Strolling down Fulham Road on a warm Saturday afternoon with a bunch of CFC fans was the highlight of my trip.
The opportunity to be part of the cheering masses for Chelsea Football Club was very therapeutic for this CFC fan from abroad. The pub scene was excellent. Everyone was preparing to give their voices for the Club they love. I met another Yank, Ryan, and we bumped around the scene to a pub called The Rose. We met up with some other CFC fans and discussed the current news around the club. Also a bit of history for us Yanks that didn’t have a clue. They gave us a primer of what to expect for the match. Most of the people we met were part of the Chelsea Football Fancast, a fancast I was first introduced to by Vital Chelsea.
I love how everything with CFC is intertwined to help dimwitted souls like myself to escape from the Mad Dirty Red World. After a couple of pints of London’s Best Bitter, we bounced back to the Bridge where I could meet the legend Mark Worrall. I chatted with him for a second, bought a CFFC Podcast t-shirt and then went over to the Shrine of Peter Osgood with my mate True Blue Terri. Freakin’ everything was wonderful.
After checking the scene out for a bit, I found my way to my seat and watched the two sides prepare for the match. I admit I had some interest in Stoke, due to the fact that they have two Yanks on their side. Unfortunately, only one was featured for the match. I noticed the crowd getting really amped up before the match, something I can’t see on TV. The chants and banners flying in the stands are just spectacular. Lovely moments for me to take to my grave.
I won’t go over the match, because we all know what happened in the end. We won, we are still top of the table, unbeaten and Champions of Europe, despite of what the dirty red media says. After the match, I stumbled down the Fulham Road with CFC Chidge. As he explained to me, this was a time for action. He was attending what I called an ‘assembly’ of several factions of Chelsea fans. During this assembly, the main topic was the creation of a Chelsea Fan Trust, whose main goal is to see if this group of Chelsea fans could create a political voice, which the Club would recognize as the Fan’s Point of View. In my mind, this assembly was closer to the National Assembly of the French Revolution or the Continental Congress of Colony in 1776.
These fans were calling for change in the dialog between Chelsea Football Club and its fans. I am totally behind this action, because I would love to continue to experience afternoons like the one I just had and for future generations to enjoy the same.
I refer to my trip to England for the Sept 22nd match vs. Stoke City as my ‘Blue Mecca’. I have always dreamed of traveling to London to attend a match. To be one of the thousands that chant Carefree.
The one thing I didn’t expect to chant was: “We know what we are, We know what we areeee…European Champions…We know what we are!!!!”
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