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A Christmas Reading - Weekend Matchgoing

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    #51
    First, a huge public thanks to Ray, who not only tipped me off to Middlesex County League matches but also was generous enough to be my go-between for a Fulham-West Ham ticket. To get on my soapbox for a second: English sides maintain a screwy ticket purchasing system that pushes new people out of ticket purchasing options or forces them to purchase insanely priced tickets. Fulham never released general tickets even though there were a lot of empty seats (I assume part of that was the weather but part was unsold tickets); they only listed tickets for sale to people who have purchased in the past. I was also hoping to buy a Brighton Hove-Chelsea ticket for tomorrow but they will only sell me a 125pound ticket even though they have 5-8 seats available in most sections. Again, they will only sell to people who have purchased before. There is a lot of screwy shit with US sporting tickets but once tickets have been sold to season ticket holders then the rest are just general sale. It's a much better system.

    Anyway, first stop was Stonewall FC v. FC Roast. Attendance not including the guy video recording the match for youtube: 6 (With a caveat that I think 2 guys have some role with the set up, 2 were students at uni from Southampton doing a follow-up radio story about Stonewall's recent match at Wembley Stadium, and the other two were me and another guy going to Fulham-West Ham after this match finished). I had a great time. Everyone was chatty and amzingly there was a small covered stand that was nice. The stand kept the wind and rain out, although the cement seating in this weather would certainly freeze one's sperm or ovaries so bring something to sit on if you decide to see a match at Barnes Elms. The weather was horrible: wind and rain. But I have to say that the standard of play was very impressive (esp. with the weather). Stonewall, which is an all LGBTQ team, won 4-0 and could easily have won 6 or 7-0 if they had taken all of their chances. I'm sure others can say more about this league, including Ray, but it seems like a quirky league with many teams founded based on identity rather than geography.

    From there Dennis (a West Ham supporter who seems to ground hop a bit and tells me that he has seen England play in every UEFA country except Kosovo--some of you may know him) and I walked to Craven Cottage. My face is finally thawed many hours later after that brutal walk. Honestly the match was probably less exciting than the non-league match but it was great to see a game at Craven Cottage, a wonderful stadium. Fulham had a very early chance but it was clear over the 90 minutes that the team lacks skill up front, passing skill in the final third, and high level decision making in most areas of the pitch. That doesn't bode well. West Ham won it 0-2 and the fans were in full voice throughout. Luckily the rain stopped by the time the match ended so the walk back to the train was better than the walk to the stadium.

    Anyway, I would go to Brighton-Chelsea tomorrow but that seems impossible so I'll instead see if I can chase down a DIY punk show. I got back too late to see a really nice post-punk bill at The DIY Space.

    EDIT: And I forgot to say while I was standing on my soapbox that these 4 fools showed up 20 minutes after the match had started, left to get food or drinks with 5 minutes left in the first half, returned just before the second half started, and then left the match 15 minutes into the second half. So those are the ticket buyers that seem to be prioritized.
    Last edited by danielmak; 15-12-2018, 23:58.

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      #52
      Sounds like a grand day, danielmak.

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        #53
        Originally posted by danielmak View Post
        EDIT: And I forgot to say while I was standing on my soapbox that these 4 fools showed up 20 minutes after the match had started, left to get food or drinks with 5 minutes left in the first half, returned just before the second half started, and then left the match 15 minutes into the second half. So those are the ticket buyers that seem to be prioritized.
        At last week’s West Ham v Palace game the entire row of West Ham fans in front of me disappeared just before half-time .... and never came back.

        My Fulham tickets for the season-opener came via a tout as I had no purchase history. It seems Fulham are proactively propping up the touts’ market.

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          #54
          QPR 2 Middlesbrough 1

          QPR deserved to win this, being the better side for all but a 10-minute spell after half-time when Boro equalised. The weather was horrible, and my seat was near the front and not sufficiently far back to be sheltered from the rain. Staying in the pub would have been a better option.
          Last edited by Capybara; 16-12-2018, 11:13.

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            #55
            I'd imagine that for a game like Fulham v West Ham they will be wanting to ensure there are no away fans in the home sections? Wigan were particularly picky about this when they were in the Premier - they would sell out the away allocation and then have thousands of empty seats in the home sections. Famously they refused to sell Roy Keane a ticket because he didn't have purchase history.

            I've bought at Fulham before - in fact it was in a designated neutral section, which is unusual in itself. I've also managed to buy at Tottenham (for a League Cup semi final) and (pre-move) West Ham just by registering details on their website. So it's not a generic approach by English clubs, just differs by club and sometimes by game.

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              #56
              On first glance you'd have thought I was watching Jay Jay Okocha's testimonial this afternoon as the shirts were Nigeria v Bolton. However it was actually an FA Sunday Cup tie between Allerton and Lobster, both sides coming from Liverpool. Entertaining game in which Lobster appeared to be comfortable as they took a 4-1 lead seconds into the second half. However Allerton scored two quick goals to cut the deficit before a late goal gave Lobster a 5-3 win. Lobster now travel to another Liverpool side, Mayfair, in the last sixteen.

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                #57
                Eintracht 2 Leverkusen 1

                Bit of a mad game - Eintracht barely looked bothered about preventing Leverkusen's counter-attacks, then resorted to fouling to stop them. Then they started attacking properly. What I love about this Eintracht team is their love of positive play, and the fact they look dangerous every time they come forward. Rebic missed three great chances to put the game away, but he's low on confidence right now and trying too hard to score. Which could also be good for Eintracht - hopefully no one will come in for him.

                Three blokes directly in front of us were so shit-faced they disappeared at half-time and never came back, which was good.

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                  #58
                  SpVgg Unterhaching 1:1 VFL Osnabrück

                  Although they defended competently, I struggled to work out why this lot were at the top of the 3. Liga.

                  Also as someone who tends to cut referees some slack, this was the first time I remembered booing a referee off the pitch at the final whistle. If any game I ever saw had been nobbled by shady betting syndicates, this was the most likely.

                  Despite them being 1:0 down for most of the second half, there was an inevitability to Osnabrück's eqaulizer.

                  After the game I got somewhat inebriated in the clubhouse, shook the hand of Haching defensive stalwart Marc Endres and chatted to a blonde woman from Osnabrück about Brexit and the German citizenship test.

                  Still, we're in a strong position at the halfway point, ready to face our inevitable post-Christmas slump.

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                    #59
                    Levante 0 Barcelona 5:

                    Levante played very well for about half an hour and even hit the underside of the bar through Boateng. Then suddenly Messi produces a brilliant reverse pass for Súarez and that's the beginning of game over. Messi himself goes on to score a hat-trick. The home crowd was naturally disappointed, especially considering last season's 5-4, but pretty phelgmatic and appreciative of the fact that they were watching genius en vivo.

                    The frightening thing about Messi is that performances such as these are becoming so common, so routine, that it's easy to feel blasé about them and take them for granted.

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