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| Shepherd's Bush Station Underground |
After I went to the HSBC Bank ATM & got myself some spending
money, I proceeded to go across the street, mind you looking right first
then left, I saw the Underground station. I wound up having to go
across the street to the Overground station which is where I boarded a
train that took me towards
Selhurst Park which is located in South
London. It's also where the
Crystal Palace Eagles of the
English Premier League play their
football matches if you will. In Europe & other parts of the World,
that's what they call the game us here in the States refer to as soccer.
When I got to the right platform I noticed a few people wearing Crystal
Palace gear. With that being said, I knew they were going to the match
so I started talking to them. We wound up sitting on the train together.
I told them I was meeting a friend of mine by the box office. When we
got off the train, we all walked through a neighborhood as we approached
the Stadium which was right next to a supermarket called
Sainbury's
which is a local chain. The people I met, Lisa & John proceeded to
head into the Stadium. I thanked them for getting me there without a
hassle. It was around 11AM when I arrived. I told Sean I would meet him
at the box office at 11:15AM. In the meantime, they had a team store
right next to the box office so I decided to go in & look around. By
doing so, I was able to get myself a scarf which is popular among
people who attend football matches. Since this was my first ever match
in Europe I decided to adopt the Eagles as my team to follow. I plan to
sport my new scarf at soccer matches when I go to them in the States
from now on.
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| Selhurst Park Box Office |
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| Crystal Palace Football Club |
Shortly after I came out of the
store, I met up with my pal
Sean MacDonald. He arranged to secure a
ticket through a person he contacted online a few days before. He wound
up meeting that person by the box office. However I still needed to get
myself a ticket. There was a line by the box office but that was for
members if you will. In other words, season ticket holders as we call
them here. I tried to ask people in line if they would be willing to
help me out. I wasn't able to convince anyone. So I decided to look
around on the street right outside the box office. A guy approached me.
He said to walk away with him. I was reluctant to do so because I sensed
he was a scalper. Less than a minute later, another person came along
& he said he had a spare. I asked him what he wanted. He told me 30
pounds. Without hesitation, I took it. I knew that was what face value
was for that match. This particular ticket had a face of 36 Pounds so I
know I did good. The seat was located close to midfield too. The only
problem I had with the seat was that I wasn't able to see the scoreboard
due to the overhang that blocked it. As a result, I didn't know how
much time was left as the match went on. I did my best to keep score
anyway. When I needed to write in a time, I walked down until I could
see the clock. I was able to see the flying Eagle fly back & forth
before the match got underway. I was put wise to that thanks to Lisa
& John who mentioned that to me in our conversation on the train.
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| Eagle |
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| Sean MacDonald & I |
Before the match even began, the crowd was very festive which is what I was told about seeing a match in Europe. People were in their seats chanting as they were singing to their adopted anthem song of
Glad All Over. It was quite an experience to say the least for me. It doesn't compare to anything here in the States.
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View from my seat at Selhurst Park
|
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| Live action from my seat at Selhurst Park | |
As
for the match we saw, the Crystal Palace Eagles were hosting the West
Bromwich Albion. After a scoreless first half, the Eagles finally broke
through with a goal in the 68th minute when Yannick Bolasie found the
net to make it a 1-0 lead for the Eagles. They extended their lead to
2-0 in the 89th minute as they got a goal by Yohan Cabaye who
capitalized on a penalty kick. They went to preserve the shutout which left the majority of the crowd feeling glad all over. The only ones who left sad were the West Bromwich supporters who came to see their team play.
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| Chicken Bake |
After
the match, I met up with Sean again. We walked out of the Stadium a
different way as we walked back to a different train station. I just
followed Sean who knew where he was going. Since we had some spare time,
Sean wanted to go to his hotel to check into his room. When we got
within walking distance, I decided to get something to eat while he did
what he needed to do. I wound up having a Chicken Bake at a local
convenience store chain called
Gregg's. It worked out well since I only
had a half hour until we reunited again. Once we did, we hopped on a
double decker bus that took us to the area called Fulham, London. After we
got off the bus, we walked towards
Stamford Bridge, which is the home of
the 2014 EPL Champion Chelsea Football Club.
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| Welcome to Stamford Bridge |
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| Outside of Stamford Bridge |
As
we approached the Stadium, there were signs saying "No Touting". In
other words, it was against the law to resell tickets there. If you get
caught, you face serious consequences. As a result, Sean & I needed
to be very careful. We wound up walking around the Stadium to see if we
could find someone who happened to have extra tickets. Like Crystal
Palace, tickets weren't offered to the public. As we walked around, we
came across a gentleman who said his daughter couldn't make the match.
He said he wanted 50 Pounds for the ticket if you will. As a member, he
had a card which had his tickets loaded on it. He said one of us would
have to go in with him. Sean told me to go ahead. He told me to meet him
outside by a bar restaurant we saw after the match. I proceeded to go
inside. I wound up having a great view of the match between Chelsea FC
& their opposition, the Southampton Saints. My seat was five rows up
in the upper level which was right over the pitch. I couldn't be more
happy.
As for the crowd, they were loud but not quite as festive as in Crystal Palace. However, their Stadium was bigger & better.
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| View from my seat at Stamford Bridge |
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| Live action at Stamford Bridge |
As for the
match, Chelsea struck first as they scored in the tenth minute on a goal
by Willian. The Saints got even in the 43rd minute when midfielder
Steven Davis tied it up at one. In the second half, the Saints extended
their lead with goals in the 60th minute as Sadio Mane made it 2-1 then
in the 72nd minute they added an insurance goal as Graziano Pelle
tallied to give the Saints a 3-1 lead. Chelsea wasn't able to recover as
they went on to lose much to the dismay of their faithful fans.
After the match, Sean & I headed back to our hotels to get some much needed sleep & rest.
Stay tuned for another post that will recap that Sunday.
Thank you for reading & following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
