Football

Yesterday, all the WashU kids in London/Sussex had the opportunity to go to a Premier League football game, some people went, others didn't- and I don't see why not, it was tons of fun! The only downside of the whole adventure was that the game was in London and there was engineering work on the rails so it took the Sussex kids about 2 hours to get from Brighton to London. Altogether there was 5 hours of travel for about 2 hours of football game but it was worth it. Oh and also, it was really cold. That was a downside, too.

The game we saw was Fulham v. Aston Villa. It was really exciting because Aston Villa is ranked like 5th or 6th in the premiership and Fulham is second from the bottom and in danger of being relegated to the lower league at the end of this season. So it was supposed to be a rout of Fulham by Aston Villa but it wasn't; Fulham won 2-1!

Anyway, starting the adventure from the beginning. We get off the train at Putney Station and head towards the Fulham Football Club. At first we were looking at the map, trying to figure out where to go, but then we realized we could just follow the massive amounts of people who seemed to be all heading in the same direction we were, decked out in black and white (yeah, we wikipedia-ed Fulham FC before going so we were representing the black and white, too). As we get closer to the stadium, the shouting gets louder, the crowd gets more dense and there are more and more policemen standing around. I guess they are reeally serious about preventing riots; there were policemen on horses, in vans, lining the streets, basically everywhere (I really wanted to see some crazy football hooligans get into a fight, but I did not. Sad). We made our way through the crowd and get to the home side of the stadium, enter through these tiny little turnstiles and went inside. WashU really takes care of us because the seats were great. They were on the home end of the field, behind the goal that was guarded by Fulham in the first half and Aston Villa in the second, in the very first row. And the very first row is very close to the field. When the players are on that side of the field, they are actually life size. The first half of the game was fairly uneventful, but still awesome. All the football clubs have these cheers that the entirety of the fan base know and randomly just start shouting out or singing throughout the game. I kept trying to record some of them on my camera, but every time I got my frozen fingers to work, the chants were almost over. But I do have 2 videos that are somewhat decent that I'll post. Half time was short, some cute little kids went out on the field and tried to score on each other. Then the second half started and was much more exciting. At about 65 minutes, Aston Villa made a goal, but then at about 70 minutes and again at around 75, Fulham scored twice! And it was great being on the side of the field that we were because when the team scored the ran towards our stands hugging and jumping and cheering to the crowd on our side. And when the team did this, many many many fans in our stands rushed down to the barrier to scream and cheer and yell back to them- which lead those of us in the front row, especially on the aisle, as Laura and I were sitting, to get crushed against the barrier, too, amidst masses of screaming football fans. Which, of course, was fantastic. As with the chanting, I couldn't get my frozen hands to work quick enough to take pictures of the celebrating teams or the crushing fans, but it was quite the experience. Also, in the vein of preventing riots, when all the fans came running down, the security guards who sat between the stands and the barrier of the pitch would stand up and look menacing. It was kind of funny. The game ended with us on top, which made for a very cheery exit from the stadium, another walk back to the station with hordes of other people, and a quiet train ride home to Falmer.

I think football is really exciting and fun and I would like to go again if possible. Although maybe when it was warmer. And maybe with people who know the cheers so I could learn and sing along.

Oh, yeah, after I got home and did some work, I turned to more football- this time American. The tv in the common room in York House was playing the Super Bowl and I went down to watch some of it. But kickoff was at 11:30 PM and they didn't have the commercials so at about midnight I was done. I read this morning, though, that the Giants won. How silly.

Fulham FC enters the stadium!


A somewhat blurry picture of Laura and I enjoying the match.


Action shot.


Cute little kids come out for the half time entertainment



All the Fulham fans behind where we were sitting. There were also fans on the long sides of the stadium. Basically if you were an away fan, you could only sit on the opposite side of the stadium from where we were. It was actually printed on our tickets "home supporters only"


Fulham mascot...a badger?

See what I mean about our seats being really close and the players actually being full sized?

I was bored and cold sitting in Brighton station, waiting for the train to Falmer to come so I decided to take pictures. Brighton train station is really cute and it is, by far, my favorite of the train stations that I've spent time in.

More Brighton train station.

My best attempts at capturing the Fulham cheers on video.