Since my flat is a short walk to Stamford Bridge, the home stadium of the Chelsea Football Club, I got a ticket to see a game. Looking at the schedule (called the "fixtures"), there was a home game against nearby Fulham for a Friday night.
I arrived home a few hours before the game to do a conference call from the flat. The tube station I used took me past the stadium. Since there is no parking, and therefore no tailgating, everyone goes to the nearby pubs to "warm up" for the match. Many of these pubs had signs up that said "Home Supporters Only," and there was at least one that had a policeman outside checking your ticket. It's easy to tell if someone is a fan of the visiting team, because they all sit in one section (more on that later). The main street in front of the stadium is blocked off for about a mile, which is no small problem for traffic since it is one of the main routes west out of Central London. There were police every few yards, and even some on horseback. In all, it was a very calm and family-friendly atmosphere.
As you enter the stadium from a series of ramps, the first thing you encounter inside is a betting booth, where you can wager on the game.
Once I got settled in my seat, it took me a few minutes to notice that no one around me was eating or drinking. This is because
food and drink are prohibited in the stands. This was my first indication that this was going to be a long night. There are no giant screens showing replays, and since there are no timeouts, there is no on-field entertainment (e.g. mascots, cheerleaders [note: cricket has cheerleaders]), and no sequences on the big screens like player interviews or highlights from other games. There was very little chatter amongst the fans, and most of what I heard was in Russian (I think). Since there are no timeouts or clock stoppages of any kind, for 45 minutes
I had no choice but to watch the match.
The visiting fans are all seated together in the lowed deck of the south side of the stadium. They are surrounded by police. There weren't many of them there, and they seemed to be having a fine time.
The section above them featured the liveliest bunch of fans, who spent the game singing and chanting. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they looked like they were having a jolly evening.
No one held up funny signs, nor were there any marriage proposals on the scoreboard (wherever that was, I don't think I saw it, but what's the point of a scoreboard when there is little chance of anyone scoring).
Football teams here for the most part don't have names other than their home location. So the Chelsea team is just called "Chelsea", instead of something menacing like the Chelsea Spitfires or the Chelsea QueueJumpers.
After 45 minutes, there is a short halftime. Everyone runs to get food, a beer, and a toilet break, and then back to their seats. This meant another 45 minutes of uninterrupted football, plus additional time that is added on to the end of the game for various reasons (injury time, etc), none of which have to do with the fans actually wanting to see more of this.
I left a bit early, which caused quite a bit of consternation among the security guards ("all you feeling ill, sir?"), so I guess that's another thing you don't do.
One final observation after watching the match as best as I could: these guys are
really good.
