Emirates Stadium, London Dining, and St. George’s Park! – Sport and Globalization in London & Seville

Day 5: Today we learned the history of English futball from one of the UK’s most renowned sports historians- Simon Inglis. We began our day in the classroom where Simon took us through how all the clubs in London were formed. To give you just an idea, he quoted “In order for a club to make a little fortune, you’ll first need a large one.” This is pretty funny given the history surrounding Arsenal. This team has the longest membership in the top division, which all started under mysterious (but potentially illegal) circumstances. Simon went through their history with us on a more in depth level. Then he took us on a walking tour of the old Arsenal stadium, which is now an apartment complex! We ate at one of the classic futball diners where all the fans pack in to get food before the game. Everyone was treated to a bowl of warm vegetable soup and a plate of eggs, bacon, and chips. Bacon here is ham. Then we went on to tour their current stadium- Emirates Stadium. We got a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to sit in the director’s club, be on the field, hangout in the locker room, and even hold a press conference. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience 🙂

Day 6: Off day! Some of us went to the pub and watched the Arsenal match. It’s really fun to hang around all the fans and be in such a new environment. The pub had huge screens playing futball matches and rugby matches. Interestingly enough, more people were watching the rugby match than the Arsenal match. I thought the futball game would’ve drawn a larger crowd since the FA cup is happening now but sports are completely different here. Hopefully I’ll learn more about rugby, but right now I have absolutely no idea what’s going on there.

Day 7: This is my favorite day so far. We rode a team bus, filled with tables, tvs, and a bunch of other amenities, to St. George’s Park. This is where the FA built their training stadium. It’s a state of the art facility fit for all the professional futball and even some rugby teams. We got a private tour of all the coolest parts, including a wall signed by all the famous players who’ve come in to train there (David Beckham!!) and their amazing strength and conditioning rooms. We then got ready for a FA training session on the turf that all the national teams get to use. The room and fields are primed to be exact replicas of the conditions the teams will be playing on in their upcoming match. For example, the room today was super cold to mimic the temperature outside. The groundsmen have gone so far as to rip up parts of the fields to make sure it’s an exact replica. Our two coaches took us through a series of drills that incorporated skills from all the different sports we play- hand drills for football and volleyball players, bounce drills for basketball players, they even through disks in the air for the frisbee players. We split up into two teams at the end and played a fun, but competitive game of soccer. We weren’t technically keeping score but if we were, the white team for sure won 6-1. It was a great day and another amazing experience. The coaches made it even better with their senses of humor. They noted at the end that soccer (futball) is the only real sport and that all other sportsmen are playing a game for their own leisure.