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As an accompaniment to this blog please click on link as you begin reading - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haUl6ejC8DQ
"We're the Red and Blue Army!" Once we arrived in London one of the top items for us to do was to go to a football match. When asking my good friend Bill to inquire to his London-based contacts about things to do, a reply too good to be true came back. "If you want fantastic football entertainment at an unbeatable price, there's only one place in London to go at the moment and that's Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace. Wilfried Zaha is worth the price of admission on his own and will be playing in the Premier League in the very near future, either with Palace or elsewhere." I immediately reached out to Bill's friend Eddie and made arrangements for us to meet him at Selhurst Park.
Now some of the football stadiums in England have sold out naming rights just like in the U.S. - Ethiad Stadium, Ricoh Arena, and Reebok Stadium to name a few, but one of the charms of going to a match is the rich history of a place like Selhurst Park, which opened in 1924, and some other classics like White Hart Lane, Craven Cottage, the Valley, and of course Old Trafford. Selhurst Park seats about 25,000 thousand strong and is right in the middle of a working class neighborhood a few hundred yards from the overground railway.
We met Eddie and his son before the match and since he's a season ticket holder he took us into Glaziers, one of the Crystal Palace pubs. Funny was that one of the beers they were serving was actually Colorado's finest, eek Coors Light. We steered clear of that and ordered a local microbrew from Cronx Brewery, which only serves their beer at Selhurst Park.
After a few pints we headed to our seats which were right next to the "Ultras". Ultras at any footballl match are the hardcore fans who lead the crowd in singing and cheering. We were treated from the get go with some great tunes. When Palace came onto the pitch it was a Dave Clark classic, "Glad All Over" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDSepEeMgPg). Next up was "We are Palace, we are Palace, super Palace from Selhurst" sung to Rod Stewart's "Sailing".
A new tune that Eddie told me Palace and many other English clubs have adopted is...
All these songs are filled in constantly by Red and Blue Army sung as a chant to the tune of "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY). So all in all it's just a constant barrage of singing and chanting throughout the match. No videos telling fans to cheer, no commercials, but oh yes, there were cheerleaders.
Palace is fighting to get promoted from the Champions division into the Premier League and they stand right on the cusp in third place. The game was quite exciting even though it ended in a 1-1 draw. There's were two red cards, a saved penalty kick, and an outstanding goal by Wilfried Zaha, the same guy Eddie promoted as soon to be a top scorer on the English national team (and sadly maybe Arsenal or Man United who will likely swoop in and buy his rights).
Eddie joins the roster of top-notch people we've met on our journey who've just gone above and beyond to make this trip so memorable. Sure we could've gone to a match on our own, and are trying to check out another before we leave, but going with a season ticket holder who loves his team so much just added to the pleasure.
Be sure to check out videos for some footage from the match.
AG
- comments
Mackey Williams Great post, AG. So glad everything worked out. Eddie truly is a gem. Think I'm going to walk down to The Gate and tip back a pint in tribute to your new friendship.
Eddie Edwards Great to meet you and your family, AG. So pleased you enjoyed your visit to Selhurst Park.
Kathy Arnett The background music suggestion made the blog reading that much more interesting! I request a theme song for each future blog post :) Glad you guys are having a great time and detoured to England. Looks like it is time well spent.