So for my 3rd football match in 5 days, I went to Wembley Stadium for the return of the oldest international fixture in football. The history of this fixture stretches back to 1872 when the 2 sides met at The Oval Cricket Ground.
This was the first time the sides have met since England won the European Championship Play Off in 1999. Despite the long gap between the fixtures, it was surprisingly not a sell out crowd that watched the game.
I have been to several England v Scotland and Scotland v England Internationals in the past. I was not particularly bothered about going to this game, but my son Tom had not been to one and was keen to go, so I had a word with a mate of mine who was able to sort us out with tickets for the game. It was also a chance for that notorious group known as “The Sizzlers” to have a reunion. It was 11 years since we had last met up for an England game.
So Wednesday lunchtime found Tom and I lurking in a corner of Kings Cross Railway Station trying to avoid the unwanted attention of certain people. We met up with a couple of the lads and then headed off to meet up with other fans. We ended up with a mixed group of Doncaster, Newcastle and Plymouth fans having a quiet drink at a bar round the back of Kings Cross. It was a new bar on me, despite having drunk in London for over 30 years! I know I am not 48 years of age yet, so do the maths!)
After distributing tickets there, we headed off into Central London, taking care to avoid the massed hordes of drunken ginger transvestites, that some people call Scottish football fans. We ensconced ourselves in a Wetherspoons pub at Holborn Circus. the pub was less than 50 yards from my work, so I was pleased none of the office drink in there. The choice of bar was an excellent one, with it being a big pub, cheap(ish) beers and no hordes of ginger transvestites, and apart from a group of Chimp Chokers (aka Hartlepool United fans) very few other football fans in there.
In this bar, our group was swelled with fans of Rotherham, Brighton, Nottingham Forest,Tottenham, Liverpool and Cambridge United. Who says football fans can’t mix without there being trouble. We chose to remain holed up here until it was time to head off to Wembley Stadium. Sadly one or two of the lads were unable to be at the game for personal reasons or work commitments.
Surprisingly, the tube to Wembley was not packed. In keeping with the rest of the day it seemed to be a low key affair. Even at Wembley Park station, there were no large queues, in fact there were no queues at all. Normally on a big match day, the steps from the station and Wembley Way are a seething mass of bodies and its impossible to see the ground. Not so for this game.
Once in the Ground, the first thing that I noticed was the significant number of empty seats. The game was no where near a sell out. Scotland had been given 20,000 tickets and had not sold their allocation. Now, this is not a criticism of the number of
Scotland fans attending at Wembley. There were thousands of empty seats in the England section as well. In fact, Club Wembley seemed to only be 1/3rd to 1/2 full. No, my comment is more directed at the hundreds, if not thousands of Scotland fans who did not buy tickets for the Scotland end despite them being available, but instead chose to buy tickets in the England end. Why? I have no idea.
I have to admit that I have on occasions bought tickets in the wrong end of a ground, but when I do so, I go in without sporting my team’s colours and keep quiet through out the game. The Scots however, turn up in the wrong end, despite tickets being available in their own end, wearing full colours and jumping up celebrating when Scotland scored.
Now when England fans are in the wrong end of a football ground, the media are happy to immediately label then hooligans and call them for being in the wrong end. Strangely when its the Scots doing it, the media are praising them for the numbers they attended the game in. Saying there was so many of them they had to buy tickets in the England sections. No mention of the thousands of empty seats in the Scotland end, no mention of the provocative behaviour in wearing colours and celebrating their teams goal whilst in the middle of England fans.
I find the media reporting of all things England and all things Scotland quite interesting and a great example of “spin”. On Tuesday night, I was listening to a preview of the game on the radio when they were looking back at previous fixtures, including the England 9 Scotland 3 result in 1961. The Scottish “talking head” was saying how as the Scottish team coach left Wembley after the game it was met with a repeated hail of bricks and bottles from Scotland fans upset at their defeat. This was hailed as something to be proud of. He spoke with pride about the fans passion etc. No mention of hooliganism or the thuggish behaviour of the Scotland fans.
In the post match reporting of the event, the papers wax lyrical about how wonderful the (drunken) Scottish fans were. Strangely few newspapers or TV reports mention the fact that 10,000 cans/ bottles and mountains of rubbish were left in Trafalgar Square be said Scots. No mention either in most reports of the deliberate polluting of the fountains in Trafalgar Square by Scots fans.
A criticism of both sets of fans at the game was the fact they both booed the other teams national anthem. No matter who are playing, the booing of a national anthem is disrespectful and should not happen. Quite why some football fans think this is acceptable is beyond me.
Right, rant over, back to the game… Well actually, there is little positive to say. The first half was dross. Scotland in reality would be a mediocre side in League 1 in England (3rd tier). They took an early lead before England equalised. At half time it was 1-1. The game itself was nothing to write home about. England were playing as if it was a 1/2 paced training ground game. For Scotland, its the biggest game they play. It means everything to Scotland to defeat England, but the feeling the other way is not reciprocated.
Fortunately, the 1/2 time whistle came and put us out of our misery. Some people go to the bar or the toilet at 1/2 time. We did likewise, but to get to the bar, we had to get the tube 6 stops to West Hampstead to meet up with the lads who hadn’t gone to the game. A couple of beers in the bar and we saw the end of the game on TV ( fortunately we could ignore the TV as well).
From West Hampstead we were able to take the London Overground line round to Stratford and avoid lots of changes on the tube. (Good call Tom). We took the train home from Stratford and looked forward to the Pizza from Mario’s on the way home only to find it had shut early! Disaster – how selfish of them to close at midnight. Do they not realise I wanted a pizza. So it was Chinese or Chicken for supper.
So another day, another game over. That was my 7th game of the season and my 3rd in 5 days. It was the least enjoyable game of football, but it was a good day out and hopefully some of us will be meeting up in October when Newcastle host Liverpool. There is no chance of me or some of the others going to the game, but we will meet up hopefully for a drink in Newcastle before/ after the game.
The football was a let down (as expected) but meeting the lads was a positive. Even Tom attending his first England v Scotland game was disappointed at the game and the atmosphere, but enjoyed the day despite this.
I think the next time we meet up for an England game we will save the £40 admission fee and go for a curry in Brick Lane instead of going to the game. It would be far more fun having more beer and a curry than going to the game. Watching England games now is no where near as enjoyable as it was years ago. The atmosphere is flat, the prices are sky high – not just the admission prices, but the food and drink in the ground as well. The only improvement in the years has been the access into the ground and the toilet facilities. mind you the latter could not have got any worse could it? The toilets at the old Wembley were positively primitive.
This weekend brings the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup ( the first of the 6 rounds before the 1st round proper) and a chance to get back to grass roots football.
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