POLISH PASSION

POLISH PASSION

Thursday 3rd November 2011

Fulham 4 (Duff 5, Johnson 30, 57, Sidwell 79) Wisla Krakow 1 (Kirm 9)
20,319


                                                           Photo by Stephen Taylor

Before the game, we were warned that there were going to be a lot of Wisla fans at the game, which wasn't a major surprise considering the number of Poles in this country, but nothing really prepared us for the ferocity of the support.

I was back on the track, but I was able to see most of the game as I was at the corner again. Apart from the five goals, the away support was amazing, especially in the first half. At one stage, two or three flares were set off in the Johnny Haynes Stand, causing not a little concern among the stewards, myself included, as there was quite a lot of smoke pouring from the roof of the stand. Eventually, though, it eased off, though the smell that drifted across the pitch was quite intense.

Among the fans in the Putney Stand were a number of skinheads, which didn't come as a surprise to me and, while they created a lot of noise, they didn't really pose much of a threat to public order. Actually, the stewarding of the away supporters was a little heavy handed, in my opinion, as there was an attempt to create a "sterile zone" at the end of the stand. All it seemed to do was irritate supporters who were forced to sit there.

As I am writing this a couple of months later, the game would turn out to be my last Europa League fixture, as I missed the crucial game at home to Odense in December, when Fulham crashed out on the last kick of the game. Such a shame to miss out on a possible glamour tie after having to endure teams from some of the less fashionable leagues in Europe.

LUIZ MAGIC ALL IN VAIN

LUIZ MAGIC ALL IN VAIN

Sunday 23rd October 2011

Fulham 1 (Ruiz 67) Everton 3 (Drenthe 3, Saha 90, Rodwell 90+3)
25,646

                                                           Photo by Stephen Taylor

The good news about today's game was that I was back in the vomitories. The bad news was that the Everton fans didn't quit live up to the reputation they earned for themselves last season when, apart from Blackpool, they were the best behaved away supporters I encountered in the Putney stand.

To be fair, the majority of them did sit down, which is always a relief with visiting fans, but some of them were a bit obnoxious compared to their counterparts last year.

Other than that, there wasn't much to report on the game, except for an excellent from Bryan Luiz in the first half, when he executed a perfect lob over goalkeeper Tim Howard from the edge of the area.

WAS THAT GREG DAVIES IN THE CROWD?

WAS THAT GREG DAVIES IN THE CROWD?

Sunday 2nd October 2011 (Premier League)

Fulham 6 (Johnson 2, 38, 59, Murphy (pen.) 20, Dempsey 65, Zamora 74) Queens Park Rangers 0
Attendance: 23,766

Not only was the opening derby game of the season at Craven Cottage, it was the first time Fulham had met their west London rivals since the 2000/01 season, so the police were on full alert for the first time in a while. We were told that a good deal of acrimony exists between the two sets of supporters, so we had to be prepared for the worst.

Well, from my position at the corner of the Riverside and Putney stands, their fears appeared to be a little unfounded, though the 3-0 scoreline in favour of the home side at the interval might have helped to dampen the enthusiasm of the Rangers fans. Fulham's demolition only reinforced my belief that QPR are not good enough for the Premier League and will be occupying one of the relegation berths in May.

I couldn't help noticing that there was a bloke among the Rangers fans who looked remarkably like the comedian Greg Davies, though his hair seemed too short. I haven't seen anything about him being a QPR fan, so I'll have to conclude that it wasn't him. But if that guy ever wants to sign up for a celebrity lookalike agency, he could earn himself a bit of pocket money.

DUTCH DELIGHT

DUTCH DELIGHT

Thursday 15th September 2011 (Europa League Group Stage)

Fulham 1 (Johnson 19) F.C. Twente 1 (Schwarzer o.g. 41)

Attendance: 14,110

Another game pitchside, though I was beginning to get used to my new position. To be fair, it’s not as bad as actually being on the track, as I don’t have to sit down with my back to the pitch during the game. As there are no seats directly in front of “Yellow Gate P8” I could stand up and watch the game so, in some ways, it was better than being in a vomitory. However, it’s so boring, as there is very little contact with other people. For all the hassle that accompanies vomitory stewarding, at least you get to meet people and see most of the game, if you’re lucky.

Not that there was a lot to see after Andy Johnson had pounced on a poor pass across the F.C. Twente defence to open the scoring. And considering that F.C. Twente started the season in the European Champions’ League they were not much better than Fulham tonight.

PITCHSIDE BLUES

PITCHSIDE BLUES

Sunday 11th September 2011 (Premier League)

 

Fulham 1 (Zamora 38) Blackburn Rovers 1 (Rochina 32)

Attendance: 24,856

After the rigours of the international on Monday night, I was looking forward to a relatively quiet game against Blackburn. Unfortunately, it was a little too quiet, as I was positioned at the pitchside, one of the worst places to bem especially as I had been established as a vomitory steward for the past six months.

As it happened, I don’t think I missed too much on the pitch, as it was a pretty dour encounter, though there was a nasty clash of heads between Mark Schwarzer and Junior Hoilett in stoppage time of the second half. I didn’t see the incident, of course, and I had to rely on asking the Canadian guy wearing a Toronto F.C. shirt who was sitting in front of me.

I suppose the only benefit of being pitchside is that you get fairly up close with the opposition goalkeepers when they’re warming up. Paul Robinson, the Rovers keeper, was very good with the fans and happily signed autographs for those crowding the front of the stand.

I must admit that if I don’t get my place back in the vomitaries I will seriously consider resigning, as it’s not really worth me doing the job if I’m just going to be pitchside.



Balloons were handed out to everyone entering the Putney Stand for the game

against Blackburn.                                                                       © Stephen Taylor



INTERNATIONAL MAYHEM

INTERNATIONAL MAYHEM

Monday 5thSeptember 2011 (International Friendly)

Brazil 1 (Leandro Damiao 45) Ghana 0

Attendance: 22,700 (official figure)

Photo by Stephen Taylor



This was easily the most difficult game I have ever stewarded at Craven Cottage. It started off OK, though a few people turned up with tickets for the wrong section of the stand, and even the wrong stand altogether.

I noticed that, as kickoff approached, the stand was still not full, which surprised me as we had been told that about 20,000 tickets had been sold so, with walkups, the game should have had close to a sellout crowd. It soon became clear after kickoff that a lot of people were still outside and that they had tickets for seats that were already occupied. This was partly because people had just sat down anywhere, ignoring the number on their ticket, but in one particular case a couple supporting Brazil had exactly the same tickets as a gentleman with his son. I should have sorted out the problem immediately but decided to wait until half-time.



Photo by Stephen Taylor

Usually, this would not have been a problem but, as I was told by one of the supporters, there were ticketing problems outside the ground, meaning that there were huge delays in gaining entry. Unfortunately, the rush of people meant that I didn’t have a chance to help my Brazilian couple though, thankfully, my superviser was able to sort it out.

 

I was constantly required to sort out some sort of misunderstanding, and my job wasn’t helped by a small number of uncooperative supporters. There was no trouble, but they were not a well-behaved crowd at all and I’ll be happy to deal with the relatively angelic Blackburn Rovers fans on Sunday.

Since Monday, there have been a lot of articles in the press about the congestion outside. It seems that if, like my brother in the Hammersmith end, you paid cash on the gate, there was no problem. However, anyone who booked online and had to collect tickets on the night was faced with a severe lack of ticket office staff and very little crowd control. By all accounts, the crush was quite serious at times, and many people missed the first half, while some didn’t even get in at all.

As many of these late arrivals had tickets for the Putney stand, it would been a great help if we’d been given some kind of warning that there were still many ticket holders outside the ground at kickoff. Why on earth the kickoff was not delayed is a very important question that needs to be answered.

Needless to say, I didn’t see much of the game and wasn’t even sure of the result, never mind that one of the Ghan players got a red card in the first half and that Brazil scored quite a good goal on the stroke of half time. Towards the end of the game, I saw a few magic moments from Brazil as, luckily, they were attacking the Putney end in the second half, and it was good to see Ronaldinho at such close quarters.

After the match, there was a bit of a commotion as I was walking towards the school to sign out, when Danny Alves was spotted walking to a car on Finlay Street, closely followed by the Chelsea defender David Luiz.

Before leaving the Cottage, I walked down to the players entrance to see what was going on to see Neymar milking the adulation from the fans outside the Brazil team bus.

FULHAM FINALLY QUALIFY

FULHAM FINALLY QUALIFY

Thursday 18th August 2011 (Europa League playoff 1st leg)

Fulham 3 (Hughes 39, Dempsey 43, 49) Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 0

Attendance: 14,823

Photo by Stephen Taylor

 

A comfortable victory for the Black and Whites that should be enough to get them through to the group stages of the Europa League. Aaron Hughes opened the scoring after turning in a cross from youngster Matthew Briggs.

Clint Dempsey doubled the tally five minuted later and rammed home the difference in quality between the two sides with Fulham’s third goal less than five minutes after the break.

Dnipro showed some attacking prowess towards the end, with centre forward Nikola Kalinic looking quite impressive. I found out later that he had spent some time with Blackburn Rovers and had only moved from the Lancashire side last month.

The next game at Craven Cottage will be an international between Brazil and Ghana, which should be a fantastic experience, especially if the Brazil fans are accommodated in the Putney Stand.

OPENING DAY STALEMATE

OPENING DAY STALEMATE

Saturday 13th August 2011 (Premier League)

Fulham 0 Aston Villa 0

Attendance: 25,700

© Stephen Taylor

No goals but plenty of incidents in the Putney Stand. My first experience of Villa fans and they proved to be a bit of a handful, though I think this may have been down to it being the opening day of the season, more than anything else.

Ironically, it was a group of Fulham fans that were the biggest headache, as they had complained about people standing up all around where they were sitting, and expected the stewards to get everyone to sit down. Eventually, I found all seven of them seats in P2, though I later discovered that they had experienced trouble with a Villa fan who was sitting behind them. The only members of the group to thank me, incidentally, were the females.

On a more positive note, I was able to relocate a gentleman with a walking stick to the disabled area, as he was unable to stand up and see the game because everyone around him was doing.

At the end of the game, I had to ask fans to move towards the exits and came across a bunch of Japanese supporters. I overheard one of them talking about Urawa Reds, but bottled out of speaking any Japanese to them, as it might have freaked them out. Thinking back, I really should have said something but next time, I’ll make sure to do so!

The view of the concourse from the top of the Putney Stand

© Stephen Taylor

INTO THE PLAYOFFS

INTO THE PLAYOFFS

Thursday 4th August 2011 (Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg)

Fulham 2 (Johnson 19, Murphy [pen.] 57) RNK Split 0
Attendance: 17,087

A fairly routine victory for Fulham, meaning that they are now in the Europa League playoffs, where they will meet Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Not much to report except that it appears we have two W77 seats though, of course, one of them is W76. Unfortunately, there are some football supporters who have no sense of logic, so this will have to be fixed as soon as possible.

FULHAM CRUISE PAST CRUSADERS

FULHAM CRUISE PAST CRUSADERS

Thursday 21st July 2011 (Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg)

Fulham 4 (Johnson 19, Duff 56, Zamora 66, Sidwell 70) Crusaders 0
Attendance: 15,676

After a 3-1 first leg win in Belfast, Fulham comfortably rolled over the Northern Irish part-timers, with an early goal from Johnson and three more in the second half.

In the Putney stand, there wasn’t too much to report, though one guy was very friendly and told me that he’d been following Fulham for more than 50 years. Now retired, he lives in Christchurch, on the south coast, so doesn’t get to many games these days, but he was very knowledgeable about the club, informing me that the Johnny Haynes Stand is the only remaining Archibald Leitch design left in England, though I have since discovered that the other two that are still standing are both in Scotland, at Hearts and Rangers.

In contrast to this gentleman, there were a group of boisterous fans, a bit drunk and waving home-made banners. One of them bore the legend, “1312 Boys” which, I later discovered, is a possible reference to the acronym ACAB, or All Cops Are Bastards. Earlier this year, three Ajax Amsterdam fans were fined £300 each for wearing T-shirts displaying this anti-police message at a game against Ajax Heracles in April 2010. With an ex-Ajax Amsterdam coach in the manager’s seat at Craven Cottage, perhaps they were some of his former club’s notorious “Ultras” that have discredited themselves so often in the past.

FULHAM LEGEND AT CORNBURY

FULHAM LEGEND AT CORNBURY

Saturday 2nd July 2011 (not the date this post was written, but the day when I met John Fraser)

A brief note to add a meeting I had with a Fulham legend at the Cornbury Music Festival, where I was working as a volunteer steward.

On the only night off when I didn;t have to get up early the next morning, I was chatting to a couple from Skipton, who introduced me to their new friend, an ex-footballer who used to play for Fulham. It turned out to be John Fraser, who had played full-back for the Cottagers in the 1975 F.A.Cup Final against West Ham United. We had quite an interesting conversation, not least because he played in the same team as Bobby Moore, a man who he said was a “real gentleman” He was happy to talk about the final, and descibed the “wall of sound’ he experienced as the two teams emerged from the tunnel at quarter to three.

Though Fulham lost 2-0, John was pleased with his performance and forced Patsy Holland to switch wings at half-time. He remembered the manner in which Bobby Moore calmed everyone down with his relaxed mood, having played at the stadium so many times, though I have a feeling that it would turn out to be his final competitive appearance at the place where he’d picked up the World Cup as captain of England nine years earlier.

We parted with John promising to contact me the next time he plans of visiting the Cottage, so we can have a drink together after the game. Hopefully, he’ll remember to do so.

A NEW SEASON BEGINS...IN JUNE!

A NEW SEASON BEGINS...IN JUNE!

Thursday 30th June 2011 (Europa League 1st Qualifying Round 1st Leg)

Fulham 3 (Damien Duff 33, Danny Murphy (pen.) 61, Andy Johnson 70) Nes Soknar Itrottarfelag (NSI) Runavik 0
Attendance: 14,910

Barely four weeks since Fulham walked off the pitch after a 2-2 draw with Arsenal in their last game of the season, the Cottagers were back in competitive action, having qualified for the Europa League by virtue (if that’s the right word) of being the highest placed team in England’s Fair Play League that wasn’t involved in the Champions’ League.

Having got there a little bit early, things were very relaxed, perhaps because it was the first game of the season against an unknown side from some group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, the first qualifying round of the Europa League had pitched Fulham against NSI Runavik, currently occupying fourth place in the Faroe Islands’ league.

With advance tickets on sale for as little as £5, I was expecting the crowd to be in five figures, though an hour before kickoff I was beginning to wonder where everybody was. Having been employed in my usual position in the Putney stand, I had a look around the ground to see about 100 people dotted around. However, as 7:30 approached, more people did turn up.

Among the close on 16,000 crowd were about 100 fans of Runavik who, it turns out, had travelled over with the team on their chartered flight. One of them I chatted with after the game was very friendly and even offered me a place to stay if I ever wanted to experience a few days in the Faroes.


Runavik fans who travelled to Craven Cottage from the Faroe Isles

© Stephen Taylor

The crowd was pretty good-natured, though I felt a bit sorry for the lad whose shirt was adorned with the legend “Dempesy”on its back. One man seemed reluctant to leave at the end and it turned out that he hadn’t been to Craven Cottage for 26 years and wanted to savour every moment of his trip.

The game itself was nothing to write home about with, unsurprisingly, a pre-season feel to it though Runavik’s best effort—a shot from 30 yards out by Justinus Hansen—had Mark Schwartzer scrambling a bit after 25 minutes.

Any thoughts the visiting fans had of causing an upset were stifled eight minutes later when Damien Duff fired in the opening goal of the game. Danny Murphy’s penalty just after the hour effectively put things to bed and a third from Andy Johnson 10 minutes later virtually confirmed that it would be Fulham who meet Crusaders in the next round.

EUROPA LEAGUE TEAM LIST 2011/12

EUROPA LEAGUE TEAM LIST 2011/12

EUROPA LEAGUE 2011/12

Seeded Teams                                                             Unseeded Teams

Fulham                                                                         Glentoran (N.I.)
Elfsborg (Sweden)                                                        Milsami Orhei (Moldova)
Tromso (Norway)                                                         Banga Gargzdai (Lithuania)
St. Patrick’s Athletic (Ireland)                                       Daugava Daugavpils (Latvia)
Qarabag (Azerbaijan)                                                  Olimpija Ljubliana (Slovenia)
Jagiellonia Bialystok (Poland)                                      Cliftonville (N.I.)
Rabotnicki (Republic of Macedonia)                            Flamurtari Vlore (Albania)
Aalesund (Norway)                                                      Vllaznia Shkoder (Albania)
Spartak Trnava (Slovakia)                                           Narva Trans (Estonia)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)                                              AZAL Baku (Azerbaijan)
Honka (Finland)                                                           Irtysh Pavlodar (Kazakhstan)

Varazdin (Croatia)                                                       Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan)

Minsk (Belarus)                                                           Zeta (Montenegro)
Olimpi Rustavi (Georgia)                                             Banants (Armenia)
Rad (Serbia)                                                                Nomme Kalju (Estonia)
Hacken (Sweden)                                                       IBV Vestmannaeyar (Iceland)
Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia & Herzegovenia)                       NSI Runavik (Faroe Islands)
KR Reykjavik (Iceland)                                               Ulisses (Armenia)
The New Saints (Wales)                                             Tre Penne (San Marino)
Renova (Republic of Macedonia)                               Neath (Wales)
Koper (Slovenia)                                                        Kaerjeng 97 (Luxembourg)
Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro)                          Lusitanos (Andorra)
Birkirkara (Malta)                                                       UE Santa Coloma (Andorra)
Paks (Hungary)                                                          IF Fuglafjorour (Faroe Islands)

Ferencvaros (Hungary)                                              Fola Esch (Luxembourg)

WOMEN'S EURO FINAL

WOMEN'S EURO FINAL

Thursday 26th May 2011 (Women's Champions' League Final)

Olympique Lyonnais 2 (Wendie Renard 27, Lara Dickenmann 85) Potsdam 0

Attendance: 14,303

I didn’t work at this game, as I’d bought a ticket a couple of months before. It was interesting to attend as a supporter though, as it gave me an insight into how it feels to be a customer.

As I arrived at half-time after several pre-match beers with David Hickey, I only saw the second half. It wasn’t a bad game and the second goal was quite a powerful strike.

I left with a positive image of women’s football, though I’m not sure if I’ll be rushing off to any domestic league games in the near future.

SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE

SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE

Sunday 22nd May 2011 (Premier League)

Fulham 2 (Sidwell 26, Zamora 57) Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 29, Walcott 89)Attendance: 25,674

Last Premier League game of the season and one of the big guns or, more specifically, the Gunners visit Craven Cottage. Arsenal have had a disappointing season by their standards, and before kick off had slipped to fourth in the table, with the prospect of having to qualifying for the Champions’ League next season.

Fulham could be following Arsenal into Europe, as a result of their position in the Fair Play League. If they end up as the highest eligible club in the Fair Play League, they will join the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, which start on 30th June. Personally, I could do with a summer off, but, on the plus side, the opposition should be interesting.

After my temporary move to vomitories P5/P6 for the Liverpool game, I was back to my usual spot at vomitory P3/P4. I was expecting the Arsenal fans to be quite lively but, luckily, apart from one or two awkward characters they were fine.

As usual, there were a few overseas visitors, including a few Japanese fans. One young man was shocked when I overheard him use the phrase “maji de,” and replied “honto ni,” causing him to scream “Wow,”and shake ny hand. The other Japanese supporters were the Takizawa family (Mr and Mrs Takizawa and their two children). Well, assume his name was Takizawa as that was what was written on the back of his Arsenal shirt.

The game was not bad, though it had an “end-of-term”feel to it, in spite of Arsenal needing a win to stand any chance of finishing third in the Premier League, so 2-2 was probably a fair outcome. I had a good view of the game’s first goal, a thumping drive by Steve Sidwell from about 12 yards, though I was hoping that it had been Clint Dempsey’s boot on the end of the first goal, as I had earlier put a pound on him to open the scoring.

Three minutes later, I also saw Robin Van Persie equalise for the Gunners, which would prove to be the last Premier League goal I was going to see at Craven Cottage this season. In the second half, Zoltan Gera came on for Bobby Zamora and almost immediately got a red card for an ugly challenge on Thomas Vermaelen, fuelling speculation that Mark Hughes had asked his team to get tough in an attempt to avoid qualifying for the Europa League, though perhaps Gera had taken his advice a little too literally.

At the end, Fulham did a lap of appreciation, though I couldn’t see it as I was in my usual position at the corner of the Riverside and Putney stands, forming part of the cordon for funnelling away fans out of the ground.

Unfortunately, the season ended on a potentially sad note, as all stewards were called upon to search for a missing person, a 22-year-old six foot three Asian man, with special needs. Our group had to search the Riverside stand, where an end-of-season barbecue was under way, but we didn’t find anyone. Hopefully, it was a false alarm, but the looming presence of the River Thames in all its glory cast an ominous shadow over proceedings.

While we waited to be stood down, the chairman made his way way across the pitch towards the cottage and gave a perfunctory wave to another group of stewards.

REDS GO NAP AT THE COTTAGE

REDS GO NAP AT THE COTTAGE

Monday 9th May 2010 (Premier League)

Fulham 2 (Dembele 57, Sidwell 86) Liverpool 5 (Maxi 1, 7, 70, Kuyt 16, Suarez 75)
Attendance: 25,693

For me, this was the game I'd waited all season for, though was a little nervous about having to deal with a bunch of over-excited Scousers. As it was, I was moved from my usual P3/P4 spot to the busier P5/P6 area, so it was an even busier evening than expected.

The fans were good-natured, though they insisted on standing all the way through, and frequently blocked the stairways. Our job was not made any easier when Maxi Rodriguez opened the scoring after 32 seconds to notch up the fastest goal in the Premier League this season. Just after this strike, an old, blind woman came in with, presumably, her son, which proved to be a perfect opportunity to clear the stairways, as evryone moved out of the way for her.

Some of the Liverpool fans had enjoyed a few beers before the game, with one of them asking me which team I supported. Upon hearing me reply "Liverpool," he gave me a big handshake before saying "Good lad!" Later on, I saw him trying to get my young female co-worker's phone number. He wasn't the only guy to try either, as I saw at least one more Scouser making the same request.

Of the three Liverpool goals I saw—I missed the first and last—Maxi’sthird was the pick, a stunning strike from 20 yards into the top corner. With form like this, I won't be surprised to see Liverpool challenging for a top four place, at least, next season or even, with a bit of luck, a crack at the title.