Newcastle United

This last Saturday afternoon I enjoyed the perfect break from studying- a professional football match. This time last year, when I was thinking about what I was going to be doing while studying abroad, I imagined I'd be going to tons of football (soccer) games. I literally had a plan of at least 10 different teams I wanted to see. If you had told me I wouldn't have gone to my first Premiership (the top division) game until May, I would have never believed you.

But, that's how it turned out. Over Spring Break I went to the England Match (International), and the Cardiff City Match (2nd Division), and I took the one stadium tour, but that's all. I had never even made it up to see Newcastle United- the local Premiership team. There have been several reasons for this. For one, the tickets were much more expensive than I imagined. Football has traditionally been a working class game in Britain, so I was very surprised to find that the average fans are priced out of the top games. It's very hard to find tickets below £25 for Premiership games, and that's nearly $40. Not exactly part of a student budget- and that doesn't include train tickets to the games either. It's also very hard to get tickets in general for the top games. With each team only playing 15-20 home games a year, the tickets for top teams are pretty exclusive. Finally, I have been much more busy than I imagined. My football team had matches almost every Saturday (the day of most Premiership matches), and when we didn't, it seemed like I always had a basketball match or something else to do.

So I was very excited to finally make it up to for a Newcastle United home match on Saturday. It was their last home game of the season, so I barely made it! I wanted to see Newcastle United FC because they are a 'big club'. They have a long, proud history in English Football, they have an enormous and incredibly passionate fan base, and a huge and historic stadium. They are also the closest team to Durham, about 15 minutes by train.

I traveled up there by car though, with 5 of my friends from Durham. Three of them are passionate Newcastle fans, the rest of us were just going for the spectacle. The match was against Fulham FC (a middle of the table team from London) and set to kick off at 3:00pm. Newcastle have had a very tough season. They have struggled financially, and even moreso, on the pitch. They have had 5 different managers this season, indicative of their poor performance. Unlike American sports, where one bad season is simply that, one bad year, there are much more serious consequences in English Football. The bottom three teams in the league get relegated into a lower division for the following season (resulting in a loss estimated at over £50m of lost revenue), and often have a hard time making it back up. Some once glorious teams have spiraled into relegation and financial ruin, and now find themselves in the 3rd and 4th division leagues of the English Football system. Newcastle might be following them. They are in serious danger of going down this eason, and with only two games left in the season, needed a very good result on Saturday.

(Outside of the Stadium)

(Waiting in line for stairs to the upper deck)

Walking around the city to get to the Stadium, I was surprised how crowded the streets were with people, many of whom were heading to the game. You could feel the excitement and tension in the air. It was so crowded getting into the Stadium, that we barely made it in before kickoff. We emerged through the tunnel from the concourse to the seating in the upper deck moments before the match started. The rest of the stadium was already full, and the atmosphere was electric.

(First view of the pitch)

(The Main stand)

It was like walking through a wall of noise. Every one of the 53,000 seats seemed to be full. Half the stadium was waving flags with the black and white stripes of the team. Literally about 90% of the crowd was wearing the team's iconic home jersey. The chanting, singing and yelling was at a fever pitch. My friends hurried towards our seats, but I stood, unmoving, with my mouth hanging open, taking in the scene. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

(Walking to our seats)

The stadium itself, St. James' Park, has been described as a cathedral of football stadiums, and I can't think of a more apt term. Opened in 1892 (that's not a typo), the unique stadium has undergone many expansions over the year. It is now a hodgepodge of styles, and completely asymmetrical- with some stands much larger than others. It is at once modern, and at the same time extremely old. Holding just under 53,000, it is also the third largest stadium Premiership stadium in England.

It was almost hard to focus on the match at first, because I was so busy looking around at the stadium, the standing, screaming hordes of supporters and the panoramic views of the city available from the upper deck.

(Cool Shadows)

I enjoyed the match immensely, even though Newcastle ended up falling in defeat, 1-0. It was fascinating to see how passionate the fans were. It was obvious they were in the tail end of a disappointing season- their frusturation was palpable. It was extremely tense- every slight mistake or pass-back from a Newcastle player was greeted with vocal exasperation from the stands. Though the fans were impatient and didn't tolerate mistakes, they were clearly incredibly supportive of their players. It's hard to be both at the same time, but the Toon Army (as they're known) managed it somehow. Sitting next to me was a well dressed and respectable looking gentleman, probably in his 70s. It was strangely satisfying, and disconcerting at the same time, to hear him yelling and crudely swearing throughout the match.



Towards the end of the match, as the home side pushed for an equalizer, the skies darkened tremendously. During the final few minutes rain absolutely hammered down on the pitch. It was one of the heaviest downpours I've seen this whole year. The stands are all covered by picturesque roofs, but the dark storm clouds and downpour seemed to be terribly symbolic of the clubs's season. As the seconds ticked away, it became desperately clear to the home fans, only a miracle could save them from their first relegation in a generation. With this loss, they only had one more match to try and escape from relegation. Not only will Newcastle have to win this weekend, they also need other results to go their way as well. The thousands of devasted fans, trudging through the wet and dark streets made for a sorry scene.

(Storm Clouds)

I hope Newcastle find someway to stay in the Premier League next season. Their stadium does not belong in the second division, and neither do their fans. The North East of England has arguably the most passionate football fans in the country. Surveys have shown the Newcastle fans give up the greatest percentage of their income to attend the matches. The region has been hit hard by the recession, but that doesn't stop the fans from spending nearly all of their income on season tickets, even if it means forgoing nearly all of the other niceties of life. Some may call it crazy, some may call it admirable. I'm not sure which is more apt, and I'm not sure I care. Regardless, it made for an amazing atmosphere, and some memories I won't soon forget.



As an extra bonus, here are some low quality videos from my digital camera:

(A disallowed goal- the fans go crazy, then realize the ref has disallowed it for a foul)

(The fans get frustrated during the dying moments of the match)