I should start with a disclaimer that I am not a football/soccer fan. I believe in two fundamental principles when it comes to sports. First, there should be a lot of scoring. Watching things almost happen is not my idea of a good time.
Second, and most importantly, someone should always win. When I watch a game I need to know that there will be an outcome otherwise it is a waste of time. For these two reasons football and I are not friends.
This weekend Hartlepool United played an FA Cup football match. The FA Cup is a series aside from the regular league games where all of the leagues in England are thrown into the mix together. There is a larger pool of lower league teams, so often the FA Cup games aren’t that out of the ordinary. However, because the matches are randomly drawn, every once in awhile there will be an interesting match-up and such was the case this weekend. Hartlepool United was paired up with one of the biggest teams in the Premiership, West Ham United. The Premiership is the top league and includes the best known teams like Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
This was a very exciting event for Hartlepudlians, especially because it was a home game. I would liken it to if the Minor League Baseball team the Lansing Lugnuts were to play the New York Yankees at Oldsmobile Park in Lansing, Michigan.
In its 100 year history Hartlepool United has never played West Ham so I decided since this was kind of a once in a lifetime event I would set aside my feelings about football and go to the game. I don’t have a very good track record with going to football games. The last time I went to a game I literally fell asleep and it is something I will never live down. This time around my husband was so excited about the game that I got into it as well. I even wore one o the commemorative scarves and a monkey hanger wooly hat!
Like so many other things in England, the day of a big football game follows a very predictable pattern. Upon waking in the morning a good football fan will always have a full English breakfast (or a “full English” for short) which consists of eggs, sausage, bacon, baked beans (preferrably Heinz baked beans), grilled mushrooms, a grilled tomato, black pudding and toast. There are many places in town to get a full English, but I decided to make a full English at home for my husband and I, but without the black pudding because I refuse to eat it.
For others, they kill two birds with one stone and head to the pub for their full English. The second part of the pre-game ritual is go to the pub and start drinking, so it is a popular option for many of the football fans to get their breakfast at the pub before they start drinking. On this day, after we had our breakfast at home we headed to the pub at 10:30 AM in preparation for a 12:40 start.
At the game, in order to occupy themselves the fans like to make up chants. American cheerleaders have nothing on Hartlepool football fans. They can make up a clever chant on the spot and everyone catches on quickly. I tried my best to get some video footage of the chanting, but sadly of the 10 minutes of video I got on my camera there was barely 30 seconds worth of clean language.
In the end, Hartlepool was defeated by West Ham but they played well and still did their town proud. It was a wonderful day to be in Hartlepool and it was great to go out and be a part of the festivities.
About Lisa
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dreams of traveling to the UK whenever we want a reality.
I actually rather like British Style football. American football is very boring to watch, with all the stopping and going along with ample commercial breaks. At least in British football the game doesn’t really stop for anything, so it can be pretty exciting. You just have to watch closely. As my uncle put it best \I once watched a football game, I sneezed and missed the only goal.\ It really is like that. You can’t look away.
I rooted for England in the World Cup and was disappointed with their loss. I’m looking forward to the next World Cup.
Great Post!
I’ve always maintained that the low level of scoring is the thing that makes proper football attractive to Brits and repulsive to Americans. Americans believe that the only way to be what you want to be is to educate yourself and persevere. Brits think that the way to succeed is to go for a few drinks with your friends, complain about the status quo and then sit with your fingers crossed waiting for a bolt of lightning. In a game with a very low volume of scoring, it’s entirely possible for a completely crap team to beat a perfectly decent one. Or several perfectly decent ones (as evinced by Greece’s performance in the Euro 2004 championship). Americans abhor the idea that a team can win just because a pigeon flew in front of the goalie at the same time as he spotted his mother in the opposite stands, but it’s exactly why the Brits love it so much.
Lisa, nice description of a typical football game – eat a ‘Full English,’ go to the pub, go to the game, watch your team lose. Congrats on getting to play West Ham, that must have been exciting, even if your team did lose.