Football: More Than Just a Sport

“And its Cambridge United, Cambridge United FC, we’re by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen…”

As I walked into Abbey Stadium in Cambridge, England I didn’t expect to hear too much noise in the 9,000 capacity stadium. Instead, the above song was being sung by a large portion of the fans and the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. By the sound of it, you would think this was one of England’s middle sized clubs. Not even close. Cambridge United is a non-league team and currently plays in the Blue Square Premier League, the fifth tier of English football. If this was Baseball, they wouldn’t even be Single A.

Regardless of the team’s lack of stature and just 2,637 people in attendance, it was still a cracking atmosphere and a great match. Standing in the East side of the stadium, my friend Bryan and I were surrounded by the home support. We heard various chants sung throughout the game and countless insults hurled at the opposing team, some even unsuitable for this blog.

If there’s one thing I’ve always known, it’s that England football fans don’t lack passion. It could be two of the biggest clubs in all of England playing each other or unknown Cambridge United vs. the even more anonymous Gateshead, yet the enthusiasm and fervor of the fans is always on full display. After all, football is more than just a game over here. It’s a religion. I’ve only been here two weeks and that’s already became very clear!

Despite missing an early penalty kick, Cambridge United romped to a 5-0 win – much to the delight of the home side’s fans. For having less than three-thousand fans in attendance, I was amazed by the atmosphere created by the Cambridge United faithful. If this is how the atmosphere is for a non-league team, I can only imagine how spectacular the atmosphere would be attending a Premiership match (England’s top football league). I guess I’ll just have to find out!

Cheers!