The Universal Language

I'm not talking about English. I'm referring to the sport that is played just about everywhere and provides a common interest between countries, fans and rivals: soccer

Aaron and I love going to Seattle sports games so when our friend approached us before we moved over to London and asked if we wanted to be season ticket holders for Fulham football with him we said, sure, why not!?

We've now been to four or five games and I've noticed a few differences between our American sporting game experiences and the Fulham ones:

1) Ads - In the states you are constantly bombarded with advertisements at games. From the multiple screens that flash them to the swag sponsored by a company, brands and logos are everywhere. At Fulham games there is a very small banner that runs along the outline of the field that changes between logos every so often - a little bit different experience!

2) Beer Drinking - Good old 'Merica, where you can enjoy your Bud in your seat because it's a free country! At Fulham games you can buy pints but you can't bring them back to your seat with you. This means you either have to watch the game from the concourse TVs or wait until half time to enjoy a luke warm one.

3) Obscenities - I'm sure Qwest Field has it's fair share of obscenities screamed but it's not every fan or every other word. Here it is expected and constant. If you bleeped out what someone was saying at a UK football match, it would sound like Morse code.

4) Noise - Both experiences have noise, just in different ways. In the US noise goes like this: fans cheer, loud speaker announcement, Rhianna music, more fans cheer, more loud speaker announcements, Keisha music, more fans cheer, another loud speaker announcement, Macklemore music... you get the idea. In the UK noise is made up of chants - just one chant to the next. There is no music and are rarely announcements. I took a video of perhaps the funniest Fulham chant. It happens every time the other team has a goal kick: 

"Woahhhhhhhhh....... You're sh*t, Aaaarrrgggghhh"

And here are a few of our other favorite chants:

• "Come on Fulham, come on Fulham..." 
• "Oh when the whites (oh when the whites), go marching in (go marching in), oh when the whites go marching in... I want to be in that number oh when the whites go marching in" 
• "Stand up if you love Fulham, stand up if you love Fulham" AND "Stand up if you hate Chelsea, stand up if you hate Chelsea" 
• "Take me home, Al Fayed, to the place I belong, Craven Cottage, by the river, Al Fayed, take me home" (Craven Cottage is the Fulham stadium name and Al Fayed was Fulham's long-time owner) 
• "You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you, you'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much, at long last love has arrived, and I thank God I'm alive, you're just to good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.... I love you Fulham!"

If you're curious, you can listen to these and even more of them here : )

Finally, I want to get this in writing for Aaron's sake- The current owner of Fulham also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. When we first arrived here, they were playing the London NFL game. Aaron said, "I bet that the Jacksonville Jaguars move to London within the next couple of years." Let's see if he is right!!