JE 128

London

Tim

Sunday, January 21 – Harrow on the Hill

I want to lead off by thanking all of you who reached out to me today on my birthday. It’s great hearing from you when I’m away from home. And yes, I’m spending another birthday somewhere other than Madison. I’ve documented previously the various places I’ve been on my birthday, so I won’t go through it again. I’ll just say that to be in Madison on this day has been a rare occurrence over the past 30+ years! The exception would be the Covid lock down of 2021 (but that pandemic resulted in a lot of exceptions!).

So what’s the plan for the big day? I’m pretty excited to be heading in to London to attend a women’s football (soccer) match between Chelsea and Manchester United at historic Stamford Bridge (home to the Chelsea men’s team as well). Most of you know I enjoy women’s sports, so the fact that I won’t be seeing the men in action doesn’t bother me in the least. In fact, tickets to the men’s matches are extremely difficult to obtain and prohibitively expensive. The ticket to today’s match was £12 (and you all know how cheap I am!).

The match kicked off at 12:30pm, with entry into the stadium beginning at 10:30am. I really had no clue how crowded it would be, so I left my flat a little before 9 to catch the Piccadilly line into the city. And I must say I was surprised by how crowded the train was. On a Sunday morning! And it wasn’t because of the football match. I don’t recall this being the case when I lived here previously. Oh well…

I arrived a little before 10am…
…and I guess I didn’t need to get here this early! Not bothered though, because it gave me plenty of time to walk around the grounds and get some photos without many fans in the frame.
The statue is of Peter Osgood. You can read about him here if you’re interested.
Arriving early gave me time to check out the team store. No purchases though! (Note the short line on the right to enter the store. I’m glad I went in now, because after the match the queue was massive!)
The Chelsea Football Club was formed in 1905, when they began playing at Stamford Bridge.
This wall is all that remains of the original stadium. The venue has undergone major changes over the years, most recently in the 1990s when it was renovated into a modern, all-seat stadium.
I did a little research about where to sit before I booked my ticket online. The two end zones were the least expensive, and each side had their own names – The Shed End and the Matthew Harding Stand. I subsequently discovered that the Shed End is where the visiting fans would be sitting (you can see that stipulated in the small print on the awning). It is also a standing optional area, which I wasn’t really interested in…
…I therefore chose a seat in the Matthew Harding Stand, with the home fans!
I liked my seat – in the front row corner of the upper section.
Another thing I discovered in my seat location research was the fact that the lower portion of the Matthew Harding Stand was, like The Shed End, standing optional. I took this photo during the match, and you can see that most of the fans are standing. They even have bars going across each row to keep everybody segregated when they’re not seated.
Whereas the upper stands where I sat had no option for standing. Perfect! (I took this picture when I first arrived; the section was filled by kickoff.)
A view of the West Stands from my seat.

I have to say I was a little concerned about what I was wearing to the match – specifically a maroon jacket and a red and black Wisconsin stocking cap – because the visiting team’s (Manchester United) colors are red and yellow. I wondered if that would be a problem since I was sitting in the home side end zone. But it turned out to be a non-issue. It was actually a very family-friendly atmosphere, with many children in attendance. Obviously the intensity level at the women’s matches is much lower than that at the men’s. Very enjoyable.

And we’re underway!

The stadium capacity is listed at around 41,000. I looked for an attendance figure for this match afterwards, but couldn’t find anything. I’m guessing it was around 1/3 full. It wasn’t a bad day to be a spectator – dry conditions with a temperature around 50 degrees.

Chelsea won the match 3-1, with all three of the home team goals scored by Lauren James. Impressive! Here she is (#10) after scoring her last goal on the end where I was sitting. If you look closely, you can see that she has a Chucky Hepburn hair color spot going on. (a Wisconsin basketball reference, for those of you wondering what the heck I’m talking about!)

The Chelsea women’s team is currently in first place in the Women’s Super League and has been very successful over the years. And in some good news for the U.S., it was announced last fall that the manager of Chelsea would be leaving her position at the end of the season (May) to become the new manager of the U.S. Women’s National Team. Nice!

Monday, January 22 – Harrow on the Hill

Sadly readers, today I’m observing another day of domestic bliss on the Hill. Did some travel planning, reading, grocery shopping, and went for a walk. Whoo hoo!

Tuesday, January 23 – Harrow on the Hill

It’s raining this morning; the first daytime rain since my arrival. A perfect time to get caught up on my journal! The weather cleared by the afternoon though, so I just went out for another walk around the area.

Apologies for the boring last couple days, but I do have some upcoming activities planned. So be sure to watch this space!

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