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Post London

In my pre-departure blog I had talked about what one thing I was excited about; one thing I was nervous or uncertain about; and one thing I hoped to learn from the program. I was excited to see the tourist attractions and to be fully immersed in the culture. I would definitely say that was a success. Our tour around Olympic Park and London itself were unbelievable and a great memory. I have never taken a full tour around any city, and London being my first was a great start. Our tour guide was able to show us everything we needed to see as tourists, but also the more local sites that carried tons of history. I was nervous about being over seas, since I have never traveled that far before. I do not believe that this was factor at all during the trip. I was able to stay in communication with my family. I think we were also super busy all day every day that there was not enough time to worry and be afraid. I wanted to learn from the trip how different clubs across English football are managed. Through our tours and guest lectures, I was able to learn so much more about football in the United Kingdom. I had a little previous knowledge from my Sport Econ class about how the leagues work. Being able to hear directly from club executives and club tour guides was an experience unlike anything else. I would highly recommend this trip to any SLAM, even non SLAM, majors. Dr. Beissel and Dr. Police ran a great program and could not thank them enough. 

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Travel there and back (choice 2)

One of the few times that I have traveled out of the United States was in 2016 on a camping trip to the Boundary Waters in Canada just outside of Ontario. Going into Canada was a bit more difficult because we were traveling with international people as well. Boarder patrol seemed a bit more strict of letting people in to Canada. One member of our group from Mexico did not have a strong enough visa card and could not enter. On the way back at the end of our trip, we easily got through and on our way back into America. From my young prospective, it did not seem like the states had much care who was coming in than Canada did. On our travel to London last week, we did not experience many troubles getting through security and customs. When we arrived in London at the airport, all we had to do to get through was scan our passports on a machine. There was no trouble going into London. On our way back to America, we had plenty of troubles. It first started before even getting to our gate. We were stuck in the bag check for nearly two and a half hours. The line was unbelievably long. There was a point where it did not make sense why it was taking forever. While in line, they have workers checking for passports and a negative Covid test. They questioned our reason for travel, which I thought was interesting and never experienced before. We had trouble checking our bags because the machines were not working properly and the workers had to keep redirecting us to someone else. Getting through actual security was easy, but again it baffles me how people struggle with understanding what to do. Once we landed in New York and got off the plane, we were heavily questioned by customs. They asked us why we were traveling, if we had anything on us we could not, had we traveled to other countries. Presumably this seemed helpful and productive for them, but getting to London was much easier than coming home. 

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Here is a cool photo from the tour of the Leyton stadium. In each corner of the stadium were apartment complexes that had patios looking out on to the pitch. This could allow for fans to watch the game from the comfort of their own homes. 

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Stadium differences (choice 1)

We were fortunate enough to tour many stadiums and see matches at a couple more. One of the coolest things about the stadiums were the size and location of them. In the United States, for the most part, every stadium is the same size and layout. Clearly more and more stadiums now are bigger and have all the attractions that fans want for the ultimate fan experience. With English football being an open league where promotion and relegation happens, there are teams in the same league that do not have the same income and have different stadiums. On Sunday we went to the new Tottenham Hotspurs stadium, which is estimated around $1.4 billion. That same day, we went to a Queens Park Rangers match, with a capacity of just under 20,000 fans, where the Spurs new grounds hosted 63,000 fans. QPR is just two leagues below the Spurs, but have an outstandingly different stadium. Clearly the Spurs have received backlash from the community of the massive new stadium and tearing down old businesses. We then attended a Leyton Orient game, who are one of the last few teams in the English football pyramid ranks that are still a professional team. A couple more loses for the team and they can be regulated out of professional football. We had the benefit of receiving a tour the day before their match and were able to learn about the history of the club and stadium. The stadium was much smaller than any of the others we saw, but had more of local community feeling. The stadium was built into a town where the locals were die hard fans. Something that caught my attention about the stadium was that they did not even have a scoreboard or a clock telling fans how much time was left in the halves. Compared to the Spurs, where the entire stadium was filled with screens showing the game, Leyton Orient did not have one. 

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This was a man I met one of the last nights out. He was very kind and had a great conversation with me about Brexit and the city as a whole. He offered us tickets to the England game on Tuesday, but we had to leave unfortunately. 

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The nation: London and its glory

I had never been out of the country other than to Mexico, and parts of Mexico seem very American. Traveling to Europe and over the pond was something that was a small thought in the back of my mind, but never really thought I would end up doing, especially for a class. Thankfully, I knew a couple people going on the trip, so I was at ease and was not completely alone. One thing that I quickly learned while here in London was how friendly people were. Often times when international people come to visit the states, locals tend not to help out when asked upon. When we came a day early and explored the city by ourselves, we were very confused on how to get from point A to point B. The Underground was very confusing and difficult to understand. Over time we were able to know where to go, but at first it was quite difficult. Everywhere we went, whether it was a pub, walking the streets, or on a tour, everyone was friendly and wanted to help. Off first conversation, they knew we were not from here and could clearly tell we did not know what we were doing either. In my own experiences, especially at the football matches, people were amazed that we were here and wanted to learn more about why. The smaller matches we went to, like Leyton Orient on Saturday, the fans were really confused on how we ended up in Leyton. As we talked with them during halftime, they began to ask us more questions than we could ask them. This really showed that both us and them wanted to learn more about each other. I believe that the hospitality from the local was something unmatched and very rarely seen here back home. I am forever grateful for the people we met, and I even ended up getting some of their phone numbers and instagrams.

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Here is a projected photo of the stadium from the Fulham website describing their renovation plans. The stadium will bring a new energetic life to the area and the club itself. 

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Imagined space: Fulham FC renovations

One stadium we were able to tour was Craven Cottage, where Fulham FC play their home matches. This stadium is very historic and has lots of history to its name. The team began playing at the Cottage in 1896, and has stayed true to it ever since. One cool thing about that stadium that we learned was that many parts of it gave needed to stay amidst renovation. For example, the turnstiles to enter the stadium are historic relics and cannot be damaged or changed. With modern technology, main entrances to stadiums are automatic or security sensors. At Craven Cottage, a person inside the ticket booth must turn the turnstiles each time a fan enters. Even though this is tiresome and outdated, the originality brings a cool aspect to the stadium. Another historic relic is the wooden seats in the west side of the stadium. Before the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, much of Craven Cottage was standing room only for the fans. Shortly after, stadiums were forced to create a safe environment for fans to sit and watch the game. The club is completely renovating the east stands along the River Thames. The club wants to add numerous amenities for the fans to use, but also be available the days the club does not have matches. Once finished, the stadium will have a mixture of 2022 and 1900′s. The renovations along the river will include a hotel with a spa, new restaurnats, and a more modern usage to the river walk. The upgrades will also allow fans to arrive and depart the stadium via boat along the river. This will help Fulham bring in more revenue and hopefully make a push to the EPL. 

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Ukraine support

This is at a Chelsea game, who are also in a sticky situation currently. Their former mens coach, Roman Abramovich, was in close communication with Putin about the attacks on Ukraine. He has been fired and may face criminal charges. 

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Current event: Ukraine support in London

The current situation in Ukraine with Russia invading has definitely shown an effect on daily life in London. As a large Nato country, the United Kingdom can be a target for a future invasion from Russia. Thankfully, we were not in Eastern Europe where threats would be a bit larger. Some ways that the attacks were shown in London were moment of silences before all of the matches we went to. Many fans outside the stadiums were also holding fundraisers to donate money to relief funds. Even though the United Kingdom would be perceived as a friend of Ukraine and against Russia, there were no signs of pro-Russia media on our trip. I was not expecting to see any, but even back home, there always is negative media about anything in places. This is something that I found interesting. In an article that one of our guest lecturers showed us, it talks about how Manchester United had ended their sponsorship deal with a Russian airline. Recently, the team had been in a deal with Aeroflot, which is a Russian based airline, but terminated the contract following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The club stated, “We share the concerns of our fans around the world and extend our sympathies to those affected.” A team as large as Man United is showing their support of Ukraine and fighting with them, even though they are not in combat along side. 

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Bobby Moore statue

When we toured Wembley Stadium on Thursday, a statue remembering Bobby Moore was in front of the stadium. Wembley is a historic stadium and is home to the English National team for both mens and women’s matches. Moore was the captain of the English team when they won the World Cup in 1966. Bobby Moore played for West Ham United for ten years, and is known for being one of the greatest defenders of all time. The statue is built at the front of the stadium facing out to the historic Wembley Way. This walk way is famous for the path it leads straight from the Underground station to the front steps of the stadium. On match days, the entire walk way is filled with passionate fans waiting for kickoff. In recent years with the NFL playing games at Wembley, the walk way is filled with different Americanized tailgates welcoming fans from all over the world. The statue commemorates the life that Bobby Moore lived, who died in 1993. Moore did wonders for the English national team, while also captaining West Ham. 

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Brexit

The United Kingdom, which includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, decided to leave the European Union, which entails all of Europe, in January of 2020. The UK leaving the EU has had many implications on both sides of the continent. On a very basic level, the difference between the two now is what currency they use. The countries still in the EU use euros and the UK uses pounds. For people traveling, they must take note and know what type of money they have to exchange for. I do not have much opinion into this since it does not effect my daily life, but we learned a lot about how it has effected some football clubs. For example, AFC Wimbledon is not allowed to sign players from their team that are not from the UK. This can hurt their chances of signing an important player to their club that can help make a run into the higher ranks of the English football pyramid. I talked briefly with a stranger on his thoughts on Brexit. He gave me some basic points as he was closer to our age. He said that most people under 30 were against Brexit because it made it harder to travel and is making the job market harder. Most younger people are forced to stay in central London to find jobs, comparatively being able to travel to other European countries for work. Many of the people who voted for Brexit were the older generations that do not live in the city and do not need the benefits that the EU provides. In my opinion, I do not think that leaving the EU was beneficial for the UK because it is limiting a lot of opportunities for citizens, and can start potential disagreement with the rest of the EU.

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In order of me eating the fish and chips. In ranking order though, The second photo was my favorite, then the first photo and then the last. The sides we did get with the last one were very good. We tried Dutch Eggs, which is a boiled egg encased by a sausage and all fried together. Very yummy. The peppers on the side were also very good. 

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Local Cuisine 🐟

A popular meal here across the pond is fish and chips. Deep deep fried fish with presumably french fries. Fish and chips are a very common and popular meal served most places, and is a great meal at a pub. Going into the trip, fish and chips were high on my list of foods that I needed to try. So far, I have had three dishes of fish and chips at different places. They all have been good, but some stand out more than others. The first fish and chips was at dinner on Monday night. I will attach the photos of each following this post. I had high expectations going into this meal since I had not had any yet. The chips were ok, they were a little too soft and gooey for my liking. The fish was very fresh and they had two whole pieces on the plate. The friedness of the fish was not too overwhelming. Comparatively to the two others, this was my second favorite. My second fish and chips was by far the best. I had this for lunch on Tuesday after our walking tour of London. I got this fish at a small little food stand at a market at the end of our tour. This was the best because the fish took over the friedness of the it. The deep fry was not too much and was the right amount where you can still taste both the fish and fry. The chips were also cooked to perfectection and added so much to the fish. I liked this one as well because we got to choose what fish we had. The stand had four or five different types of fish to choose from. The third fish and chips I had was for dinner on Wednesday night. This was my least favorite because the fish was way too fried and honestly hurt my stomach. I had to take the fish out from the deep fry to eat. I definitely enjoy fried food, but this was too much for my liking. Overall, fish and chips are high on my list of things I have eaten so far, and would highly recommend it to anyone who comes to London. 

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Here is a photo of the Olympic Stadium. The stadium holds around 62,000 fans for football matches, but can reach around 85,000 fans for concerts and other venues. 

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West Ham/Olympic Stadium Tour Interview

Today was one of our busiest days so far on this trip. We started with a lecture in the morning and then took the tube to the Olympic Stadium, where West Ham United plays their matches. We were lucky enough to get a private tour of the stadium and learn a little history about both the Olympics and West Ham at the same time. The stadium was built, along with the entire Olympic village on top of a wasteland. Often times cities that host the Olympics have the stadiums torn down after use and can leave the city in debt. One cool thing that I learned about the London games was that every structure that was built and was going to be torn down, the materials must be used for other structures in the park, or to help the city itself. I had the pleasure of talking briefly with one of our tour guides about his support with West Ham. Our conversation was very interesting and I believe that I got a better understanding of football supporters and their love for their clubs. I asked him first why he supported West Ham. He said that he started watching them when he was a young boy and has loved them ever since. “They are not the flashiest of teams, but put in the work and have the drive unlike anyone else”. He went on to talk about the support that other fans have for the club as well. West Ham is not one of the best teams in the Premiere League right now, but their fans still stand with the team wherever they are in the standings. The club is one of the oldest teams in English club football. There is definitely no shortage of history of the team. I proceeded to ask, on the flip side, what he disliked about the team and where they could be better moving forward. He talked mostly about the managers sending young players away to other clubs. “Many players do not get the full opportunity to showcase their talent to the club and fans before being sent away”. He believes though in the future the growth of the academy team will help younger players be pro-ready. More on the performance side of the future, he believes that if the club does not win any trophies in five to six years, the owners could sell the team elsewhere. One big issue in today’s football world with owners is that many are not local and are American. The West Ham owners are local so the fans support them for that, but beyond they do not trust them too much.