But with every visit realisation of how the Indian sports fan is short-changed keeps getting stronger. Work has taken me to some of sport’s most famous cathedrals and I am weak-kneed with gratitude for it. That is a booklet that talks about the match for which you have come, includes information on the teams, an article by the head coach and interviews of some players. Add to that parking being a project, little or no thought to how the disabled can access the stadium and the usually boorish behaviour of security personnel.Īnd you can forget stuff like stadium tours, statues of club legends that add to the aura of many a ground ( Wankhede, you are exempted but it didn’t happen till late last year) and collectibles such as a matchday programme. Here’s an example: the Salt Lake stadium got on Kolkata’s metro map nearly 40 years after it began being used. Getting to stadiums in most cities is a challenge. To get water pouches – if they are available – you will miss part of the game.
The food is overpriced, often of dubious quality and often not available. The fan experience was in stark contrast with what the paying public goes through in India across sport. You cannot take alcohol to the stands so people gathered around tables and followed the live telecast till they had drained their glasses. The queues were orderly at counters where people tapped phones or cards to buy their bites and beverage. Exactly the kind of situation that makes pies and pint taste better. Two quick goals late in the first half from Amanda Ilestedt and Alessia Russo put the game to bed before half-time. North London shook as Arsenal celebrated. In the eighth minute, Beth Mead, the England forward who was part of the 2022 European Championship winning team, scored with a rasping shot after wrong-footing the Chelsea defence. We hadn’t but still got sandwiches and wraps to keep bellies and, before that, hands warm.Įlectronic tickets scanned, we were in and working our way up several flights of stairs to our seats in the stands. Dotting the approach to Emirates were merchandise stalls and food kiosks for those who had missed breakfast. If you live in the neighbourhood and need to use your car, your patience will be tested. On match days, roads leading to the Emirates (and possibly every stadium in England) are pedestrian zones. In the year of the most-watched World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, it was another proof of how much the women’s game has grown. Even on the wet, windy morning, you could feel the electricity coursing through fans ahead of a crucial game. That afternoon last December they walked through the winter rain, persistent and powdery, to the Emirates from the Arsenal underground station – the only one in the world named after a football club – and from Finsbury Park, Highbury and Islington stations. Never have so many watched any women’s football match in England.
It was a record till last Saturday when Arsenal bettered that with a capacity crowd of 60,160, the most in WSL, seeing the home team beat Manchester United 3-1.
A 12.30pm start on a Sunday may not be Juergen Klopp’s favourite time to kick-off but that Women’s Super League (WSL) game had an attendance of 59,042. Like most modern stadia, the top tier gives the feel of being in a high-rise but the view of the pitch is clear. The North Stand is an imposing piece of work. Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.