Wembley virgin
Phil and Rachel were at Wembley on Wednesday for England v Ukraine. It was Rachel's first international game and afterwards Phil quizzed her about the experience.
1. So - Your first International Football game at Wembley. How was it for you..? I loved it! Incredible atmosphere inside the stadium - when the teams walk out its definite hairy goose pimple time.
2. How does it compare to your beloved Rugby then...? I won't bore you with the obvious reasons that it's an inferior sport but... I've only watched lower league football and have never seen it played at that sort of pace. It's a more intense (and tense) atmosphere without doubt and a lot more blokey. Also, let's face it, its not every day that David Beckham stretches his gluteus maximus 30 feet away from you.
3. It's cheaper though isn't it...? By around £35. You're not likely to get your head crushed between a fat bloke's thighs at Wembley. You pay a premium for that sort of entertainment.
4. What did you make of the new Wembley...? Very impressive. Very high tech and well organised and despite being in the middle of an industrial wasteland, quite striking to behold.
5. We were charged £25 to park our car in the official Wembley car park...How did you feel about that.? It's to be expected and could be worse but thanks to my sat nav defying ingenuity (in the face of William's slavish devotion to the Tommy tommy thing), we got there in record time.
6. And no picnic tables or chequered table cloths...? And no beer or guinness!!! A coke and a packet of crisps for me, like Friday nights when I was twelve.
7. The game then.... Finished 2-1 to England. Quite tight in the end, despite a fairly dominant first half from England..Did it manage to hold your attention..? For sure. But then there was the novelty factor.
8. Be honest...Was the BEST moment of the night when David Beckham warmed up right in front of us..? You seem quite taken with him.. See above. Whatever you think of him, he's an international susperstar which makes him interesting to watch close up.
9. Do you think he still has a role to play in the England side..? The fans clearly love him still but he seemed pretty distant from the rest of the team. When he set up the second goal, none of them went over to celebrate with him, bar Rooney.
10. When I came to watch the Rugby with you, I was struck by how the crowd celebrate a try, just by cheering and clapping. They don't mock the opposing fans in the same way football fans do. Last night when we went 2-1 up, everyone around us started chanting, "You're not singing any more." What did you think of that..? It just made me laugh. In international rugby, its not unheard of for the home crowd to applaud the opposition scoring a try or kicking a penalty. But it goes back to that sense of tension - the fans here, I would guess, are are a lot less forgiving.
11. Would you come back to another International Football game, or is it egg chasing all the way for you now..? I've been an occasional visitor to Ninian Park, Portman Road and Bristol City and Rovers over the years - I play fast and loose with my allegiances depending on where I live (so I could never be a "proper" fan). But then Wembley is pretty much my local ground, and under the above idiosyncratic terms of engagement, I'd be well up for going again.
12. Can you explain the offside rule, without asking your husband or looking it up on Google..? (Bear in mind, when answering, that most Premier League referees struggle with the bit about when a player's ACTIVE, on an almost weekly basis) Look I'm not that remote from the nation's favourite sport. I was the playground keeper in a dynamite lunchtime battle between years 6 and 7 (boys) back in 1986. I saved the potentially match winning goal by sitting on the ball as it was hoofed towards me.
13. Let's see how much you picked up from the England fans who called 606, as we drove away from the Stadium then. Can you complete the following sentence: At the end of the day Alan..................... "We haven't got the pace/skill/class/players to be world beaters and haven't a hope in the world cup." That won't stop me going to South Africa though (admittedly I will be a year early and rather more concerned with a couple of interesting looking rubgy tests...).
Here are some photos from the night:
Jump to more content from this blog
About this blog
Subscribe to 5 live Breakfast
You can stay up to date with 5 live Breakfast via these feeds.
5 live Breakfast Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find our beginner's guide to RSS useful.
Podcast
5LNPI: The death penalty - was China right? 29 Dec 09
10:31 Tue, 29 Dec 09
Gordon Brown has condemned the execution in China of Akmal Shaik 'in the strongest terms'. Do you? China ignored final pleas from his family to stop him being killed. Despite being found guilty of trying to smuggle 4 kilos of heroin in 2007, his family argued that the 53 year-old was mentally ill - and suffered from bipolar disorder. But should Chinese authorities have granted a reprieve or is it right not to bow to international pressure? What effect will this have on relations between Britain and China?
Download or subscribe to this programme's podcast
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~11~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Having been to the old and new Wembley, I would have to say that whilst its pleasing to the eye and you have a lot of room per seat the new wembley is just very "nice" which is not what a football stadium should be. It is a larger example of all of the new stadiums sprouting up over the country which appear to be varying sizes of an identitykit of what architects think a stadium should look like. The whole of the middle tier at Wembley is corporate which is great if your on a work freebie, but to the normal fan it is insignificant. It also affects the atmosphere as it does not fill up until about 10 mins after kickoff as everyone is having one more beer in at the bar.
I have just seen the new plans for the new Spurs Stadium. Again it looks very nice. However, "The Shelf" which created the atmosphere at White Hart Lane will be no more. To fill the 58,000 capacity it will be sold to corporate's who will fill it each week with people with little interest in Spurs. The way football is going there will be no tickets for the real fan. Sky already run football and its just as well really as the only way fans will be able to watch their team will be on the TV or have to support a lower division team like Coventry City.
Comparing this to rugby, I would have to say it doesn't compare. Having been to club and international games it is like football used to be. I can sit or stand, with a beer in hand and watch the game. I can have an opinion on the game, without getting my head smashed in. There is no segregation. After each England game at Twickenham you can go to the bar under the stadium, where the bars are open until late and there is not one bit of trouble. Twickenham definitely has a corporate side. However, this is not segregated into one area and the people who go are interested in the rugby and not the prawn sandwiches.
The New Wembley is a iconic Building changing the skyline of London. However, it is not a football stadium for football fans, and neither is the Emirates, or any other new build stadium.
They are like new build houses. They look great, are shiny and new, and have all the latest mod cons. However, they lack character, history and uniqueness and are built to the same specifications up and down the country.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS