There’s plenty I could write about the Tower of London,
Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and various other London sites, but this being a
sports blog, I decided it would be best to tell about the sport sites I was
able to take in.
In America I think it’s easy to only see American sport and
forget that other countries have cathedrals of the games, fan bases in
pandemonium about their teams and famous international tournaments played on
their soil as well. During our trip, we were allowed a free day that gave us
the chance to do whatever we wanted.
Myself, along with four other students, decided to
spend the day seeing some of London’s most famous sports stadiums and venues. We
made three stops: Wimbledon, Stamford Bridge and Emirates Stadium.
Wimbledon is a stereotypical hoity-toity British club. The famous tournament is played their every summer, but also is home to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, a private club. Nestled in a neighborhood on the outskirts of London at the end of the District Line on the London Underground, Wimbledon is in a quiet area on a small piece of land. There is no room to expand on the hilly terrain that is surrounded by houses and apartments.
There is the famed Centre Court, a 15,000-seat court that
hosts the championships with a retractable roof that closes in 11 minutes, and
then numbered courts 1-19. An interesting fact we learned though is that there
are only 19 total courts due to the fact that Court 13 does not exist. So many players
complained about how 13 was unlucky that the Club decided to just tear it up
and leave it out.
Another interesting fact we learned on our tour of the
grounds is that, because of Wimbledon’s location in a wooded neighborhood, the
main problem they have is foxes. The foxes that live in the area try to get on
the grass courts and dig them up. For that reason, there are electrical fences
around every court to keep animals away.
During our tour we were able to see Centre Court, No. 1
Court, the museum, the Gents’ Dressing Room, the players’ tea garden, the media
building and we sat behind the desk in the players’ interview room. Our tour guide
was highly-educated on the ground and the tournament which made for an interesting
hour and a half tour.
From Wimbledon we hopped on the Tube and went up a few stops
to see Stamford Bridge, the 105-year-old stadium of Chelsea FC. We were unable
to tour the stadium, but even the outside made it clear that the stadium was
something similar to how Americans regard Fenway Park or Wrigley Field.
The reason we were unable to tour the stadium is because
my friend and I had to get on the Tube and be up in the northern part of London by 5
p.m. for the Arsenal-Tottenham FA Cup match at Emirates Stadium. We weren’t
sure if we were going to be able to find tickets to the game, but we would at
least find a restaurant to eat and watch the game in. However, once we arrived
at the stadium and saw the atmosphere, there was no way we weren’t going to
that game.
We found two club level tickets for the 100 pounds apiece
(the equivalent to 131 American dollars), which were 200 pound face value. Our
seats were incredible, first row right on the corner with the Tottenham
cheering section below us.
The first goal of the game was scored at the goal on our end
and the fans amazed me from start to finish. There was hardly anybody on their
phone and everybody was engaged. The fans chanted various things, sang songs
and cheered wildly for the full 90 minutes. Tottenham and Arsenal fans traded
verbal barbs the entire game and the booing was relentless when a player on
Tottenham made a positive play.
I came away from that game thinking it was the best sporting
event I’ve ever attended and it would be hard to top. To see sport in another
country was both exciting and unforgettable. The way fans root for their teams
and the tradition that comes with athletics across the pond was interesting to
see.
It’s something I won’t forget.
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