It’s not always easy living more than five thousand kilometers away from your home, family and football team. Life has become easier for me since AFC Bournemouth were promoted to the Premier League because I can now stream all of their matches on the internet. Still there is nothing like being at the game.
Each season I try and get in two or three games, but now that Bournemouth are in the Premier League getting a ticket is really difficult, especially for home games – almost impossible unless you have a contact. Fortunately I have a friend who has a friend who can sometimes get me home match tickets.
a full English breakfast
Over the years I have developed a match day ritual with my family. Both my brother and nephew are season ticket holders and so if we go to home games then we will first go to my mother’s house and have a traditional English breakfast – sausage eggs bacon, beans, potato bread, black pudding, toast, marmalade, tea/coffee. This huge meal is taken at around 10:30 and definitely keeps you going until the evening.
After eating all that, the next step is to stay awake and head to the match. The drive takes about 30-40 minutes depending on the traffic. Actually, the first stop is not the ground – the first stop is the pub because this is another part of the match day ritual.
good English Beer, LONDON PRIDE
One of the other challenges about living so far away from England is the ability to get good English Beer which is always a pleasure to drink. After 2-3 pints it’s time to walk the 15 minutes to the ground(stadium) to watch the match.
An English pub, THE CRICKETERS
This type of match day ritual is very common amongst many football fans, but not all eat a big English breakfast. Many fans do go to the pub before the game to drink a few beers and also after the game to have a few more to discuss the match and either celebrate or commiserate.