Usually, I build a trip to London around pubs and theater,
with shopping, museums, and some classy hotel bars to fill in empty spots. But this time, thanks to the graciousness of
close friends, the heart of my stay was a trip to Wembley Stadium and a World
Cup qualifying match between Scotland’s and England’s national teams.
You probably know about Wembley, home to soccer and
infrequently the National Football League.
It’s often labeled the home of English Football, but is also used for a
lengthy list of other sporting events, including greyhound racing and the
Olympics. You may not have known the
current stadium opened in 2007 and replaced a stadium officially opened in
1924.
Getting off the London underground, the first sight of the
huge bubble of concrete and aluminum is impressive. The stadium seems vast and
my first question was: How big is this
place? Due to diligent background study,
I’m able to hit you with intriguing answers.
The field itself (pitch in soccer parlance) is 115 yards by 75 yards, or
8625 sq yards. Compare that to our NFL
fields that are 120 yards long and 53.333 yards wide, or about 6400 sq yards.
Overall, Wembley enclosed (the roof is moveable) is 4,000,000
sq meters, with a circumference of one kilometer. Not a misprint. That’s four million!
I know what you’re going to ask: 53.333 yards wide??? Really, I thought an NFL
field was 100 x 50 yards. Ah, my
friends, you forgot to add in the end zones that are each ten yards deep and
you may not have known NFL fields are measured in feet (360 x 160 ft).
Anyway, the Wembley pitch is bigger! The stadium holds 90,000 people unless
there’s a rock concert, in which case they cover the field to protect the grass
and add another 25,000 seats.
On the night of the game, the official attendance was over
87,000 screaming fans, all of them wearing either white and blue for Scotland,
or white and red for England. Something
well worth remembering as you take you seat.
The field itself is an interesting blend of both natural and
synthetic grass. How can that be??? The answer is a product called Desso
Grassmaster. The short explanation
(taken from the Desso Sports Systems site) is: with a patented technique, specialised installers inject 20 million
Desso artificial turf fibres in a natural grass mat. (note some differences in American and
English spelling!)
Despite the cost, Wembley claims,
due to lower maintenance costs, the system paid for itself in a year. Evidently, some NFL fields also use the
stuff.
So, what’s a game at Wembley like? Organized chaos. Getting in is easy and as with most stadiums
there’s a profusion of drink and food stalls.
In a stroke of genius, you can drink all you want in the food and drink
area, but no alcohol allowed when you pass through security into the
stands.
It’s a clean and beautiful place,
inside and out. And on the night we were
there, the stadium had an army of security and police sprayed around like
shotgun pellets, and roving patrols when you got into the stands and took your
seat. The guy who checked my ticket
towered over me and must have weighed at over three hundred pounds. He smiled, I smiled, both of us acknowledging
he could sip a beer and smoke a cigarette while kicking my ass.
Security was a necessity. Even
though Scotland recently voted to remain a part of the United Kingdom, on the
football pitch, there is no love lost. Heaven
help you if you unfortunately wore blue in a nest of English fans, or red among
the kilted crowd. Burly security guards, with looks that could slay a dragon,
constantly patrolled the aisles and took no crap from anyone, no matter which
team you supported. Several fans who
decided to settle the question in the stands found out how long it takes to be
duck-walked up a hundred steep steps and booted out the door by strong-armed
men who could answer the call of duty faster than you could say, “What the fook
did I do?”
Opening ceremonies also featured
acrimonious insults, with both sides booing each other’s national anthems. I loudly sang God Save the Queen, but I was
in the thick protection of swarming English fans. Those on the outskirts did so at their own
risk. As we do with The Star Spangled
Banner, the English only sing one verse:
God save our
gracious Queen!
Long live our
noble Queen!
God save the
Queen!
Send her
victorious,
Happy and
glorious,
Long to reign
over us,
God save the
Queen.
But I particularly like some lines
from the second verse that are bitterly ‘stiff upper lip.”
Scatter her
enemies
And make them
fall;
Confound their
politics,
Frustrate their
knavish tricks…
Frustrate their knavish tricks! Well said!
The Brits have mastered English.
We Americans only play at it.
Besides the national anthems, uniformed members of
the armed forces unveiled huge round banners for both England and
Scotland. When the teams took the field
there was near pandemonium! What fanfare
and ceremony!
So, how did the game end? Three to nil, England. The Scots are used to losing and last won
this oldest international rivalry game (began in 1872!) in 1999. But, overall the wins are close to even, with
England winning 48, Scotland 41, with 24 draws.
I admit, with over 87,000 fans, I viewed exiting the
stadium and catching the underground into central London with some
trepidation. Hey, many of these folks
were fortified with gallons of ale and at least half of them were pissed their
team lost! As with most fears, mine went
unrealized. Remarkably well-organized
coming in and exiting. Once outside the
stadium, the crowd surged down the wide pedestrian avenue toward the train and
tube stations, but with a difference.
First off it was orderly, secondly every few hundred yards stadium
employees held up stop and go signs, which broke the crowd into manageable
chunks and prevented dangerous situations as the trains and underground filled
and departed. I asked myself, would
Americans stop if somebody held up a sign?
Yeah, when toads speak Greek. It
took us only 20 minutes from our stadium seats to our underground seats. Better than well organized, Wembley Stadium
is miraculously organized!
What a delightful evening! As I’ve always known, there’s so much more to
Britain than downtown London. And, if
you’re a faithful reader, you already know about my trips to Dartmouth, Bath, Edinburgh,
the Shetland Islands, and various other visits to the real England and
Scotland!
The next blog, however, will take you back to the
wonders of the most exciting city in the world, London.
