the exorbitant ticket prices. The main reason was that this cheaply built stadium, rushed to completion, could hold only 500 people.
The Crown Prince's Personal Guard took up several dozen seats as well.
Yes, in order to build excitement for the "World Football Hercules Cup," Joseph had personally traveled to the Rhineland to watch the qualifiers. At the same time, he could inspect the mineral resources here.
Today's match was Württemberg Team versus Palatinate Team.
At France's call, every member state of the Mediterranean Security Organization and the Rhine Trade Alliance, along with Switzerland and Venice, had sent teams to compete.
The Rhineland itself had entered two teams: Palatinate and Lower Rhine.
Joseph slumped listlessly in his chair, glancing at his pocket watch from time to time.
Twenty-five minutes had passed, and there was still more than an hour until the match ended. That was, if there was no extra time.
He silently sighed to himself. Why had he been tormented by the men's national football team of an Eastern country in his previous life, only to remain unable to escape the torture of watching rubbish matches now?
After all, the players on the field had been exposed to football for a year at most. Quite a few had only started learning to play after hearing that the champion's prize for this "World Cup" was as high as 30,000 francs.
It would be a miracle if they could play anything worth watching.
Still, while Joseph, an old football fan, suffered through the