Monday 27 October 2008

Random moments from a day out at Wembley

There were quite a few strange/random little moments during our day out at Wembley yesterday.

I was wearing my Giants hoodie, such is the tradition at the Wembley game that everyone wears the merchandise of the team they support, not necessarily the teams playing the game. We arrived on the platform at North Greenwich, and I spotted another couple wearing Giants gear. I had barely pointed them out to Rich when the bloke came rushing over and hugged me, saying "Well done, well done". Obviously the Superbowl hangover doesn't end until someone else wins the Superbowl (or the Giants win it again!).

Having complained to Rich when we bought our program that there was no free gift this year we were pleased to find when we took our seats that every seat had been given a free Saints flag to wave during the game (be a Saint). During our discussions of 'worst job in the ground' the person (or more likely people) who had to put a flag on each and every one of 80,000 seats eventually won.

Best of all were the two team mascots that had travelled with the Saints. One was called 'Sir Saint' and rather reminded me of Dick Dastardly from the Wacky Races Cartoon. He had a Saints helmet, a shiny cloak and an ENORMOUS chin. The other was called 'Gumbo' and was a dog. He kept me in stiches for quite a lot of the time as he took to tormenting the stewards. One hapless chap standing on the corner of the field got a good ten minutes of attention, but kudos to him he took it all in good humour.

Rich told me about another of the stewards who was captivated by the Cheerleaders (the 'Saints-sations') and apparently was castigated by his supervisor for not attending to his duties.

There were also some chaps sitting near us who were determined to start a Mexican wave. Determined. They kept leaping to their feet and throwing their arms in the air. It just wasn't catching on, only a few rows and about three-quarters of a block were taking part. Most of the rest of us were falling about laughing at their antics.  A real Mexican Wave did start eventually which actually encompassed all three tiers of the ground. Quite awesome to behold.

There was of course the inevitable queuing to get back to the Underground station. We didn't do as well this year as last as we were a bit further around the ground. Once you get onto Wembley Way (sorry, Olympic Way) you are held at several points by Police barriers (either cops on foot or even better cops on horses). There was (of course) a good deal of barracking of the police officers including the immortal "Que Sera Sera, Whatever will be will be, we'll never leave Wembely, Que sera sera".