Watching A Football Match in London

Today is my first full day back from an amazing two-week journey to London. I went to London for a two-week Maymester Course for my University of Colorado-Denver MBA program. It was an amazing trip and a true blessing to get to go on an experience like this. I am truly grateful. The class was focused on Sports and Entertainment Management with an emphasis on site visits and guest lecturers. I want to share some initial thoughts while things are “fresh.” I may post later on additional experiences.

I will start out discussing soccer, my experience with it in London, and what it means to the English people. While swimming statistically is the most popular sport participation-wise throughout the UK, football is king – metaphorically speaking of course. As we know, the UK really has a Queen. I jest. I jest.

Soccer has its roots as more of a working class or “the common man’s” sport. I got to experience English soccer firsthand by attending the Championship League Final at Wembly Stadium between Norwich City versus Middlesbrough. I cannot express what an incredible experience this was for me. Wembly Stadium was packed with over 86,000 supporters (fans). What stood out was that the stadium was split right down the middle with a Middlesbrough side of supporters clad in red and the other half was decked out in Norwich City yellow. This segregation has roots in past violence between fans, so game organizers do everything they can to keep them separate. Of course this differs completely with American football where fans are intermingled and typically dominated by the home team’s fans.

Another observation was the laser-like focus of the fans on the game. Because soccer is played continuously in 45 minute halves, all eyes were glued on the game and every touch the players had on the “pitch” or field. You could look out and see generations of fans: fathers, sons, grandfathers with women as well. I’d say the crowd I saw was mostly male though. Beer was served very carefully at the game only before the game and during half-time. Organizers of matches regulate beer consumption in an attempt to discourage rowdy or potentially violent behavior during matches. In the 1990’s some fans were killed due to fighting, so every effort to curb violence is made. I did not see any aggressive or fighting behavior when I went. One downside about prohibiting beer sales during the match is that it can unintentionally encourage binge drinking by fans who want to chug as many beers in a short window of time as possible.

The atmosphere was just electric and truly amazing to be a part of. Norwich City was the team we supported as we had to choose a side to get tickets. The Canaries, as they are called, ended up winning the match. The fans started chanting “we are going up!” This meant that Norwich City gets to be promoted to the Barclay’s Premiere League for next year as they won the championship. Songs and joyous chants erupted throughout the game. I did not always know what they were yelling but would sometimes join in as I could. The Norwich supporters beside me would literally hug me and high-five me when a goal was scored. I really felt like I was a part of their family that day. It was really special. This phenomenon was truly remarkable as often the English are more reserved than Americans in public. I could tell that these “rules” of culture did not apply during the holy football match experience. We also got to experience the awe-inspiring ceremony where Norwich City was awarded the trophy and promotion at the end of the game. Special is the best word I can grasp at to describe that euphoric experience for Norwich City and its supporters.

Soccer is growing out of just being a working class fan’s sport now in the UK. Because of football’s vast popularity, the middle and, to some extent, wealthier English people are starting to buy into the sport. Prince William’s support of the Aston Villa FC team bears evidence to this trend. When a royal in England is excited about the game, you know it has a vast reach. Another interesting point I learned was a juxtaposition of football vs. rugby in England. A tour guide at a rugby site told us that some in England describe football as “a gentleman’s game played by ruffians” and rugby as a “ruffians game played by gentlemen.” All in all, I thought it was incredibly exciting and fun experience for a sports fan. I have never been to anything like it before, and I think it rivals going to a US playoff game  in any sport. Since I’ve gone to NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL playoff games, I feel justified in my opinion I am much more excited about soccer than ever before and plan to follow British soccer more as a result! Feel free to let me know any thoughts you may have.