The last time I went to Wembley to watch a game of sport was 3 November 1973. My father took me to see Australia (surprisingly) lose to England in front of 9,874 fans. I reckon 9,000 came from Earls Court. I was 7 years old, so my memories are dim are dim. Mainly moustachioed Aussies and Bobby Fulton. My father also took me to Stamford Bridge a number of times and my love of soccer and Chelsea were forged early. I was still there in 1974 when Australia qualified for the World Cup and the English didn’t. As a result the Socceroos have always held a special place in my heart amongst all the Australian National teams.
My last night in Europe was spent at new Wembley with my daughter watching this quite intriguing new generation of Socceroos play England at Wembley for the first time. Slightly bigger crowd for this fixture. Over 81,000 – and it was only a friendly. The Aussies were well represented with a strong and vocal contingent crowding a corner of Wembley stadium.
I had excellent tickets behind the goal, which included access to Club Wembley, an area with bars and restaurants and tables. But there were some interesting rules. One was that on England games – opposing fans can’t wear their jersey. I mean FFS. The other is that you can’t take beers to your seat. I mean WTAF.
Now I’ve been to sports events in a few countries. They all take different approaches to managing alcohol consumption. Australia’S approach is to serve mid-strength beer very, very slowly. The Yanks stop arriving it after the 7th inning or the third quarter. The lady at the Mets Citibank Stadium is probably still floored by my order of 12 pints just before the end of the 7th a few years ago. College sport just doesn’t serve it at all. But to serve it inside, but not take it outside even in a plastic cup – when there are drink holders at your seat? As the great John McEnroe said “You can’t be serious”.
Camden have got a strangle hold on the beers and I enjoyed a very good stout from them.
The Aussies played really well. First live game I’ve seen for awhile and the Aussie style of passing from the back scares the bejesus out of me. Hopefully I can get to Wembley again – it is a great stadium. But as long as I don’t get the dumbest taxi driver in all of London again!
back of the ferry 
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