Come on Fulham

"Oh when the whites, go marching in,
Oh when the whites go marching in,
I wanna be in that number, oh when the whites go marching in."

Jetlagged in London at 4am. I guess I should blog about one of the most thrilling sports experiences I've had in a long time. I had requested to go to see a football game while I'm here... and voilà, my wish was granted!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending Fulham's first home game of this season versus the almighty local rivals, Arsenal. Lacenaire's dad, a lifetime Fulham fan for over half a century, scored us awesome seats. Fulham Football Club, founded in 1879, is the oldest professional football team in London. Their home ground is Craven Cottage, and their nickname is The Cottagers. Sadly, I was expecting the Cravenettes do their half-time dance routines but it's still very early in the season and I guess they're still practicing.

95% blokes, 50% of them lairy, 100% fun
You don't get this in America; seating sections are separated by support teams. There were loads of policeman in neon yellow uniforms on horses making sure everyone was behaving.


Billy the Badger, the cute mascot



It doesn't matter if you're playing Arsenal or Man Utd or actually Chelsea itself, this chant gets everyone going...

"We Are Fulham,
Super Fulham,
We Fulham,
FFC,
We Are Fulham,
Super Fulham,
We Are Fulham,
F*ck Chelsea."


Absolutely packed from the tube stop straight to the concession areas and then to our seats. Total fire hazard but it never got out of control; it was civilized really.

"Al Fayed whooaaa,
Al Fayed Whooaaa,
he wants to be a Brit,
And QPR are sh*t,
Al Fayed whoooaa."

I did my Veronica Corningstone chant ("power, power, powerrr") right before the game started and it worked. Fulham beat Arsenal! As we were walking back to the tube amongst tons of dismayed and disquieted Arsenal fans, I overheard a bloke say to his friend, "Gutted, I can't believe we lost to a shit team like Fulham." Ha!