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Published: September 8th 2011
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Wembley
Reading paper outside Wembley LONDONS CALLING
This morning we took the tube into London (around 20 mins) to see if I could get an All Black World Cup jersey at Harrods – hadn’t had any luck elsewhere. True to form Harrods came through 67 Pounds for the official World Cup All Black Jersey which was pretty reasonable I think. We also had a very nice ‘Deli Lunch’ at the Harrods Cafe. Their food area is pretty amazing in terms of the options available. The weather was awful with heavy rain and strong winds (reminded us of home!) hopefully it will clear before the big game tonight
WEMBLEY
At 5pm the weather was still not great so we caught the 83 bus just down the road from our hotel. Wembley is on the 83 bus route. It was a bit unclear where we should get off, but the Stadium is pretty hard to miss and we had plenty of time to get ourselves sorted before Kick Off.
Lucky we came early because it was a bit of a mission to get our tickets. Initially when we booked them we said we would be travelling so could the tickets be sent out early or held
Massive Stadium
90,000 capacity for us to collect. The English FA said no, all tickets were sent out 3 weeks before the game, if we didn’t receive the tickets two days before call Blah, Blah, Blah. Two days prior to the game as instructed we called the FA to confirm the tickets. We got the standard “tickets were sent to your address 3 weeks....” We explained again that we have been travelling so didn’t receive them – after some discussion we were told to go to ticket Collection at the Stadium on the night. We did they weren’t there! After being passed on to someone else the guy printed a new set of tickets (3rd time lucky?) and hand wrote the Block, Row and Seat numbers. Good at last – but wait here’s more!
Twice on the way into the Stadium proper we were asked why our tickets had hand written numbers – we got through those obstacles only to find the entry we had been sent through was at the opposite side of the stadium to our seats – technically we couldn’t get to them one way because it would take us through the designated ‘opposition ‘area, and we couldn’t go the
James Milner
Former Leeds boy-pne of few Poms to shine other way for some other reason –getting a bit frustrated now!
In the end a sympathetic steward took us through to our section. One more explanation regarding hand written details and we were in! Good seats 17 rows from field and mid way goal and half way lines.
THE GAME
The game itself for the most part was average. Both teams defensive and there were few chances on goal. Ashley Young scored the decisive goal towards the end of the first half. It was great to see so many of the stars of the game on the pitch but overall the game didn’t really live up to it. The highlight was the Welsh comeback in the last 20 minutes – they dominated the game and definitely deserved at least a draw – Robbie Earnshaw missed an absolute sitter (I’d hesitate to say I would have put it away but just about) for the Reds which was gutting. It was fitting that Welsh captain and playmaker Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) was named Man of Match – he was outstanding in a losing side. Gareth Bale was also good – electric pace.
The welsh fans were by far the most passionate and
vocal (especially as their team pressed for a winner) good on them for lighting up the night.
After the game we were let down (for the first time) by UK public transport. The 83 bus had been diverted and didn’t stop at any of the stations near the ground. We went from one stop to the next waiting a while then moving on. Fortunately the 79 bus which stopped nearish to our hotel was running. When we asked the driver for advice he said to jump on and he would get us close. I was a bit dubious but Jeanette was confident and the driver was very helpful so off we went. It all worked out and we got back to the Fox and Goose in time for a quiet beer before closing.No 83 bus on way home -79 helped us out.
Compared to our experience with Manchester United where the Club went out of there way to assist us, this was all much more difficult – still to see a live game in such an iconic venue like Wembly was pretty amazing and another big moment on our tour.
Later we found out a Welsh fan had been attacked and died before the game (we were already in our seats by the time the assault outside the ground occurred. We didn’t see any signs of the ugly side of football at all – in fact if anything things were a bit subdued. Like everyone our thoughts go out to the family of the victim.
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