Hey football/soccer fans—I’ve got a good one for you today!
Today we’re going to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea v. Brighton in the EFL Cup a.k.a. the Carabao Cup!
This is not technically my first English Premier League (EPL) game because it’s a cup game (i.e. it’s not part of the regular season, it’s a separate competition) but it’s still a good time. So let’s get into what this experience was like… because, it was an experience.
Watching EPL games from the U.S., one thing I had never really considered is how all of the fans attending these games get to and from the stadium. In the U.S., there are big parking lots and traffic jams for games. Americans are car people. But Stamford Bridge—which is the name of the Chelsea stadium—is in an extremely dense area of London. (Honestly, I’ve yet to find a non-dense area of London.) So how do all these tens of thousands of people get into and out of the stadium? I was pretty sure I knew the answer, but I was hoping it wasn’t going to be as unpleasant as I feared.
When I arrived at the platform for my tube connection in Victoria station, those hopes immediately evaporated. Suddenly, I was in the midst of a CROWD. And when the train pulled up from its subterranean tunnel, it was packed so tightly with people it looked like a can of sardines in Chelsea kits. And yet, there was apparently room for more, because when the doors opened, I was swept into the train by the crowd around me. And for the next 15-20 minutes, I joined the sardines en route to the Fulham Broadway tube station.
When we arrived at the Fulham Broadway tube station and the clown car began to empty, I quickly found myself swept out onto the subway platform. I would have taken a pictures of this madness but I was so cramped that I couldn’t get my phone out of my pocket. And as the crowd began its slow march along the subway platform toward the exit, the football chants began. These chants seemed to originate out of nowhere, and because of the way they echoed through the tube station, I was a bit intimidated at first. (*LOTR reference warning*) I felt like I as in an army of dwarves marching to battle somewhere deep in the Mines of Moria.
Soon I was above ground again, and I began to get a sense for the true scale of these events. The streets were awash with people as far as the eye could see. Football fans from all over London and beyond were converging on Stamford Bridge from every direction. And the craziest part is that this EFL Cup game wasn’t even a big deal. That’s why the tickets were only £36.50 on resale. Regular season games would be even more intense and a HELLUVA lot more expensive.
After being forced to chug the beers that we had bought at the concession stand before heading up to take our seats, (we didn’t realize that we weren’t allowed to bring alcohol to our seats) we finally got to lay eyes on Stamford Bridge. I was irked about the alcohol rule, but it instantly made sense. These matches can get pretty rowdy even without a beer in everyone’s hand. There would be fights all over the place if everybody was allowed to drink throughout the match. “They say ‘Rugby is a sport for hooligans watched by gentlemen, and football is a sport for gentlemen watched by hooligans’” the man sitting next to me yelled over the roar of the crowd. “So you’re with the hooligans now!”
Side note: “hooligan” actually means sometime quite specific in football, but I’ll probably save a deep-dive into this history of this term for when I see West Ham play. In the meantime, you can google it.
Being in an academic setting, I have been struck by just how few Brits I interact with day to day despite living in Great Britain. Most of my circle is expats right now. But here amongst the Chelsea fans, suddenly I felt like I was officially in England. And their antics were hilarious. “YOU ARE A CUNT” one of them screamed at Marc Cucurella after a stumble. I chuckle every time I somebody uses the word “cunt” around me in the UK. In the US, this word is not used. It’s extremely vulgar. But in the UK I hear it every day and its usage never fails to amuse me.
Here are some pictures of the game from our vantage point inside Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea had been in poor form leading up to this game, so when Nicolas Jackson finally found the back of the net, people joked that I was lucky to have seen Chelsea actually score a goal. Other notable names on the field during this game included Moisés Caicedo, Ben Chilwell, Pervis Estupinán, and Kaoru Mitoma. Plus coaches Roberto De Zerbi and Mauricio Pochettino. Ben Chilwell actually picked up an injury in this game, which was bad news for my fantasy lineup.
Here’s the highlights from this match via ESPN FC. I don’t think this YouTube video will play unless you’re in the U.S., so, if applicable, set your VPNs accordingly.
When the match ended, we rejoined the masses and made our way through the streets, onto our chosen forms of crowded public transit, and eventually out of the congestion. As fun as the game was, I have to say that the effort required to get in and out of these places was A LOT! I’m still going to go to lots more games through. Don’t you worry. 😉
I’m not a Chelsea fan or a Brighton fan. I just wanted to watch some football, and I plan to continue writing about this in the future. Most clubs have songs that are strongly associated with them, so I will aim to share those songs as Tracks of the Day when I can, but in Chelsea’s case, I couldn’t find much that I enjoyed in their fandom catalog. Eventually I found this song that I really liked deep in a Chelsea FC playlist on Spotify. I’m not sure how much a part of Chelsea lore this song is, but I listened to it a lot in the weeks following this game. It’s a good London football track.
