I drove out from Las Vegas with my brother to see the Chelsea/Inter friendly on their USA tours. I know its long winded, but bare with me here...
Let me preface my review with this: it was my first PRO soccer match since the Indy Twisters (and CISL) folded in 97 when I was 9. I got back into it in high school, as a spectator, for United, Galaxy, and the US Nats, but my younger brother grew attached to Chelsea, mostly to spite me. With world class football in the offering, I planned the trip, put aside my loyalty to United and donned his spare Chelsea shirt, and learned the songs in the car on the way.
Don't get me wrong, I loved every second of it, but I was severely disappointed in the atmosphere, considering there were 81000 people there.
My tickets were for the less expensive "Chelsea Supporters" area by the corner flag. Around a tenth of the section was for Inter, which initially had me worried, but they were very civil the whole time, despite the loss, and I respect them a great deal for it.
My problem though, rested with those remaining in the sea of Chelsea jerseys in my section. Other than a small pocket of us fans in the front who actively supported, the rest just sat there complaining in their replica shirts about how we stood, sang, and chanted as 'ruining their experiences,' even going as far as threatening us with violence and death, organizing a 'sit down mother f#ckers' chant (instead of joining the actual chants, which few seemed to know) and eventually, throwing things at us, until security had to get involved.
Fortunately, in the section next to us, the situation was reversed, with vocal supporters heckling sitting supporters, and we were able to organize a switch that was favorable to all with the help of security staff.
I watch MLS, EPL, and national team games on TV whenever I can and I expected a lot more 'support' from the supporters. While the game was great, my experience in the stands was quite different from how it is at my university's games, causing me to question my beliefs about the state of the game in the US and fandom in general.
Is there typically so much discrepancy in attitude from fan to fan? Section to section? How does support differ based on competitiveness, ie Cup/League/Friendlies and EPL/MLS/Internationals/College? Were my assumptions about acceptable supporter behavior correct, or were my actions wrong? Has anyone else had an experience like this?
Confused,
Crazy Mike
