Catch of the day in Gdansk

The cool summer breeze that sweeps into the city of Gdansk from the vast Baltic Sea holds a seductive sway over fans who will no doubt want to return to this picturesque spot one day. However, when the crowds begin to leave and UEFA EURO 2012 winds down on the northern tip of Poland, local fisherman Roman will still be going about his business here.

Amid the early morning joggers and weary revellers in search of a bed, Roman pulls into port at 7am, his shift now over. Unwilling to talk at first he eventually relents and tells me what it means to him to have the EURO taking place on his doorstep. "I think it brings a message to the people of Europe that after many years of political struggle we are back to normal and form part of a united continent," he told UEFA.com.

As we continue to chat – especially about football – Roman begins to relax. "We have a ball on one of the boats," he said enthusiastically. "Of course we don't play while at sea, it's far too dangerous. We play chess instead.

"It doesn't happen often but if we go out past the Hel Peninsula we sometimes dock and meet with our Swedish counterparts," he added. "We saw them this morning and they were in good spirits despite the loss to Ukraine last night. Some Italians came to see us and were very friendly. We didn't speak each other's language but we communicated in football terms and laughed a lot. I like the fact that all of the teams coming to Gdansk are connected with the sea. Croatia have the Adriatic, Italy and Spain the Mediterranean and Ireland is an island."

And what of Roman's team? "I support Lechia Gdańsk", he says with a shrug. "They don't often play pretty football but you follow your team through thick and thin, don't you? Football is like the sea, sometimes you hate it but you can't live without it."