Fulham v Hamburger @ the Cottage

Great idea, I second it. The second wiould be the video of the post match celebrations, and if there is another one out there, add it too.

 

I have to admit -- I did not believe. I truly did not think they could do it. I thought the magic had run out. I was wrong and practically jumped on the pitch after the whistle blew to get on my knees, raise my hands and scream "I BELIEVE!!!!"

Oh, and I think we had the same guy next to each other: the lad next to me took me in a bear hug after the second goal and kept shaking me up and down. I never knew the English could get so emotional.

Hopefully, I will start editing my few photos shortly.

 

That is hilarious. Forgot my camera in the rush down to the grounds. Look forward to your pics.

 

http://s809.photobucket.com/albums/zz12/FFCRDG/FFC v Hamburg -- 29 April 2010 at Craven Cottage/

Here are the photos. The whopping great many I took :roll: Oh yeah, Mo and SteveM have seen the camera and laughed at it. It is a second generation digital, so it's about 3 times the size of normal ones now. AND, it has only autofocus, which - naturally - has a mind of its own.

Ok, since I think I am still jet-lagged, could someone tell me how to put the above link into a one word hyperlink? Or, for that matter, how to put just one photo into a message?

 

My "FULHAM IS GOING TO A EUROPEAN FINAL!" Moment

So it's almost a week later and I'm finally posting something. My girlfriend is visiting from out-of-town and I'm sick (not a great combo- but we at least had a healthy week together), both of which cut down on the internet usage and I'm not sure how many people will actually see this, but I had to post something.

First, I just want to say how happy I was reading this thread. And it took me a little while, but I made sure to read this entire thread. This is easily one of the friendliest online communities I've ever been a part of (sounds like faint praise, but I've spent more time on the internet than I care to admit, especially when I was a little younger) and I'm always happy to read stories of how fans celebrate a major win. One of the most beautiful things about sports is that fans of the same team can be in many different places from different walks of life and celebrate in different ways but still experience this great overpowering communal joy at a moment like this. That sounded better in my head, but you probably get the point.

I loved reading FulhamAg and ClevelandMo's accounts of watching the game, as well as Terri's and all the ones PettyFog compiled on the front page (Thank you for that). And I especially appreciated O'Sullyvan's accounts from the Cottage itself and the Lion. I agree with HatterDon that this is incredibly special and well-deserved for all the long-time Fulham vets and lifers. I've only been a fan since 2004 and I feel like I've had enough head-shaking disappointment to last a lifetime and this one of the most exciting moments of my life as a sports fan (probably the most exciting since I watched my White Sox win the World Series in 2005- which nothing can top), so I can't even imagine how those fans who loyally watched them rot in the 4th Division feel now.

Well, this post has gotten pretty long- so I'm going to actually talk about my experience in the next post.

Also, my best wishes to Martin-in-Nashville and hope he's OK, from the news it looks pretty awful down there.

~Steve

 

RE: My "FULHAM IS GOING TO A EUROPEAN FINAL!" Mome

I'm all good thanks Steve, it's not pretty around town but at least the river is going back down, plenty of homeless and lots of damage, I live just south of Nashville and so other than roads closing we did pretty well, thanks for your thoughts.

 

My actual "Fulham is a European final" moment

NOTE: I apologize for how long this is, I got carried away and was never good at editing.

I managed to get by my two obstacles to seeing the game without much trouble. My internship got off at 2 and my girlfriend was in from out-of-town. Luckily, the Globe in Chicago replayed both the Europa League games at 4 and 7 and she’s understanding and supportive. I managed to not hear about the game without too much trouble (the rare benefit of having few friends who are soccer fans and even fewer who are Fulham fans), took the train into the city and took a seat at the bar only a few minutes before kickoff. The previous week, I had watched a replay of the game with a mild-mannered Hamburg fan who was an American who had studied abroad in Hamburg- this time I was in the presence of a lifer who grew up in Hamburg and was decidedly more intense.

Besides starting a few chants (it doesn’t work as well when you’re by yourself), he pretty much ran around half the pub yelling “Goal” after Petric’s first goal. Which I conceded was a beautiful, unstoppable strike (partly because it was and probably partly because I thought the guy might bite my head off if I didn’t…). However, I couldn’t complain much because while there was a much bigger contingent watching the Liverpool-Atletico match (believe it or not, there weren’t any Atletico fans among them), the Hamburg fan’s early arrival and enthusiasm (to say the least) had assured that the sound in the back was for our game.

At half-time, I walked into the bathroom and a random Irish guy saw my scarf and commented “Oh, Fulham.” I sheepishly said “Yeah, I hope we do better in the second half”, he responded in a very casual and reassuring voice “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” I wasn’t sure if he had seen the game earlier (and it was either positive or negative- and he was just trying to be nice), hadn’t seen it and was trying to make me feel better, or was just a random prophet (OK, not really- but it’s fun to imagine he’s a random guardian angel that makes a cameo to fill the movie’s hero with confidence before the uplifting ending). Given the nature of “Fulhamish”-ness, I was still worried deep down in spite of being slightly less nervous overall.

Until Davies’s goal, I had virtually given up hope- although the Liverpool fans were starting to pay a bit of attention to our game and do their best to cheer me up- one of them even chimed in “Dempsey would’ve made that shot” on a missed chance off a corner kick and I had to ruefully respond “He is in”. Even when Davies scored, I didn’t believe it until I saw the goal go up on the screen- I figured it’d be called back for some reason or other- but it was pure class, of course, and the fact that he got kicked in the back of the leg as he scored made it all the more impressive.

Still, I was worried that with Davies limping he’d be a liability and with Bobby off and Dempsey not quite at full strength that we didn’t have the firepower (I knew how great Gera has been in Europe, but I pessimistically figured he’d finish the game as quietly as he started) it’d be a heartbreaking away goals loss. When Gera somehow twisted that ball in (not quite as impressive as his goal against Chelsea, but obviously much more important), I not only screamed and clapped- but so did the Liverpool fans.

Everyone loves a Cinderella story underdog and it was nice that the Cinderella story underdog was my team for once rather than one I had to temporarily and artificially adopt against a colossus (OK, so Hamburg’s not exactly a colossus, but any team that’s ever won a trophy in Europe is a colossus compared to Fulham). My girlfriend hugged and kissed me, but I still sweated out the last 15 minutes, shredding napkins, gritting my team and mumbling vague incomprehensible instructions at Fulham players.

When it was finally over, she had a stomach ache and was too bored to stay to celebrate that long (she was a trooper, she’s not a sports fan, but she managed to stay mildly interested and attentive throughout the game). Still, I did manage to both console Liverpool fans (funnily it wasn’t about the result, but lack of knowledge of the result- since the game went into Extra-time, the GolTV replay cut out before the conclusion of the game) while they celebrated with me and praised Fulham. As many have pointed out earlier, it’s pleasantly surprising to see so many people across so many EPL fanbases rooting for Fulham and recognizing both their determination and Roy’s managing prowess.

A few other guys wandered into the back room and started talking to the Liverpool fans, upon seeing me they told me how they had actually just taken a shot and all toasted Fulham and how exciting it was to see a small team like Fulham in a European final. No one’s jumping on the bandwagon, but it’s nice to know that we’re the sentimental favorite and that the “Little team that could” is actually doing it.

I know I’m rambling on- but we all have stories of suffering through dreadful games and watching teams that were mediocre at best, so it’s easy to get carried away when describing moments like this… I really enjoyed reading everyone’s, hopefully mine wasn’t too tedious.

~Steve

 

RE: My actual "Fulham is a European final" moment

I've been told by many friends back home that the whole country (Football fans that is) is behind Fulham on May 12th.

 

RE: My actual "Fulham is a European final" moment

I finally got to watch my tape of this from GolTV.

Interesting, as having only one person in the booth made it better (more crowd noise) and worse (less passion from the color commentator) than a usual match.

Still, though, it was almost as intense as being there. I was still biting my nails until the final whistle.

While I am thinking of it, there are two people I would like to thank: sfm for getting me a ticket (and being an all-around SUPER person) and 'johnnyhaynes' for giving me the FFC "bug". By the way, 'johnnyhaynes' became a grandfather on May 1. Sadly, the parents are not footy fans (possibly anti-football fans!), but we hope that the boy grows up a rebel and a Whites fan. No, his nickname will probably NOT be 'Zoltan', though those of us in the know will refer to him as such.

 

RE: My actual "Fulham is a European final" moment

My wife and I are season ticket holders in the hammersmith end (we are crazy I know) and we were able to get over to the Hamburg match. By far the most amazing atmosphere that we have ever seen. Leading up to the match we settled at a table at the golden lion and chatted with some "old timers". One man was the mascot at Craven Cottage in the late 70's, early 80's. We just renewed our season ticket for next year, so anyone going over let us know and maybe we can help out. COYW!!!!!