A little history first...
When we moved to London, it was shortly after the 2010 World Cup and Team USA had an exciting run which captivated our nation, and unfortunately ended in disappointment against Ghana in the knock-out stage. The video of the World reacting to Landon Donovan's goal against Algeria in the 2010 WC still gives me chills. Prior to the 2010 WC, I was not a soccer follower, outside of my every so often check of the MLS standings to see how the Kansas City team was doing. After the World Cup, I was really jazzed about soccer and wanted to start following the game more closely. What better place to do that than in the home of soccer, England.
As mentioned in a previous post, England is home to one of the most successful soccer leagues in the World, the Barclay's Premier League. One of my first soccer objectives was to find the Premier League team that the Woods family was going to follow for the year we were in London and maybe for many years to come. How I chose to determine which team we'd follow was to discuss with co-workers about their alliances, history of how they became a fan, consider their knowledge and passion for their team, then we'd join the team that best sold their case. As a Hawkeye Football fan, I can fully appreciate the dedication and passion it takes to be a "fan". In the sport of soccer, their fans take it to another level.
After my initial conversations, I had met people that didn't really follow any team, a few followed Manchester United, Arsenal, mainly because popular culture, but after various conversations with co-workers over the course of about 3 weeks, I had found our team and there was no debate about passion or dedication. We had been in the office about 10 days when the Security Specialist (Building Security) for Cerner took Kari and I on a tour of the buildings, pointing out the fire exits, extinguishers, alarms, where to go once you've exited the building, etc. After the tour I gave this man the regular sch'peal asking who we should be cheering for this season which I had given many others before, fully expecting to get some casual response; boy was I wrong. The conversation went on for another 15-20 minutes, with him rattling off years of history, how he worked crowd security for 10 years at Stamford Bridge. How he had been through the highs and lows of Chelsea Football, jumping for joy and crying in his tissues. The conversation ended with him rolling up his sleeve of his dress shirt and revealing a Chelsea tattoo that ran from shoulder to elbow. There it was, I had finally found the team we would cheer for. I shook his hand and wished him a good day and said, Chelsea just gained a few more fans from America. The weekly conversations still continue between him and I about Chelsea football. This is exactly what I was hoping to find and to have some passion to follow one of the greatest Football leagues in the World. We've found our team to cheer for, thank you Mr. Security Specialist.
Going to Stamford Bridge was added to the Cory list of "Things we must do in London" before we return. We never got an opportunity to attend a game there due to timing and ticket availability, so the next best thing was a tour. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we are starting to run out of weekends, so we booked it. There is a ton of history to read about the Club and a lot of it is not real interesting for most, but have a look if you are.
Stamford Bridge is a football stadium in Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London, and is the home of Chelsea Football Club. The interesting thing to note here is that there is a Borough of Chelsea, but yet their stadium is in Fulham and there is another Premier League team named Fulham. The capacity is 41,841, making it the eighth largest ground in the Premier League, quite small compared to American stadiums. Opened in 1877, the stadium was used by the London Athletics Club until 1905, when the new owner founded Chelsea Football Club to occupy the ground; Chelsea have played their home games there ever since which makes it the oldest stadium in the Premier League. It has undergone numerous major changes over the years, most recently in the 1990's when it was renovated into a modern stadium.
Our tour guide, again, another life long Chelsea fan:
London does not get a lot of sun, especially in the winter. The long white thing on the edge of the grass has artificial lights on it which run 24 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week and they slowly move across the grass to provide it light to keep it lush and green. At this point in the tour Brady kept asking, "when are the players coming out?" and "when is the game going to start?" We'll have to take him to a proper soccer game soon to make up for this.
Visitors locker room:
Chelsea locker room:
Brady and I giving our first Chelsea press conference:
Brady running out of the players tunnel on to the pitch, hard to tell, but he has his Chelsea outfit on. I am the proud owner of a Chelsea shirt, which he was incredibly disappointed I didn't wear, almost to the point of tears before we left the flat "daddy, put on your Go Chelsea shirt" but I didn't want to be "that guy" on the tour:
Something that would be incredibly dangerous for me and for most other Americans, especially a few from the KC Crew, they offer in-game betting on the game which means you can wager on the outcome of the game, both before it starts and at halftime. Wow, that sure would make some of the games I've been to much more exciting! Notice the strategic placement, no, not by the Women's restroom...
One last fun fact for the day, we walked home from the stadium. This is almost a laugh out loud moment, even as I type this because the stadium is almost 5 miles from our house. In London, it is no big thing to walk 3, 4 even 5 miles, although most locals use public transport. I can't imagine ever walking 5 miles anywhere in Kansas City. On the walk home we stopped at a couple parks, got Kari's b-day present (9 days late, but still in the Month of July) and found an incredible Whole Foods grocery store. Glad we didn't find this sooner as our grocery bill would easily be 3 times what it is today.
We are off to Geneva, Switzerland and Chamonix, France next weekend where I'll let Kari resume her role as blog author. She does a much better job anyway. I have enjoyed my 2nd guest appearance and maybe next time I can blog on something other than sports. GO CHELSEA!!!
Your articles are more than wow! Trusox
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