ACROSS THE BOND
Passionate sports fans soak up both kinds of football, World Cup rugby in London
LONDON — While the wind roared and the rain steadily fell on a chilly morning, lines formed on the streets outside pubs across the London area on Saturday morning. • Usually the establishments don’t open until 11 a.m. on typical weekends, but this one was different. • In Japan, England and South Africa were meeting in the rugby World Cup final. • Soby8 a.m., pubs across the city were opening their doors for the 9 a.m. match. • England won the World Cup in 2003 and made the finals in 2007 — also against South Africa. • This time, English fans thought, they’d bring home the prize.
Long before the match started, it was evident how big it was based on the conversations in restaurants, on the train or in the lobby of the hotel I am staying in for Sunday’s Texans game at Wembley Stadium. Every newscast Saturday morning led with rugby.
“It’s a huge weekend for sports,” Aleda, the barista at the Marriott coffee shop, told me. “Lots of big football, um soccer, games on Saturday and the American football game on Sunday. But everyone is crazy for the rugby championship. We haven’t been there in a long time.”
Fans dressed up in England shirts and scarves — all accessorized with a poppy pin for the upcoming Remembrance Day on Nov. 11.
I ended up at a tiny little pub called Running Horse Kitchen to watch the game.
In a corner, a large projection screen had been pulled down to air it on while patrons all turned their chairs to face it.
It was early, but the Laine Brew IPA, Frontier Lager and Guiness were all flowing. The fans varied in age — a man in his 80s sat at a high-top table with a Guiness and a cup of tea chatted with one in his 20s. He relived his glory days on the rugby field to an intent audience who’d leaned in to listen.
The fans were packed around the small tables, anxiously watching each scrum. For a long time, it was close but by the second half of the game, South Africa pulled ahead.
The small but boisterous crowd groaned and sighed as they watched England eventually lose 32-12.
Everyone piled out of the pub disappointed.
They cursed in British accents and lit cigarettes outside in front of the baskets of fresh flowers that decorate the outside of most pubs in the area.
Before long, they’d moved on to talking about their various football teams. Premier and championship league games would start soon.
My husband and I started the trek to Fulham for the afternoon to see one of the oldest football clubs in a historic stadium.
We stopped in another pub — called Crabtree, right on the Thames River near Hammersmith — to meet a friend who’d purchased the
tickets to the Fulham-Hull City match for us.
The secondary ticket market isn’t as big in the U.K. as it is in the United States. Buying tickets directly from a club is the safest way to purchase them and members (season ticketholders) of those clubs have the best access. The pub was packed. Tailgating is an American tradition. Hanging out in the pub down the street before a soccer match is an English one. Hull City and Fulham fans visited, drank beer and toasted before walking down the street to the stadium.
On the way to the match, we were stopped several times by NFL fans. My husband wore a Texans shirt and our Scottish friend wore a beanie with the Texans’ logo on it.
It turns out that Fulham F.C. is owned by Shad Khan, who also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Several Fulham fans have become Jacksonville fans thanks to the connection. The Jaguars, who face the Texans at Wembley on Sunday, are playing in London for the sixth time — more than any other NFL team has.
Khan attended the Fulham game on Saturday afternoon at the team’s home stadium, Craven’s Cottage.
The stadium is old — the team started playing there in 1897 and a lot of the original charm still exists.
The seats are small and wooden with red seat numbers painted on them.
Right inside, the concession areas near each section are busy. We quickly realized that it was because alcoholic beverages are not allowed at the seats. So everyone buys their beer or cider and hangs out and drinks it before heading to their seats.
The concession stand menus are short. They include hot dogs, cheeseburgers and meat pies.
There is a mascot at the match named “Billy the Badger” who walks out onto the pitch before the game starts. We saw him one more time, at halftime, waving to some kids in the stands.
There is no national anthem, no introductions of starting lineups — just
acknowledgment of the teams as they walk out on the pitch side by side.
And at this particular match, there was a halftime show — the Jacksonville
cheerleaders performed since they were in town.
But the spectacle was rare. These games don’t have bells and whistles. There are no cheerleaders, no Jumbotron, very little music. The fans simply watch the match without any distractions.
Fulham lost 0-3 as the rain poured down. Fans stayed until the end anyway and applauded when it ended.
On Sunday, several of them will pack Wembley Stadium when the Texans and the Jaguars play in a game that sold out in 30 minutes.
If the passion displayed during the rugby World Cup and a soccer match on a Saturday in November are any indication, the Texans and Jaguars will have plenty of tuned-in, supportive fans to cheer them on.
A fall weekend in London revolves around sports, similar to the way it does in the United States. The football is different, but the fans are lively and the atmosphere is festive.
An NFL game is an added bonus to a vibrant sports scene.