7th March, 2020
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Brighton and Hove Albion
Before this week, that was the last game of football I attended in person.
That changed as, on Tuesday, after 1 year, 3 months, and 22 days, I was at Wembley to watch England beat Germany.
The performance was impressive, the occasion historic, but it was the feeling of simply being there. At a ground. Any ground. To watch a team. Any team. Which I didn’t realise I’d missed so much.
Before the pandemic, I watched a lot of live football. I go to pretty much every home Wolves game (“pretty much” as it depends how the Christmas fixtures fall), and am in the process of ticking off the 92 (I’m on 48, so just over half way). During the last full season, I clocked off 42 games and 27 new grounds.
But since the pandemic, nothing. And that’s a dramatic change that a lot of football fans have been adapting to.
I won’t lie, as I know a lot of fans will be thinking the same, that it isn’t clear whether you will get back or you can get back into the swing of watching live sport. You find other things to do, you invest your time in other things, you quite enjoy spending more time with your family and not with your true love. A lot of people may find their money is better spent elsewhere.
Step forward Raheem Sterling, and that question was answered loud and clear.
Not. A. Chance.
The atmosphere, the roar, the outpouring of emotion after so long away. It may have been 479 days since I saw a game, but it’s even longer since I saw a goal (another two weeks to be exact - bringing that up to 492). That clock reset and has climbed to five days. It will not get that high again.
Wembley may have been half empty, but it felt like it was half on top and more for good measure. It was loud, it was rocking, and England put on the performance the fans deserved.
Being at Wembley made me and I’m sure many others know that once the grounds are open again, they will be full. And people will jump through whatever hoop you put in front of them to get in and have a good time.
At the EUROs, in London, you needed proof of being double-vaccinated OR have proof of a negative lateral flow test (taken at most 48 hours before the gates opening). 40,000 jumped through that hoop this week. 60,000 will for the semi-final and final. If the worst comes to it, and that is the condition of getting the grounds open, people will do it. Especially as the vaccine programme will have reached all adults by September.
But this blog isn’t about what restrictions will be in place. It is about enabling people to do what they enjoy doing. Doing what they love doing. Reacquaint themselves with the people they go to the match with. The pre-match pint. The packed concourses. The singing. The over priced food. Abusing the referee.
There are so many people who have been waiting since March 2020 to get back into a ground. Only a select and privileged few have been able to see any live sport since then. I am one of them. And in doing so, I know one thing.
When the grounds are full next season, it will be the best atmosphere in years.
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