My night at the Football Match: By Joshua (Feenstra) Wall

I grew up playing soccer (football for those of you on this side of the pond), always interesting in a country that tends to overlook the sport. This feeling is expressed moreso when you understand my bucolic small town which holds football (at times) next to godliness, not on the Texas level but it is most certainly the preferred sport. Thus growing up my sport was never held in high esteem, so my teamates and I would often talk about wanting to have culturally dominate soccer teams to watch and follow just as our cohorts in other sports did (mind you at the time you couldn't really watch any matches on TV, even most of the world cup wasn't shown in the states), and we would talk, in jest, about coming and watching professional teams play in Europe where the sport was actually esteemed. So before we left to come here, I had mentioned that, if possible, I'd really like to go see a Premier League match, knowing that tickets are hard to get but thinking that it would be fun to go and experience. Not too long ago that finally happened, thanks to a Christmas present from my folks and some digging on the part of my wife.
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Right after getting back to the UK, we went to see Newcastle United and Manchester City play at Newcastle. I'm not really sure what my expectations were before going to the game but I was definately excited to go. It was my second professional sporting event ever. We went to a Yankee's game once in New York, and I have to say that of the two this match was much more entertaining, even while I'm sure it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. What I found most interesting was the amount of crowd participation that existed. There were songs, cheers, chants, applause, and precisely directed verbal abuse, all of which added some sizable flavour to the event. The visiting crowd, bordered entirely by stadium staff (safety??), was incredibly loud for such a small group, singing away and cheering.

I had heard about this atmosphere, and I was actually looking forward to experiencing it, specifically the more organized crowd aspects (for example singing... I found it funny to hear mobs of grown men singing... that doesn't really happen back home and after experiencing it here, well, that's too bad) given America's tendency towards more individualized insults and attacks (Pistons and Pacers game a few years back for example). This isn't to say soccer doesn't have it's issues, but it seems more individual than communal in the States (say organized mobs vs. groups of individual thugs).

A massive flag that is passed through part of the stands right before the match starts

The match itself was quite fun, and it was a good game until about the 65th minute, when Newcastle fell apart. But up until then it was a fun game to watch and a great experience over all. I have to say I wanted to go partially because I felt obligated to, seeing as how I grew up playing the sport, but I really enjoyed myself! Megan also had a great time, and it was enough fun that we decided we'd like to go again if we can get our hands on some tickets. For those not familiar with the Premier League games, most tickets are held by season pass holders. Newcastle isn't entirely pre-sold (a 53,000 person stadium), though it's close. However the 73,000-seat Arsenal stadium, near our friends Emma and Gerard's place, is entirely sold out just to season ticket holders! By way of comparison Yankee stadium holds 57,000 and the Silverdome holds 80,000. I find that idea simply amazing, that teams with large stadiums have such a strong set of followers that tickets, in general, are so hard to come by.

Let me conclude with some interesting, chuckle-worthy phrases overheard as we sat in the stands, though it helps if you can picture them being said in a 'geordie' accent. Picture a dirty English/Scotch dialect, the kind that only sounds like English after a pint or two. (It is really that thick. I'll walk behind people on the street and think "That's not really English, is it?" Someone even made a website about it.) Also note that Manchester City won the match, so our Newcastle-ite neighbors had plenty to say about that...

Smash 'is legs!
Such Shite!
Dat cheeky buggeh...
Git down da line lam!
They've lust ther fluff!

And they sang the tune "Be kind to your fair feathered friends..." (or at least that's what we'd call it in the states) to the words "Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcast-le, Newcastle, Newcastle,Newcastle-e... " getting faster and louder and faster and louder...

The match didn't go well as you can tell, but it was great fun to be surrounded by such colourful phrases. What fun.

And of course someone else had to tag along in Megan's purse to the match...