FROM big screens to free bacon sandwiches, employers and schools in the region went football crazy today.And for the first time ever more than 200 pupils queued at the gates of Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge demanding to be let in by 7.

.

FROM big screens to free bacon sandwiches, employers and schools in the region went football crazy today.

And for the first time ever more than 200 pupils queued at the gates of Farlingaye High School in Woodbridge demanding to be let in by 7.30am.

Rush hour traffic failed to materialise as many employees were at the office by 7am.

More than 250 employees from Willis – a quarter of the total staff - crowded the restaurant to watch the match.

Early morning switchboard operators struggled to find staff as they huddled around TVs in canteens and offices.

Willis facilities manager Grant Corrigan said: "We opened the restaurant specially at 7am. There's a great feel good factor."

And at smaller officers the sentiment was just as strong.

Or it would have been had the television reception been better.

Vanessa Crean, office manager at solicitors Jackaman Smith and Mulley, said: "We tried to watch it but we struggle to get a BBC signal in the centre of Ipswich. In the meantime I hope staff were happy with bacon sandwiches at half time."

At Deben High School in Felixstowe a big screen was erected for up to 1,000 pupils to watch the first half live with the promise of the second half at lunchtime.

Headteacher Terry Ring said: "We thought it was a good compromise - for the teachers and the students!"

However a spokeswoman for Orwell High School, Felixstowe, said no arrangements had been made for the students to see the match there.

And at Copleston High School in Ipswich, pupils were allowed to stay at home to watch the match and come in for their second period at 9.45am.

Elsewhere at Capel St Mary Primary School children were able to come in and watch the second half of the game before starting their lessons for the day.

Not able to predict the exact amount of the power surge at 7.30am, Ipswich boffins at TXU still came up with some electrifying facts.

Christian Judge said: "The was an energy surge a the end of the 1990 England Germany semi-final of 2,800 mega watts."

Or in other words the equivalent of 1,200,000 people making a cup of tea.