West Ham Story
- Emily Freeman
- May 8, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: May 14, 2019
I didn’t know what to expect as I traveled through the lively city of London to watch a Premier League football game at the London Stadium. The sheer size of the stadium, the masses of devoted fans swarming toward the game, the tangible buzz of excitement and anticipation in the air…these things triggered memories of going to American football games with my family. But knowing that we were going to watch a game of soccer elicited memories of countless mornings spent freezing on a big green field watching my younger siblings play soccer. I had never been to a professional soccer game before, let alone one in England where the English Premier League (EPL) is almost as big of a deal to the Brits as the Super Bowl is to us Americans. However, my experience at this Premier League game ended up being quite different than either of these two past experiences.
While American football games are usually pretty lively and full of sound and excitement, the overall mood of the West Ham vs Southampton (logos featured to the left) game was quite a bit more subdued. I was expecting fans to be yelling and cheering for a good portion of the game, as that’s what often happens at American sporting events. For the most part, however, there was not a lot of commentary from the fans throughout the game. When West Ham (the home team) came close to scoring a goal, everyone would stand up and start to get excited. If they scored, we would all clap for a bit, then sit back down. But other than that, there wasn’t much cheering and clapping that occurred.
This was honestly a little foreign to me, as I’m used to cheering and commentating so much more. Without meaning to, I found that I would often end up making these comments quietly to myself as I reacted to things that happened in the game, saying things like “Oh, that was a good move,” or “Dang! He was so close!” It felt a little bit like I was that notorious movie-goer who annoys the entire theater with their constant commentary!
Even though the atmosphere of the West Ham game was a lot less spirited than most American ball games, the crowd was by no means disinterested or any less involved. Rather than a rambunctious and enthusiastic feeling in the air, there was a feeling of intensity and attentiveness. It felt as if every pair of eyes in the stadium was focused intensely on the action playing out on the field. As I noticed this intensity all around me, I began to adopt it in my own interaction with the game. I ignored the distractions around me and tried to direct my focus solely on the ball and the players. This was an incredible experience, especially compared to the countless other soccer games I’ve watched in my life. It was a drastically different experience than the experiences I’ve had watching my siblings play soccer on Saturday mornings. Rather than being distracted by the cold, or my phone, or a conversation happening right next to me, every ounce of my awareness was focused on the game. Interestingly enough, I found that this level of intensity greatly enhanced my overall experience. The game suddenly became much more exciting, simply because of the intensity with which we were all watching it.
Another notable difference between the West Ham game and most American football games, was the overall type of people in attendance. In the states, football is very much an All-American sport. Yes, sports are stereotypically a “guy thing,” but football games and other sporting events generally aren’t completely dominated by males. Rather, in America, football games are a great place to take a date, or a family. I think of my own experience watching college football, and there were often just as many girls there as there were guys. In fact, when I would go to the games, it would usually be in a group of me and some of my girlfriends. Attendance at the Premier League game, on the other hand, was definitely dominated by white males. This much narrower demographic was especially interesting considering that London is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. With that reputation, I found it so interesting that most of the football fans were middle-aged white men. This gave the game an almost elitist feel, in that it started to become a form of high culture rather than mass culture; it was something that only a select few—rather than just anybody—could appreciate and enjoy.
Watching the West Ham vs Southampton game was definitely a unique experience, but all things considered, it was also such a blast! It was a magical experience allowing myself to be caught up in the intensity and controlled excitement of watching the game. As the game progressed, I was surprised by how much my investment in West Ham’s performance increased, and I’m pretty sure this was a factor of more than simply the nickel I had bet the night before on West Ham’s victory. It was the collective focus and anticipation that hyped me up and enhanced the experience tenfold! Let’s go West Ham United!!!
This video features some exciting half-time singing. It's interesting to notice how male-dominated the sound is!
-Em
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