...And they love it over here! Okay, so I’m rather partial to it as well, and to Tottenham as you’ll have no doubt noticed over the past couple of years.
The big North London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal is one of the game’s biggest rivalries and was going to be Vanessa’s first ever football match. I’d managed to scarper a pair of tickets to this match (not easy!) for someone else who couldn’t make it in the end, so I asked my newly arrived cousin if she’d like to see what it’s all about.
It was a Wednesday night, so after meeting up at Liverpool Street station, we headed up to White
Hart Lane on the train. As we got closer, so the number of Spurs fans on board increased. You could feel the buzz at this point and from some of the heated discussions and displays of support being shown, Vanessa did ask “what have I got myself in for?”. It wasn’t the last time she asked this...
Soaking up a bit of matchday atmosphere in the high street, she was amazed at both the volume of people as well as the many varied types. And also the passion being shown by people just walking down the street - the singing, the outbursts of “Yid Army” or “C’mon Spurs”, the excitement that you could feel... The smell of the roadside burger vans also adds to the atmosphere around the ground, and that was where we grabbed what was to be dinner. The burgers may be ordinary, but they’re all part of the experience that is English football matches...
As the crowds gathered at the turnstiles and the clock ticking ever closer to kick off, things were getting a little anxious as to whether we’d all be inside for the start. Once through the turnstiles we were all running up the stairs to our seats. We may have missed kick off by a few minutes, but the atmosphere inside the ground was at the highest I’ve seen there for some time. Vanessa was speechless for the first ten minutes as she tried to take it all in. For those of you that know Vanessa, to do that for just one minute is impressive enough!
Nearly 40,000 fans singing in one voice is an incredible thing, especially when backed by the incredible passion in these fans, and continuing for nearly the full 90 minutes. It doesn’t matter what AFL or NRL match you’ve been to back home in Australia, be it the ANZAC Day match or Grand Finals... nothing, and I mean NOTHING comes close to this. It is an amazing experience to be part of, and Vanessa seemed to be loving it as she tried to take it all in.
The match itself had more significance than usual as Tottenham had not beaten Arsenal in a league match (not counting Cup competitions) for 11 years. Plenty of draws and a few losses, but no wins. With Spurs scoring the first goal, the stadium erupted into wild celebrations, and again it took Vanessa by surprise. She had many questions about the game
and she seemed to pick up on a lot of it, although that age old confusion of the Offside Rule will never get any easier to explain (or work out)...
With the balance of play see-sawing a bit, the match eventually ended 2-1 to Tottenham on what was a bit of an historic night [with the win - that's us enjoying it on the right]. We headed back to the usual pub for the after game experience and to meet up with a few of the usual suspects that I’ve met over the past two and a half years.
Again, the celebrations in the pub (and beer garden) took my cousin a little by surprise, but she still enjoyed it all. Eventually we left to catch last trains and tubes home - Vanessa with that incredible experience of an amazing first English football match, and myself with an invite to free accommodation in Norway thanks to bumping into a Norwegian friend I’d not seen since last season. Oh, and also with that warm glow that comes with beating Arsenal...
The roar at the final whistle...
The big North London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal is one of the game’s biggest rivalries and was going to be Vanessa’s first ever football match. I’d managed to scarper a pair of tickets to this match (not easy!) for someone else who couldn’t make it in the end, so I asked my newly arrived cousin if she’d like to see what it’s all about.
It was a Wednesday night, so after meeting up at Liverpool Street station, we headed up to White
Hart Lane on the train. As we got closer, so the number of Spurs fans on board increased. You could feel the buzz at this point and from some of the heated discussions and displays of support being shown, Vanessa did ask “what have I got myself in for?”. It wasn’t the last time she asked this...Soaking up a bit of matchday atmosphere in the high street, she was amazed at both the volume of people as well as the many varied types. And also the passion being shown by people just walking down the street - the singing, the outbursts of “Yid Army” or “C’mon Spurs”, the excitement that you could feel... The smell of the roadside burger vans also adds to the atmosphere around the ground, and that was where we grabbed what was to be dinner. The burgers may be ordinary, but they’re all part of the experience that is English football matches...
As the crowds gathered at the turnstiles and the clock ticking ever closer to kick off, things were getting a little anxious as to whether we’d all be inside for the start. Once through the turnstiles we were all running up the stairs to our seats. We may have missed kick off by a few minutes, but the atmosphere inside the ground was at the highest I’ve seen there for some time. Vanessa was speechless for the first ten minutes as she tried to take it all in. For those of you that know Vanessa, to do that for just one minute is impressive enough!
Nearly 40,000 fans singing in one voice is an incredible thing, especially when backed by the incredible passion in these fans, and continuing for nearly the full 90 minutes. It doesn’t matter what AFL or NRL match you’ve been to back home in Australia, be it the ANZAC Day match or Grand Finals... nothing, and I mean NOTHING comes close to this. It is an amazing experience to be part of, and Vanessa seemed to be loving it as she tried to take it all in.
The match itself had more significance than usual as Tottenham had not beaten Arsenal in a league match (not counting Cup competitions) for 11 years. Plenty of draws and a few losses, but no wins. With Spurs scoring the first goal, the stadium erupted into wild celebrations, and again it took Vanessa by surprise. She had many questions about the game
and she seemed to pick up on a lot of it, although that age old confusion of the Offside Rule will never get any easier to explain (or work out)...With the balance of play see-sawing a bit, the match eventually ended 2-1 to Tottenham on what was a bit of an historic night [with the win - that's us enjoying it on the right]. We headed back to the usual pub for the after game experience and to meet up with a few of the usual suspects that I’ve met over the past two and a half years.
Again, the celebrations in the pub (and beer garden) took my cousin a little by surprise, but she still enjoyed it all. Eventually we left to catch last trains and tubes home - Vanessa with that incredible experience of an amazing first English football match, and myself with an invite to free accommodation in Norway thanks to bumping into a Norwegian friend I’d not seen since last season. Oh, and also with that warm glow that comes with beating Arsenal...
The roar at the final whistle...
On a side note, it was our late Grandfather who introduced me to "football" and Tottenham, and I'm sure he'd have had a smile on his face to have seen his grandchildren enjoy this night.
2 comments:
Yes old Dig would have been there with the 2 of you.
Will make sure Ian gets to see this blog.
What a totally brilliant experience and one I will never forget. Thank you so much for allowing me to share this with you. It was wonderful knowing that Dig followed them all his life and yes I totall agree he would have loved having two of his grandchildren watching his team. xx
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