I pretty much lived our reading this past Friday. I'm a member of a Liverpool Football Club (an English soccer team) fan group here in Murfreesboro. There are over 150 of us at various levels of involvement. We gather to watch matches and drink at Party Fowl in town. This past weekend, some of us drove up to Notre Dame in South Bend, IN to see a preseason match as part of their US tour. We left at 5:00 am Friday and drove seven hours for a match that evening. Our first stop was an Irish pub packed with fellow supporters (that's the term most often used in the soccer world) clad in team jerseys. After quickly downing a few pints, we all sang songs associated with the team and broke out in chants. The whole place rang out in unison. This is one of the things I love about European football, the history, traditions, and rituals. I guess it has become my new church. Outside, they had a panel of legendary players who spoke and signed autographs.
Liverpool's opponent was Borussia Dortmund, a top German club but their fans were far outnumbered. The crowd's singing and chants were pretty much spine-tingling (I'll provide a separate link to a similar occasion). Fans held their club scarves high as the match kicked off. One or two obligatory smoke bombs were set off. Our boys lost, but that's hardly the point of these matches, and we enjoyed seeing some of our football heroes.
The next day, we toured the Notre Dame campus, carrying a small replica of the European Champions League trophy Liverpool won in June.
Monday, we returned to reality.
Wonderful, Art!
ReplyDeleteI'm about to enact a similar ritual, though "minor" by comparison. For the last few years some of my old pals from Grad School, now scattered across Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, and North Carolina, have designated a minor league venue within driving range to meet up, find a pub or two, and then a game. Nashville one year, Chattanooga the next, this year Asheville a week from Saturday. You're right, it's not finally about who wins. WE win. And the return to reality is a little sweeter.
Have you been to see them IN Liverpool? Is that on your bucket list?
DeleteVery cool. One day I’ll find a club. Never been the same since the NASL folded. The MLS timbers just aren’t the same.:(
ReplyDeleteI followed the Premiere League for a while before finding a club. I’ve tried to watch Major League Soccer but the level of play is not good for the most part.
DeleteThis is awesome Art. I remember in my Archaeology class that there were two seniors from Dickson County to talked a lot about soccer and they were followers of Arsenal and would talk about certain players. I am guessing that you played soccer when you were younger or maybe even still play it. Years ago, it was certainly good conditioning and appeared to be a good sport to play in the fall to prepare for tennis season in the spring, but now it is year round.
ReplyDelete