Football Free Zone

Across the river from Eel Pie Island, here are a few signs I found to go along with Monday’s Wimbledon pub sign photos from Maggie Jones.

The Barmy Arms is a football free zone and it was just as crowded as any other pub on a Sunday afternoon:

Kill Your TV

So… how about that USA v England match on Saturday night?

I was a bit torn, watching my native country and adopted country in competition. The American goal was a good bit of luck and I’d say England played a tighter game overall, but I suppose a 1-1 draw just figures…It’s funny, because football (soccer) is the most popular sport to participate in in American until the age of 13, but then it seems to drop off the radar and people are always more interested in American football, baseball, basketball, hockey, etc.

Besides being an entertaining bit of football, it was interesting watching it from here rather than America – listening to the commentators playfully America-bashing before the game, seeing them mock all the stereotypical attributes of their opponents. The point was made that Americans don’t watch soccer because it involves continuous play which means there’s no room for commercials and therefore not conducive to capitalism and a secret plot to take over the world. Yup.

For laughs, they played a commercial that ESPN (sports network) were running in the States to psych people up for the game – something dramatically overdone, but something I wouldn’t have had a second thought about if I was in America. Seeing it from this point of view I could see why they considered it hilarious. Later, there were comments about the next 90 minutes being the difference between football and soccer. They said Americans should stick to baseball since they’re so good at it – only because no one else in the world plays it. They had a laugh at Obama’s would-be pep talk for the team. Can we win the World Cup, America? “Oh yes we can!!”

During the game, I realised that this was the first time I was watching TV in 2010 (excluding films)! That’s half a year with no TV, which is probably shocking to some people, but I don’t ever even think about it. There’s so much else to do in this brilliant city. Who needs TV?

So I thought I would share some useful advice I found in a shop window on Columbia Road the other day. If you want to share your football thoughts, leave it in the comments.