My football experience in London 我在倫敦看足球

Digging deep into my photo archives today as it's been years since I've been to a football match. Hubby is a football fan, mainly Premier league, unlike some die hard footie fans, he's not really into the European leagues. When we used to live in London, and you'll notice from the date stamps this was some years ago, it was pretty easy for us to go to the matches.

老公是足球迷，但他只愛看英超，對歐洲聯賽不太感興趣。 以前我們住在倫敦， 間中也會去當地球會觀看賽事。

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Craven Cottage, Fulham

We used to live a stones throw away from Craven Cottage. Those were the days when Fulham were still in the Premier League. It was relatively easy to rock up on a Saturday afternoon and still get in to see a match. We did that quite a few times. Of course if they were playing against the Big Four (in those days) it was still difficult to get tickets at the door.

Hubby isn't a Fulham fan, and going to the matches was just a nice way to spend an afternoon when we had nothing better to do. I can't remember how many times we went, probably two or three whilst we lived there for two years. This particular game was Fulham vs Portsmouth on 31 March 2007. It was a Premier League game and the score was 1:1. Both teams have since been relegated from the Premier league, with Portsmouth relegated to League One.

富咸/富勒姆足球隊離我家不遠可以走路去。 試過有一兩次週末無聊沒事做，就會過去買現場門票，打發一個下午。當然如果當日賽事是對四大球會，這個就沒可能了。這些照片攝於2007年3月31號富咸/富勒姆對樸茨茅夫/樸茨茅斯， 賽果是1:1打和 。 兩隊球隊現在已從英超降班到低組別。

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Stamford Bridge, Chelsea

Chelsea was also local to us, but a little further, two tube stations away to be exact. They are actually located at Fulham tube station which may be a bit confusing for some. The nearest tube station to Fulham football grounds is Putney Bridge, which is where I lived. Whereas Fulham tube station is where Chelsea's football club is located. I took these photos one day when we decided to do a tour of London football grounds.

I can't remember how many times we went to Stamford Bridge, probably 2 or 3 times as well. I do remember one match was on 15th September 2007, Chelsea was playing against Blackburn Rovers and the score was 0:0. The reason I remember this game was because a few days later José Mourinho left the club, it turned out to be the last match he managed at Chelsea.

車路士/切爾斯球隊離我家也不遠，要坐兩個地鐵站到富咸/富勒姆車站。 其實這個對外地人可能有點模糊，富咸/富勒姆球隊不在富咸/富勒姆車站，反而車路士/切爾斯球隊卻在富咸/富勒姆車站。 要去參觀這兩個球會就要緊記喔！ 車路士/切爾斯的球會位於史丹福橋球場，我也去過幾次。最有印象一次是2007年9月15日當日車路士/切爾斯對布力般流浪/布萊克本流浪者， 賽果是0:0打和。 過幾天後， 球會領隊摩連奴/穆里尼奧因為連布力般流浪/布萊克本流浪者也贏不了， 終於被球會解僱。這場就成為他在車路士/切爾斯帶隊最後一場比賽。

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Emirates Stadium, Arsenal

The second stop on our tour of London football stadiums was Emirates Stadium. You may have noticed I used one of their images as the thumbnail for this post. Hubby is a Gunners fan, so this for him 😃

Arsenal is one of the top clubs in England. Unless you are a season ticket holder or are willing to spend mega bucks, it is very difficult to get a ticket to see them play. We tried quite a few times to get public tickets through their official website, but they're like gold dust. Luckily, hubby's dream came true one time.

I had a colleague back then who is a Bolton fan and had an away membership. He works in London and often goes to see Bolton play when he can't go to the home matches. One time, I can't remember which year it was, Bolton was playing away against Arsenal. My colleague knew hubby always wanted to go into Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal play and offered to get Bolton away tickets for us as he was going to the match anyway. Hubby really struggled with that. On the one hand that was probably the only chance he could get in without losing an arm and a leg, yet on the other hand, he knew he couldn't openly support the Gunners whilst in the aways section.

After some deliberation (it didn't take long to be honest) we took up my colleague's offer. I was indifferent to be honest, and my colleague didn't mind. But it was so funny. When Arsenal scored hubby had to restrain himself from cheering, and when Bolton scored he had to cheer on... a little. My colleague and us had a good old laugh about this afterwards, all in good spirits. Hubby was a happy bunny as his wish came true.

老公是阿仙奴/兵工廠忠實擁躉， 其中一個夢想就是到酋長球場觀看心愛球隊作賽。 除非你持有季票， 或願意用天價購買門票，否則 一票難求。當時我有一位同事是保頓/保爾頓客隊會員。 有一次保頓/保爾頓作客阿仙奴/兵工廠，同事知老公一直很想到酋長球場看比賽，問我們要不要一起去。 老公想了一想，要坐作客席，深愛球隊入球又不能大肆慶祝，也有點猶豫。 但最後還是敵不過酋長球場的誘惑。 就這樣總算完成他的夢想。

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Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium is the home of England football in that the Football Association is based here. It has 90,000 capacity, is the largest stadium in UK, and the second largest in Europe. The Wembley Arch is its most iconic feature and everyone will walk under it as they enter the stadium.

It is much easier to get into Wembley Stadium to see a game due to its capacity and that it hosts a lot of matches, such as friendlies, the England home games, plays offs and qualifying matches. On this particular occasion on 6th February 2008, I went to see England vs Switzerland play a friendly match, England won 2:1. It probably doesn't seem like it, but the attendance was 86,857, that just shows how big the stadium is.

溫布利/溫布萊球場是英格蘭足球隊的主場。英格蘭的大賽事都會在這裏舉辦。 球場能夠容納九萬觀眾，是英格蘭最大的球場，所以賽事門票也較容易購買。 球場建築一大特色是一座離地133米高橫跨315米的大拱門。到溫布利/溫布萊的訪客一定會經過這道大拱門 。記憶中我去過溫布萊球場兩次， 第一次是2008年2月6日英國對瑞士一場友誼賽英國贏2:1。

This was the last football match I saw in London before I left for Taiwan. It was also at the Wembley Stadium and it was a 2014 FIFA World Cup, European Qualifying Group H match between England vs Montenegro on 11 October 2013. England won 4 : 1 but Montenegro put up a good fight. I remember when they scored their only goal, the roar in the stadium was unbelievable despite the Montenegro supporters only making up a very small section of the crowd. The atmosphere was phenomenal and even though I'm not a football fan, it felt so good and happy to be there.

我最後一場在倫敦進場看的球賽，是2013年10月11日 英格蘭對黑山共和國/蒙特內哥羅打的2014年世界盃H組外圍賽。 這場比賽英格蘭贏4:1。我記得黑山共和國/蒙特內哥羅的粉絲雖然佔很少數，但當他們入了唯一的一球，球場的歡呼聲絕對不會弱於英國球迷。雖然我不是足球粉絲，但也能感覺到當時的氣氛實在太熱情。

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2010 World Cup knockout stage in London

There was some other great footie experience in London outside of stadiums. One memorable one was during the 2010 World Cup, I watched South Korea play against Uruguay in the knockout stage at a pub. The pub was located at an area outside of London where a lot of Koreans live. In fact, some say its the most densely populated area with Korean's outside of Korea. They set up massive TV screens (Korean brands of course) outside the car park and had a party going on. Everyone was welcome. We went along, and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole community turned up, Although Korea lost 2:1, the atmosphere in this little pub outside of London was electric, almost made me feel like I was in Korea, cheering along with the Koreans and feeling their pain when they lost. Sadly I don't have any photos of that day, just some good memories.

其實有時看足球賽要有氣氛也不一定要進場。我記得在2010年世界盃，我在倫敦一個韓國人聚集地區的酒吧觀看16強，南韓對烏拉圭的比賽。 這家酒吧是普通的一間英式酒吧，但因為豎立在韓國人住的地區，他們特別辦了一個大派對幫南韓國家隊打氣。雖然南韓輸了2比1，但到場所有人都過了一個非常開心的下午，韓國更沒有因為國家隊不能晉級而沮喪，這就是體育精神。