March 7th

Today I had to stay late at work. But unlike previous days, I chose to do this as I was leaving directly from work to go to the West Ham United football match. For those of you who have seen the movie "Green Street Hooligans", West Ham is the team that the movie is based off of. They are known to have the craziest fans. My boss invited me to come with him, his brother, another guy from work, and his college roommate. I was the only American tagging along with some diehard British fans. Since I had to leave from work, I had to wear my suit.

We ended up leaving the office around 5:30pm and headed down to one of the pubs right near Citigroup. Here, we met the other guys and started drinking some pints. To be honest, when we first got to the pub I was a little out of my element. Here I was, with guys about ten years older than me, all diehard fans and talking about teams and players I had never heard of. After being introduced to the group as the American Intern, I couldn't help but laugh inside at what my boss's friends must have thought of dragging me along with them. But after a little, everyone loosened up and I felt right at home. We started talking about American sports and culture and then the differences in British culture. By the end of it, we were all making fun of each other. I tried my British accent on for size and mocked them with some slang. They did the same in American accents, which are hysterical to hear. Based on hearing them, I know I sound like an idiot when I speak English English.

 We left for tube around 7 so we could make the opening kickoff at 7:45. When we got off the tube, we had to walk a few blocks on Green Street to the game. Even just walking to the stadium was an experience. Everyone was decked out in baby blue and red and singing West Ham Songs. To give you some insight, here are the lyrics for their main song "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"

I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air
They fly so high, nearly reach the sky
And like my dreams they fade and die

Fortune's always hiding,
I've looked everywhere
I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air
United! (clap hands) united! (clap hands)


I know, what a girlie song. But it's really cool hearing it in person. There were also a ton of hamburger vendors that littered the streets. It kind of felt like a tailgate, except for soccer. I was excited when we finally got to our seats. The whole stadium was chanting songs and cheering West Ham on, except for the one visitors section in the corner. 

Just sitting there was pretty funny and shocking for me. To start, there weren't many kids or families at the game. Second, there are no vendors that walk through the aisles, and you're not allowed to bring food and drinks into the stadium. Lastly, no one, I mean no one, gets up from their seat during play. If you have to get a drink or go to the bathroom, you simply wait until the half is over.

During halftime, everyone joins an enormous queue for the loo and beer stands. You have to pound your drink in the short break before going back to your seat. The actual game was somewhat sloppy with no much action, but just watching and listening to the fans was quite the experience. To start, I've always pictured Brits as proper and polite. As soon as I listened to the fans, my perception changed. They were a bunch of bloody wankers and tossers (literally my new favorite words). West Ham went down 1-0, but ended up scoring towards the end of the game to pull out the draw.

When we left the stadium and got back to the tube, the lines were so long that we went to another pub (a dodgey local pub). This place was packed with West Ham supporters who continued to drink after the game. We grabbed a few more pints before finally heading back to the tube. To sum up, I had an awesome night. It was a great experience and I'm glad I went with local fans because it made it so much better. Can't wait to go to another game, and now I'm really looking forward to Manchester United this weekend.