It must have been around 9pm the shouting and yelling (from both the kids and adults) went through the roof. It immediately got Boll’s attention. Seeing this, I swung round to see what was going on. I peered over the top of the crowd of people that had gathered in a circle to try and get a better view. At first, it just looked like a slight disagreement between a couple of schoolgirls – playground stuff, almost – and just a bit of sabre rattling. One of Boll’s family , possibly around these teenage girls father’s age, swiftly stepped between them with his arms outstretched and separated the two girls. It seemed like that was the end of it – but how wrong I was.

What happened next defied all reason, and I still don’t understand quite what happened or why. I don’t know if the 3 of them (the 2 girls and the guy between them) were feeding off the still cheering crowd, or whether there was a genuine grievance that they felt needed to be sorted there and then, but the former peacemaker subsequently stepped out of the way and just let them carry on. In fact, judging by the way his arms swept back toward his centre as he stepped back, he actively encouraged them to continue.

All hell broke loose. The 2 girls went back at each with a real, genuine venom. I could hardly believe my eyes. I didn’t want to look but my eyes were fixed in absolute disbelief. The Muay Thai students had nothing on these girls, I mean that in all seriousness. It was truly very nasty indeed, and what made it even worse (if that was possible) were the crowd. They absolutely loved it. You could tell, quite clearly, that the shouts were of those of excitement and nothing else.

I looked over to Boll. He didn’t respond like others in the crowd, but didn’t look like he was going to jump in any time soon, either. Minutes later, the 2 girls were still going for it hammer and tongs. By the time I looked back from Boll’s direction, one of the girls was on the floor, the other over the top of her. Neither one looked like they were going to burn out any time soon. I just wanted to get in there and stop it – physically it wouldn’t have been a problem – but I had absolutely zero appreciation of the current dynamic. I didn’t know what started it, why it was allowed to continue and, moreover, why it was actually being encouraged. I didn’t know how the crowd would respond if I did do something. I didn’t know what to do for the best – I was a little out of my depth and way out of my comfort zone.

And so it carried on. I’ve seen a few dust ups over the years, and been party to some myself, but I’d never seen anything this vicious before – at least not between 2 girls. I won’t go into details, it’s not necessary, but it was absolutely shocking.

I decided that if it didn’t stop pretty soon or if it looked like one of the girls was going to get seriously hurt, I’d put the pressure on Boll to stop it. Failing that, I’d stop it myself. But, selfishly thinking of my own preservation, I was fully aware that taking action myself – interfering in matters other than my own that I had absolutely no understanding of – would be a pretty foolish thing to do. Had it been between 2 men, then fair enough you walk away and let them sort out their differences - from time to time that kind of stuff happens - but between 2 young girls? It just didn’t sit right.

Thankfully for me, but much to the crowd’s disappointment (which I still find incredible), the fight petered out naturally. For both my sake and theirs, I’m glad that it did. I should have known, really, no normal, unconditioned person could fight for such a length of time and with such vigour and not gas eventually. Fortunately, they did just that. The guy whom stepped in initially did so again, and this time that was the end of it. The crowd quickly started to disperse and I turned to Boll with a kind of a ‘what the f*ck was all that in aid of?’ look about me.

‘Ah, they fight’ he said. He gave a look of disapproval (although how much of it was show for my sake, I don’t know) but he genuinely did look slightly regretful and a touch embarrassed that I had witnessed the fight. The last thing I wanted was for my kind host to feel uncomfortable, or feel like he’d been put on the spot, so I gave a half smile, offered him a cigarette and swiftly changed the subject to the up and coming Champions League Final.

‘So then Boll, Man U or Chelsea tomorrow?’ I asked him, albeit still a little bit stunned over this bizarre turn of events.

‘Aaah, Man U! Man U!’ he beamed, back to his normal self in an instant.

‘…I thought you’d say that.’