Watching England in a World Cup semi final

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Rocketron
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by Rocketron »

Billy Hunt wrote:Love it, what a great read Sicknote :thup:

Here's to an even older bugger doing a "Watching England in a World Cup Final" post ...
The first football game I ever saw, aged 8, on the TV.
The reason I chose WHU as the team I would support.
My Dad missed extra time as he went back to close his Greengrocer shop that my mum was looking after for the afternoon. Silly sod should have realised she wouldn't mind doing the extra half hour.
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by Junco Partner »

Enjoyable read Sicknote, any football fan of a similar age can identify the trials and tribulation of following you team in less corporatised days.

My national team will never ever get near a World Cup semi-final but having saw the impossible 2 years ago and fulfilled a life long dream to see them play in a major tournament I get you with the "it will live with me and has done now for 28 years , it was one of the greatest experiences of my life"

It was the best trip of my life, and I've travelled a lot. Something about the camaraderie amongst the fans, the sense of being on crusade, the drinking, the singing, the craic...all make it something any football fan should do once in their life.

I met a lot of English lads around Nice, memorably standing on the tables outside a swish Cannes bar singing West Ham songs with 3 Hammers (2 English, 1 Polish & Me), and met a lot coming to our game to support NI so although I was never an ABE, this and messages I got from English mates & colleagues when we beat Ukraine means I'll have a soft spot for the Three Lions tonight.

Enjoy it boys, wherever you are. Good Luck!
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by dixie1978 »

20th Oct is going to be a very odd day at the London Stadium, for the first time ever i think we will give Spurs a rousing welcome regardless of how this semi final finishes.

Fair play to the England players, they all deserve huge credit.

Can i propose a huge welcome and applause during the warm up and when the announce the team, as soon as we kick off we can go back to hating them!
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by sicknote »

It’s **** and it ****ing hurts
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by Clucking Bell »

I was lucky enough to go to Spain in '82, Mexico in '86 and Italy in '90. Sadly, the only game I didn't go to was the semi against Germany.

I always went to England games with my mate mates rather than my football mates (if that makes any sense) so there was me and two other West Ham fans, two Gooners and one each from Spurs, Ipswich, Palace and the 'Wall. We also took along another bloke that just liked traveling and wasn't really a football fan at all.

Frankly, I always hated the games. It's like FA Cup finals that involve West Ham, '75 was OK but, otherwise it's far too tense. I can only enjoy games like Sweden where we go 2-0 up and the other team never look like scoring.

The best bit by far is meeting other fans: the blokes who support Notts County, Hartlepool and Brentford who have no expectation of ever going to any sort of final and the Geordies who are desperately waiting for drinking to become an Olympic event. The foreign fans have also been fun: we've had great times with the Scandis, the Dutch, the Belgians and the Germans and the reason I missed the game in Turin (other than I couldn't get a ticket) is because I'd temporarily fallen in love with an Italian girl called Claudia.

In truth, I don't know that as a bloke in my fifties I could ever be arsed to do it all again. It's really a young man's (and woman's) game and I'm quite happy to be a fan on the sofa.
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by Diogenes »

Well, I am older than Sicknote and in my opinion it was an opportunity lost. I fully respect other views but Croatia were nothing special and we had an easy ride up to the semi final. Tell me, what value did Sterling add throughout? What sense was therein leaving Wilshire back in the UK. Why take Welbeck and not play him? Why take Henderson off and put on Dier? Southgate, like Bilic, very nice bloke but not the right boke, in my opinion. I appreciate the alternate view, but I don't get it.
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Re: Watching England in a World Cup semi final

Post by carnage »

For all those saying it’s onlyWest Ham that matters, you need to read this opening post and take in the scenes all around the country. A good England performance brings the whole country together. It’s why I, and others get so frustrated when we read “f*** the England team etc etc.” I haven’t been but these past 3 weeks I have had the time of my life. All dayers, drinking long in to the night and celebrating goals with fans of other clubs. There is nothing better in my opinion.
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