| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich 18:20 - Aug 16 with 2377 views | Kropotkin123 |
So, I went to my first game of the season last night and had a great time. I wanted to write a little review through the eyes of my girlfriend. She’s a Korean Canadian and this was her first game in the UK and her only game as an adult. She wanted to come to a proper football game, rather than a top side, so she could see football through British culture.
We have recently moved to Canary Wharf, so what better game to go to than Millwall away. Close by and a cultural experience, lol. We met up in London Bridge with my uncle, cousin and his girlfriend, who was attending her second game, after a bit of a failure at Fulham away last season.
We necked a few pinks, and my uncle stepped it up by suggesting a round of shots. In amongst all this we set up Super 6. It is round 3, and only my girlfriend and I had missed the first 2 rounds. She had no clue, so I showed her the table, and she picked some scores.
She got her first brush with British football culture when we were on the train, noting that it was livelier than normal. This was followed by surprise at the amount of guys peeing in bushes and random chants on the way to the ground.
We managed to get there in time for another beer and enough time for me to explain what “16 years in the championship, we’re still famous and you’re still ****” and for her to get out her phone and record some of the shenanigans.
We were out on the terraces long enough to take some seats that weren’t ours, and to see the huddle. At this point I had to explain why we called ourselves “blue army” when we were supporting the team in red, and that we would be standing the whole game, even though there were seats provided. Stuff like this made me think we don’t exactly make it easy for newcomers.
I had prepared her for some chants like “the referees a ******”, but credit where credit is due, the ref had a solid game, so she couldn’t use the full extent of her new found repertoire. The crowd were pretty “rowdy” for the first 40secs, and then in astonishingly bad fashion we conceded a terrible goal.
I must admit, at this moment in time, I thought I might regret bringing her to the game. My mind flashed back to what I think was Millwall away, when they crossed it, it went in, and we played out a tedious loss or draw.
But moments later they showed why they have been tipped for relegation, conceding an equally bizarre goal. I haven’t seen a replay, so I don’t know if the shot was deflected. If it wasn’t what was the keeper doing!
With the crowd back on track the fans could crack on with baiting Millwall. She didn’t miss a moment to join in. And posed some more cracking questions. “why do they have more fans than us?” and “why are they so quiet, when they have so many more fans”.
On the pitch we kept giving them the ball, a decided not to really test their dodgy keeper. But the strikers were keen to run at Millwall, when we finally stopped heading it, and put it at their feet in front of them. It was exciting at times. Our pressure was rewarded with a goal. Instantly “We are top of the league” went around.
Moments later Millwall had pulled one back and they were singing “Top of the league, you’re having a laugh”, much to my girlfriend’s amusement this was put down with “championship, you’re having a laugh”.
The game seemed to be heading in all square, so my girlfriend went to the toilet, and we followed soon after to get a beer. The plan was to catch her as she went back. But the confusion around the bar — They ran out of pint glasses and then ran out of beer (?!?!) — meant we missed her. I must admit that receiving her text “where are you, you ******!” filled me with a certain level of pride, given the environment she was in and the songs she had heard.
I went back and grabbed her just in time for us to see the goal on the TV, and the downstairs to go crazy during the break. During the break she said that she was having a great time, and she likened it to being at a concert, albeit a more aggressive one, as there was a competition. She proceeded to break out with “backstreets back alright…” … “…”.
With that firmly behind us, we went back up to some more seats that weren’t our and watched 35mins of overtly defensive tactics. They inevitably scored and my cousin summed up what most of us were feeling in the moment — “That’s his fault” pointing at MM. Millwall were a bad team, and we should have kept pressure on them.
Luckily it just set us up for an even crazier end to the game. My uncle said to my girlfriend that she needs to get out of the way quickly if we score because he would go crazy. We did, she did, he did, and I followed into the stairway. We resumed baiting Millwall fans, and stayed until the first pump. She like Chambers, particularly after I had to explain why fans were singing “One ****ing Chambers”.
After exiting, we stayed in the caged area, waiting for the gates to open. We then turned our attention back to the Super 6… “***”… My girlfriend is top of our Super 6 league. Not just the round, but the whole month. Out of the 6 games, she got 5 results correct, including 2 of the scores. One of those was the Hull/Wolves game. Like we said “***!”, lol.
We rounded off the night with a pint back in London Bridge and then made our way home. This morning she has been watching her videos of the night, and humming and singing “ole, ole”. She observed that “it was not very high quality, compared to World Cup matches” but it was “a lot of fun”.
For 55mins we played with intent, and even if it wasn’t the most talented game of football, it was exciting. My girlfriend said she “would go again”. Honestly, we won’t be regulars down at Portman Road, we have more things to do in our spare time, and don’t get me started on those train prices! But this game won over a new fan. Someone who will pay to see our club again, and I think that is worth noting.
Given all the negativity, it is good that the management has recognised that they have to entertain to keep old fans, and attract new ones. It looks like Millwall will be relegation candidates, but that shouldn’t take away from the change in attitude towards playing football. I just hope we stick to that 55mins of intent, and not the 35mins of inviting the opposition to score. [Post edited 16 Aug 2017 18:36]
|  |
| |  |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 18:27 - Aug 16 with 2314 views | JakeITFC |
A good write up, thanks for posting, and I'm glad you all enjoyed it!
Was thinking back to last night (when I finally made it to work this afternoon) and I can't remember having so much fun at a game in a long time, if ever. Long may it last. |  | | |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 18:35 - Aug 16 with 2255 views | noggin |
Millwall didn't sound quiet on my stream. Both sets of fans sounded very loud. [Post edited 16 Aug 2017 18:41]
|  |
| |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 18:36 - Aug 16 with 2246 views | The_Romford_Blue |
Nice one |  |
| |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 18:41 - Aug 16 with 2220 views | Kropotkin123 |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 18:35 - Aug 16 by noggin |
Millwall didn't sound quiet on my stream. Both sets of fans sounded very loud. [Post edited 16 Aug 2017 18:41]
|
I think it is a few things at play. When you are inside the stand, you sound louder than you think you are, in terms of projected noise. I think when you go to more games, you understand that more.
I also think she didn't initially realise that home fans include more families and less drunk people, so they are less committed, on a per person level to sing like the away fans.
And of course moment affects things, which we had more of most of the game.
we were block 21, so left hand side as you face the pitch. | |
| |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 18:45 - Aug 16 with 2196 views | AdmiralFunge |
Very well played, Kroppers.
QPR in a couple weekends; you should drag her along to that. |  |
| |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 16:24 - Oct 26 with 1285 views | Kropotkin123 |
Looking forward to what was the highlight of last season for me! Hopefully it will be a great turning point. Anyone know how many people we are taking down there?
Also, I've been trying to find the IPSWICH IPSWICH IPSWICH thread... any ideas where it's gone? | |
| |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 17:24 - Oct 26 with 1169 views | Coastalblue |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 16:24 - Oct 26 by Kropotkin123 |
Looking forward to what was the highlight of last season for me! Hopefully it will be a great turning point. Anyone know how many people we are taking down there?
Also, I've been trying to find the IPSWICH IPSWICH IPSWICH thread... any ideas where it's gone? |
2000 ish I think, is she coming again?
I think Gav killed it |  |
| |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 20:42 - Oct 26 with 1049 views | The_Romford_Blue |
| A New Fan's Perspective: Millwall v Ipswich on 16:24 - Oct 26 by Kropotkin123 |
Looking forward to what was the highlight of last season for me! Hopefully it will be a great turning point. Anyone know how many people we are taking down there?
Also, I've been trying to find the IPSWICH IPSWICH IPSWICH thread... any ideas where it's gone? |
A handful of tickets left from our allocation of 2200 | |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
