Holy Hell, I'm a horrible photgrapher. Anyway, that's Craven Cottage. Go Whites.
On a soggy pitch my biggest fears were overcome. I attended my first ever professional football match and did not observe a scoreless tie. I saw three goals to be exact. More importantly, two of those goals were scored by Fulham. The home crowd was unbelievable, and I watched in the midst of the loudest part of Craven Cottage as Fulham toppled Newcastle 2-1 on Sunday evening.*
I stood the entire time.* Through the freezing wind, the fans chanted for players to the toons of Kumbayah, Auld Lang Syne and Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" (Replace Baby with Fulham. i.e.: "I love you Fulham. And if it's quite alright. I love you Fulham. To warm my lonely nights.") The seats were in the very back of the Hammersmith Section - Double WW (say it three times fast...it's not that hard). But those seats actually came recommended from a diehard Fulham fan/American, Mike Benedetto of the excellent Fulham USA Web site. I don't think I would've enjoyed the game as much if I had sat anywhere else.
Those are the sections where you're not just watching a game. You're a part of it.* The comraderie, the songs, the jumping and dancing. Fanaticism at its finest. When Andrew Johnson nailed the first goal to give Fulham the early lead, you felt the stadium explode with excitement. When Newcastle tied it up early in the second half, you felt the life sucked out of the stadium. And then this happened:
Yes, Levin in London now has multimedia! Really, really, really crappy multimedia.*
For someone who has never been a soccer fan in America, I was shocked by how much I enjoyed the experience. It's clear seeing a football game live in England offers something that likely won't ever be seen in American soccer. When you're living in a country where football is so ingrained into its culture, there's a different attitude toward it. Football fans are like a family. They love their team like a brother. And they hate Chelsea like a bunch of goddamn arseholes (man this was a terrible analogy). Passion like that MLS can only dream of.
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Foot notes
*This was actually a huge win for a struggling Fulham squad. The win shot them up from near the bottom of the standings to 10th in the Premier league standings (out of 20 teams). Niiice.
*Events that I've stood the entire time at (ok more like 92 percent of the time):
-Fulham football match
-Syracuse basketball game at the Carrier Dome
-Dream Theater concert
*Obviously, after one game I don't claim to be an expert on the club. This is just the opinion of an outsider.There's still much about the game I don't understand, and chants I couldn't figure out. Still, the fact I loved a soccer game amazes me. In fact, I like it so much I had to celebrate with a pint afterwards at the Fulham fans-only pub, The Golden Lion.
*Since you have no idea what's happening in this video: Danny Murphy just rocketed a penalty kick into the Newcastle goal to give Fulham an insurmountable 2-1 lead. Celebrating ensues.
1 comment:
Glad you enjoyed the football, Levin. That was a big win for the Cottagers and it was good to see Andy Johnson getting on the score sheet (he'd just come over from Everton in a big transfer deal and Fulham fans had been waiting for him to come good). Loved the video, too.
Go see more matches!
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