Well…we have been in London for a week on our soccer and literature pilgrimage. We visited 9 stadiums, watched 4 games, walked over 50 miles, and journeyed to multiple sites associated with Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare. I know it is only 7 days in, but London is everything we dreamed of and more. It is literally the world at large at every turn.
For a family that loves football and writers, London seems impossible to match. Our pilgrimage continues today with a game between Tottenham Hotspur and our beloved Chelsea Blues. I truly could write an entire essay on the journey we took just to get these tickets for the home opener! You know, maybe I will. It wasn’t easy and our bank account is still processing exactly what happened.😂 I’ll include that part of the adventure in next week’s essay and storytelling session.
There is so much to write about and it is difficult to process as it is still happening, but we want to share this journey to Stamford Bridge in two parts. The first session will focus on our visit to the Bridge and how we became fans of the club. The second part will focus on the game which occurs shortly after we publish this today.
Earlier this week we traveled to Stamford Bridge and visited the museum as a warm up to today’s game.
We toured the stadium.
We visited the players’ locker room.
We admired the trophies.
We sat at the post game press room desk.
We walked out of the tunnel to the tune of The Liquidator.
It was a dream come true.
Tons of Premier League teams possess histories of over 100 years of football, but Stamford Bridge is the oldest stadium in the league still in use today. As clubs modernize and try to make a profit, luxury boxes, VIP experiences, and exuberant prices threaten to keep faithful fans at a distance and in some cases at home. To be a profitable football club in the modern world while remaining loyal to the generations who supported you for the past 100 years, is not easy. Trying to make sure a disabled veteran or pensioner living down the street can have a pint, afford a ticket, and see his Blues play while also accommodating movie stars and millionaires from abroad who fly in on private jets just for the game and return home hundreds of miles away at the game’s conclusion is a monumental task. Part of the club’s attempt to do all of these things, is what makes it so difficult for the average fan to secure a ticket without selling an organ. But, more on that next week.
Today as we get ready to go to the game let me tell you why and how we became fans of Chelsea.
We are going to use Substack’s new audio feature to tell this small part of the story so please check it out if you haven’t already at the top of the post. Cheers!
Wowww the fact that They were discovered at a tavern/pub that was exactly the same name as the one that you went to !!the rising sun pub!!I LOOOVE the audio!!