Iota goes to a football match

I’ve just been to my first ever professional football match. I added in the qualifying “professional”, because it wouldn’t be fair to say I’ve never been to any football match. I just haven’t been to any in which all the players are over the age of 14 and unrelated to me.

My father-in-law is making Hull City supporters out of my sons, having himself been a fan for literally decades. He got four tickets for the pre-season friendly against Liverpool, and I surprised the family by saying that instead of Husband going along to represent the middle generation, I’d like to go. I thought it was a bit of a shame to get to the age of 46 without ever having seen a football match. In my defence, I nearly got to a match once. In 1990, I went with an Arsenal-supporting boyfriend to an Arsenal v. Tottenham game, but being a local derby, it was totally sold out, and we didn’t get in. (“… local derby…” Impressed by the football lingo there?) After a mere 21 years, I decided it was time to have another try.

I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. I really did. Hull City won 3 – 0. A good result against the big guns of Liverpool. Yay, Tigers. Oh no. Hang on. That’s in America that we say Yay, isn’t it? What do we say here? Jolly good show, Tigers. No. That’s not quite right. Um…

Anyway, it was a good result, and a deserved one. The Tigers did play very well. Especially number 2. Whoever that was. Well done, Number 2. You were very fast and sprinty. If you keep it up, I’m sure you’ll be number 1 before too much longer. The goalie played very well too, though he didn’t control his defenders very tightly. He didn’t communicate much with the back four. That is my considered opinion of his performance. (It’s also what the man in the seat behind me said to his friend.)

The event was rather more intimate than I’d imagined. There were nearly 21,000 people there. That's a lot of people, but it didn’t feel as overwhelming as I'd expected. From watching football on tv, I thought the pitch and players would seem distant, but I felt close to the action. I confess that the pitch seemed smaller than on tv. I suppose they have to have the cameras an awfully long way up, which makes the game look smaller and more distant than it is to the spectators, even those of us in row DD. In all, it felt rather less intimidating and more… what’s the word?... more domestic than I’d anticipated.

If there was any disappointment on my part, it was that the Hull City fans were a little subdued. The Liverpool fans were in good voice, chanting and singing. The Hull fans gave encouragement by way of the odd roar or burst of applause, but they were relatively quiet, even though their team was triumphing. It felt rather over-polite, and they didn’t sing at all. Compared to the Liverpool fans, they were, frankly, a bit girlie. According to my father-in-law, that was because it was a friendly, and at home. Apparently Hull City supporters are known for their singing at away matches. I’ll have to go to one of those next. I suppose I was secretly hoping for the opportunity to find my inner raucous shouting self, but that will have to wait for another time.

It was something of a grand afternoon out, what with driving across the beautiful Yorkshire wolds to get there, and sitting in slow-moving traffic through Hull with Grandad pointing out landmarks from his youth.

“My school used to be right in the middle of that roundabout. Before the roundabout was there, of course. That’s where I used to jump on the bus. They were open at the back, with a pole to grab on to. Saved me 10 minutes, catching it as it came round the corner instead of going down to the bus station. Meant I could go home for lunch. They used to tell me I’d meet my fate, jumping on those buses as they went round that corner, but I’m still here… I used to go to the football with my big cousin. I was probably about your age, 10-yo. I always stood in those days. Never had a seat. You’d get to the front, if you were small. People let you through so you could see.”

I looked round, and saw the boys on the back seat looking out of the car window as we crawled along. Good for you, Grandad, for being more interesting than a DS and an iPod. And good for you, Hull City, for getting the season off to a cracking start.