Carling Cup Final

Wow the Carling Cup Final really was exciting - 2-2 at the final whistle, 2-2 at the end of extra time and then finally a penalty shoot out. To add to it all in the penalties Steven Gerrard was the first to shoot and he failed to score – shock horror and quite possibly tears for the thousands of Liverpool supporters. It was incredibly tense.

The match really was quite an eye opener. Firstly there was the tube ride into Wembley Park. I know commuting can be stressful and horribly busy but this was another level and somehow to the delight of my Welsh relatives we were on a train full of Cardiff supporters. I was thrilled to see that my rather “on trend” electric blue jeans meant I blended right on in and was presumed to be a Cardiff fan too. Although unsurprisingly I didn’t know any of their chants and even if I had, the Welsh accent was proving quite overwhelming. As far as I was concerned it was a lot of tone deaf males shouting what they hoped was something similar to their friends/fellow supporters.

I have never wholeheartedly supported a sport with that same devotion football fans do. It's one of those sports you don’t support because you play it, you support because it's in your family…its expected of you…it's in your DNA......I looked around during the game and it was certainly nerve-racking but my goodness it looked like it was a matter of life or death to the supporters. When one set of supporters was celebrating the others were holding their head in their hands!

I had the luxury of sitting in Club Wembley with a combination of supporters from both sides. As a result it has a strict no football shirts policy and is theoretically “neutral” ground. Well I can certainly say that everyone’s allegiance was well known from kick off! This was unmistakably highlighted when goal numero 1 was scored. Now Sunday was a bit of a family outing as my cousins from Wales came especially for the match and WOW if only I could have filmed their reaction when Cardiff scored the first goal. For starters I think they were quick to realise the majority of Club Wembley surrounding them were Liverpool supporters. I imagine I’d show a similar reaction if I won the lottery but this was simply the first goal. As they jumped for joy, spun around, pumped fists up in the air, high fived one another and hugged it was clear they were Cardiff fans and there was no disguising it.

So that’s fine they are guys but when Liverpool finally won and I turned around to determine where this ear piercing shrieking was coming from, I was shocked to see a rather well dressed 20 something girl behind me who was in fact crying. I mean is this really necessary? And why was her reaction like so many this dramatic?

I get sport and I love it but this whole football craze does shock me and I find it a bit scary. The money people spend to support their teams is huge. Maybe the players should be using some of their HUGE salaries to help fund their supporters supporting costs? It's not just the costs but the time and distance people travel to go watch to. Liverpool fans were even having to get on replacement buses due to the trains being cancelled!

Anyways despite the rant I loved the game and it goes without saying the atmosphere at Wembley is just fantastic. It’s an extremely well managed venue and a wonderful experience being there for such a big event.