the other day, the day chelsea played liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League semis, I happened to get into a local train with a huge gang of Liverpool fans who were heading to Stamford Bridge to watch the match. Throughout the fifteen minute journey they started singing ‘liverpool songs’. the group ranged from boys to white-haired men, all with vodka bottles in their hands and liverpool scarves round their necks. funny songs they were. a few samples…
‘ra-ra-ra-ra-raphael benitez… xabi alonso garcia and nunes… raaafel benitez’ (to be sung to the tune of La Bamba)
‘steve gerrard gerrard… kicks the ball forty yards… ‘ (arbit tune)
and stuff like that…
later, as i got off my station (i live on the way from the city center to stamford bridge), i was witness to a huge traffic jam, the first i’d seen in London, as people tried to get to the venue in time for the match… the jam had spread for miles together but finally after half an hour it somehow cleared.
London has Conditional Access System (CAS) for Cable TV (when this was about to be introduced in the Indian metros a couple of years ago, there were riots i remember. finally this was implemented only in London). my poor house doesn’t have it so had to go to a pub to watch the match. half of london seemed to be there as we crowded in the smoky pub to watch the match on a big screen. most people seemed to be chelsea supporters – i seemed to be the only one supporting the reds.
quality of football was bad, with lots of bad passes, etc. so i exited after half time…
more later