Adventures with the Woods: Come on Fulham!

This is Cory writing his first blog post, oh boy, here we go!

Last Saturday while Kari, her mom and Brady were off to Windsor, I was invited by a friend from work to attend an English Premier League Football (Soccer) Match. Fulham v. Wigan was set to kickoff at 3pm at Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC. This was my first ever professional football match. What a way to start!

Living in London has encouraged me to follow Soccer as there is nothing else to watch on TV. For those that don't follow professional soccer, the Barclay's Premier League is one of the most respected professional football leagues, with some of the best football talent in the World. Teams you have likely heard of within the Premier League are: Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United. There are 3 other well known professional soccer leagues around the world, La Liga (Spain), MLS (USA) and Italian Serie A (Italy). Some of the teams you've likely heard within these leagues are: Real Madrid (Spain), AC Milan (Italy), FC Barcelona (Spain), and the Kansas City Wizards! Yeaaah, GO KC!! The Football fans in London don't give a lot of respect to the football talent in the US, but it is still a growing sport and will someday get the respect it deserves.

Some fun facts...As are the contracts for American Football, baseball, NBA and hockey, the contracts for Soccer players are outrageous. The most publicized contract for a soccer player in the US is David Beckham (5 years for $250 Million). Wayne Rooney, who plays for Manchester United, just recently signed a 5 year contract, rumoured to be in the $275 Million range, incentives are still being finalized. To give you a non-soccer reference, Alex Rodriguez has a 10 year contract with the Yankees worth about $275 Million. The NFL contracts are structured differently, so the highest paid player varies from year to year, but the highest paid QB in 2010 is Eli Manning with a 6 year, $106 Million contract, expected to make in the $10-12 range this year. It was surprising to me that professional soccer super stars make just as much or more than the super stars that play sports in the US.

There are 20 teams in the Premier League. Last Saturday, Fulham was ranked 10th and Wigan was 17th. Not exactly a match of the top teams, but hey, it was still some good football action for a Saturday! I asked prior to the match if I need a Vu-Vu-Zela or if I need to know any chants. The Vu-Vu-Zela question was greeted with eye roles and a "oh geez". The only chant I was told I needed to know was "Come on Fulham, Come on Fulham". I was now prepared to attend my first professional football match! Tailgating has not caught on in London, but we did manage to find a pub close by and have a couple pints prior to kickoff. We had fantastic seats, 5 rows behind the goal. One of the stars for Team USAwho now plays for Fulham is Clint Dempsey. I won't bore you with the details of the match, but we had a lot of Oohh's and Yeah's and COME ON FULHAM's....the final score of the match last Saturday was Fulham 2, Wigan 0. Both goals were scored by the pride of Team USA, Clint Dempsey. After the match I was given a Fulham scarf by one of my co-workers, so now I can attend the next match in style, GO FULHAM!

If you want to see Dempsey's goals from the match, click the link below. Disregard the random music that accompanies the video. Both goals were scored on our end, so that was cool to see!

Clint Dempsey's 2 goals from the Match

Overall it was a great time and we're looking to plan our next match! Maybe Kari and Brady can attend next time!