at this point in time you might be wondering "who the heck is burnley?". well you can wiki it up, but basically it's a team from the football league championship, which is one level below the premier league most people are familiar with. in short it's one tier below chelsea.
the ticket
i'm not sure how much the S-league tickets cost, but i'm sure as hell that they don't cost 16.5 quid a pop. however, given that it's chelsea and it's london, 16.5 quid seems relatively cheap. oh well it's a carling cup match and they won't be fielding their first team, but i'm not too particular about that.
so a whole bunch of us (singaporeans) met up before walking over to the stadium to catch the match.
the road to stamford bridge
stamford gate (though there wasn't any gate)
we arrived quite early and thus decided to stand around the area cam-whoring, much to the bemusement of the londoners around us. and you can't really blame them. the equivalent situation in singapore would be to see a bunch of angmohs taking photos outside bishan stadium before a match between home united and gombak united. a very queer sight for the regular football spectator.
some rather nice looking building beside the stadium
the stadium exterior
one of the entrance leading directly to the field
after a little while, after we got bored of taking photos outside, we made our way into the stadium. the entry system is pretty similar to the ones in MRT. basically you just scan the bar code at the end of the ticket to unlock the turnstile. don't see those around in bishan stadium. we made our way to our seats and, while waiting for the match to start, decided to whip out our cameras.
players warming up on the field
01 x uber big chelsea flag
in fact, the chelsea flag was not the only thing that was large. the stadium itself is huge. and so was the turnout. there were over 41 thousand spectators for that match. 3 sides of the stadium were filled with home supporters while the remaining side was filled with the away fans. i was sitting with the home supporters.
soon after they introduced the squad members for both teams, the game began.
safety stewards to make sure the fans behave
the most enjoyable thing about watching a football match (or anything for that matter) live is the atmosphere. and this match was no exception. though there was no professional commentary (unlike watching on the tv) and no instant replays for all the video-worthy moments, it didn't really matter. it was more than compensated by the people around, rooting for the home team, or groaning in disappointment when a goal-opportunity was wasted, or jeering at the opposition. of course there was no shortage of vulgarities. surprisingly, the person who spewed the most vulgarities was this lady sitting somewhere behind me. throughout the match, i could hear her screaming "get the fucking ball away you bloody wanker" amongst the other flowery language she could muster. pity she could only speak english, i think someone cursing in hokkien would be more entertaining.
lucky for us, we got the most of our money's worth, because the game ended in a draw at full time, so there was extra time. and after extra time, the score was still even so it went into penalty shootout, which burnley eventually won 5-4.
the jubilant away side
to me, the score didn't really matter, because i'm neither a chelsea supporter nor otherwise. i was just there to experience the atmosphere. but in the stadium, you could feel the air of disappointment suddenly materializing when chelsea missed the last penalty shot to give burnley the match. at that point in time, it would be suicidal to start jumping around and cheering. not wanting to be lynched by the chelsea supporters on my way out, i decided to just keep quiet. outside the stadium, some burnley fan was definitely feeling suicidal though, because he kept taunting the chelsea fans. indeed the english football fever is so strong it can people go crazy.
oh and some trivia: people here always refer to the game as football, not soccer.
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