Today I immersed myself in a new game I invented.
Step 1: Pull up Google Maps on my phone. Step 2: Go to England. Step 3: Identify a town with at least one football club. Step 4: Try to find the stadium without having the locator find it for you.
It gets fun in smaller towns with tiny stadiums (i.e. Huddersfield), and also in towns/areas with two teams. Liverpool has Everton FC and Liverpool FC (the stadiums are like 300 yards apart). Meanwhile, Loftus Road (QPR), Craven Cottage (Fulham) and Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) create a nifty little triangle in Fulham/West London, with only a few miles separating all three. Craven Cottage is right on the River Thames, it’s west stand literally backing up to the water.
The Emirates (ARSENAL) and White Hart Lane (Tottenham Hotspur) can be clearly viewed in the same field of view on my phone, both in North London. The same can be said for Old Trafford (Manchester United) and Etihad Stadium (Manchester City).
Villa Park (Aston Villa) in Birmingham is a real SOB to try and find. It’s nowhere near St. Andrews (Birmingham City), obviously also in Birmingham. The Midlands has lots of football clubs!
Speaking of The Midlands, The Hawthorns (West Bromwich Albion) and Molineux (Wolverhampton Wanderers) are also close enough to be seen in the same screen on my phone.
The North West and London are the kings when it comes to quantity of clubs, though. I already mentioned the two superclose Liverpool stadiums and Manchester Stadiums in the North West, But the Reebok (Bolton Wanderers) and the DW (Wigan Athletic) are a stone’s throw from one another. The Reebok was another difficult one to locate, not even inthe metropolitan area of Bolton. In fact its probably closer to the DW than it is to the centre of Bolton.
London football clubs are high-profile. I already mentioned Arsenal/Spurs and the Chelsea/QPR/Fulham triangle, but Upton Park (West Ham United), The Valley (Charlton Athletic) and The New Den (Millwall) create another nifty lower league triangle, all within close proximity to the River Thames. Millwall and West Ham are FIERCE rivals as well.
St. James Park (Newcastle United) is my favorite non-arsenal English stadium. The building itself has been renovated and expanded so many times, and its lopsided figure gives ground lots of character. It really is the focal pointof the entire city of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Sunderland, the other prominent North East club has a really spiffy newer ground, The Stadium of Light, neatly situated right up against the banks of the River Wear.
Stadia are cool. English Football is cool. I’m a nerd, as always.
