First "real" football outing

Since arriving in the UK, Dave has been on a quest. A quest to learn the language of his new country. That language = sports. He is starting with an attempt to find his own "football" club to follow, track and converse with other men on. 

Upon Dave informing my coworker of this search, we were invited to see a game, Millwall vs. Birmingham. Millwall is an small suburb of London about 20 minutes out by train, and their football club would be hosting Birmingham City Blues. Being from Birmingham, my coworker is a huge supporter of the Blues. However, Millwall is considered one of the roughest and most dangerous stadiums to see a game in when supporting the away team. Whether we underestimated how serious the situation could be or simply didn't care, Dave and I joined a group of my coworkers to get the real football experience. 

Hint number one that we were in a rough area: away fans have a separate entrance to the stadium that leads directly into their own separate section of the stadium. 

Once safely off the streets of Millwall and among friends and fellow supporters inside, we were each provided with our very own Birmingham jersey to properly support the team, courtesy of my very avid and excited Birmie coworker. As it was incredibly cold that day, we were forced to wear the jerseys over many layers of jackets and sweaters, creating a group of what appeared to be very rotund supporters. 

After enjoying a cider and a meat pie (still love that pie is football food), we entered the pitch. Our section was about as segregated from the rest of the stadium as possible, occupying one end of the pitch, with no one sitting in the tiers above or below us (to deter the urge of fans to throw items -or themselves- onto the opposing supporters in the heat of the moment).

Funny side story. As it was a cold day, Dave brought his favorite hat, a knit Detroit Lions hat. He figured, how much safer could he be wearing sports gear from another country? We quickly learned though that a blue lion is also unfortunately and ironically also the Millwall mascot. While sitting in the away team section, Dave weighed his options - cold ears or a punch to the face by one of the Birmingham fans surrounding him? He remained hatless the remainder of the game. Seriously, what are the chances?

 

While Dave attempted to learn all he could about the game, the team and what was going on, the rest of us sat around, cheering when someone was kicked off the field and trying to sing along with the chants. One of my favorite moments was when someone asked, perhaps 15 minutes into the game, which color we were supporting. The response from the boys of "Oh for f***'s sake, the yellow one...jeez" was quite classic. 

 

Contrary to the quiet fans we experienced at the Arsenal game, the fans at this game never stopped chanting. This was definitely the most fun part about the game. Some of my favorite chants toward the Millwall fans were:

• No one likes you, no one likes you, no one likes you, cause you're sh*t
• We are Brumies, we are  Brumies, we are  Brumies, yes we are. You are wankers, you are wankers, you are wankers, yes you are.  http://fanchants.co.uk/football-songs/birmingham_city-chants/we-are-brummies/
• Who the f**k, Who the f**k, Who the f***ing hell are you, Who the f***ing hell are you

This was completely entertaining at the beginning of the game, and became increasingly so as Birmingham started scoring goals, my favorite chant being "We're winning away, we're winning away, how sh*t must you be, we're winning away"

When someone on Millwall got a red card and was thrown out of the game, Millwall fans expressed their anger in interesting ways - rushing the edge of the field to scream at the refs and chucking bottles onto the pitch. It became apparent why you couldn't drink in your seats. Note how much security.

The game continued on. Birmingham kept scoring and the chants from our section got louder and more obnoxious/energetic.

Finally, the Millwall fans had enough, and we soon discovered why they keep everyone so segregated. The Millwall supporters started jumping section dividers to get as close to the Birmingham fans as possible. The game was almost completely abandoned and focus was directed on screaming obscenities in our direction. The Birmingham fans happily goaded this behavior on.

Inappropriate hand gestures, in case you were wondering.

Each time a new goal was scored, the Birmies fans "flew" at the Millwall supporters. By the time the score was 3-0 Birmingham, we didn't know how much more Millwall fans could take. And we were contemplating how dangerous exiting the stadium from our section would be.

Particularly when Birmingham fans coordinated jeering chants and points at Millwall.

By the end of the game, Birmingham won 6-0. Millwall fans, irritated and upset, left the pitch early because there was only so much yelling they could throw our way. We decided to take one last picture in our jerseys before hiding them away far away and stepping foot outside. We were mildly concerned about what would be waiting for us when we left.

Luckily, and necessarily, the visiting team exit from the stadium had its own gated pathway directly to the train station where you would be put on a completely separate train from the Millwall fans. There was barbed wire everywhere and a full police escort. I can only imagine what has happened before if those types of precautions are necessary.

Dave has yet to pick his new team (though Millwall has been scratched from the running), but overall, this was the football experience we'd been looking for.