One of the world’s biggest football clubs in Chelsea FC was set to play on Australian soil.
Having not set foot on our shores in almost half a century, its clash with A-League high-flier Sydney FC would see one of the world’s most beautiful cities painted a darker shade of Blue than what it was used to.
It was 4am on Tuesday morning. Being a night owl largely thanks to my evening study schedule, two hours sleep was about all I had. I felt a million bucks.
On the way to Melbourne Airport my mates and I relieved some of our greatest Chelsea memories, debating fiercely as to which one of them stood tallest. Didier Drogba’s penalty kick that delivered our first UEFA Champions League title? Frank Lampard breaking the all-time record for most goals in a Chelsea shirt? It seemed like they had all culminated to this very day. Or at least, for us they had.
Upon arrival in Sydney we took a walk around some of the city’s most famous attractions. The Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, they all seemed peripheral to the day’s promised proceedings. It was not long before our legs grew tired, so we decided to make our way to the first of many watering holes. It was 11am, the first beer tasted terrible.
But by around 4pm we had (literally) stumbled across the Australian Chelsea fans’ pre-game meeting place, the Aurora Hotel in Surrey Hills. Prior to entering, I could hear renditions of some of the club’s most famous chants and songs being belted out like never before down under. I had goosebumps running all the way down my spine.
The crowd inside was unlike anything I had ever seen before. A sea of Blue across three levels of pub, all of which were singing and drinking wildly. I wasted no time before joining in, my hands and head aloft like a crazed preacher.
It was not long until I bumped in to some of the lads I had met from watching live Chelsea games at the Portland Hotel in Melbourne. I could see that they were all as excited as I was. I shared some drinks and a few photos with them, before it was eventually time to make our way to ANZ Stadium.
After staggering up the winding footpath to the second level of ANZ after a long day of drinking, our party eventually found the gate instructed to go to by our tickets. The stadium looked amazing. Eighty-four thousand football fans, 90% of which were Chelsea fans. It was a sea of blue.
Before the game, the “Shed End” held aloft a Chelsea banner that read “Over Land and Sea”, before passing it around the stadium, covering at least a bay’s worth of crowd as it went. All the while, the famous Blues song “Blue is the Colour” was played via the stadium’s PA. Sadly, not many people around us seemed to know the words, so my mates and I stood tall and showed them how it was done.
Seeing world class players in the flesh was not at all like watching them on television. Players like
Eden Hazard and Diego Costa seemed to have an aura about them, the crowd anticipating as to what they would do every time they went near the ball. Jose Mourinho loomed as he always does, standing in his technical area for the majority of the first half. Clearly, he was not happy with only having one goal on the board. But then again, is he ever?
Despite only seeing one goal scored, a fantastic corner of the box hit from Loic Remy at that, it was a game of immense skill and entertainment. Credit to Sydney FC, it played superbly and I think everyone in the crowd was stunned when they appeared to have equalised in injury time before the strike was disallowed.
All in all it was a fantastic experience, one that I would only have dreamed of until this point. Now I just cannot wait to get over to England to see the lads playing for points.
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