Barcelona: It Didn't Take Long for Bedford to Become Boring

It took a mere two weeks of being home to become boring, so I needed a new adventure. Plans were discussed, flights and a hotel were booked and before I knew it I was off to Catalonia with Karl and Bof, two friends from university. It was a great excuse to meet up with Bof having not seen him for 18 months. It was less exciting to see Karl on the other hand, if anything I've seen him too much in recent times.

The first afternoon and evening was spent in the many bars around the Las Rambla region in Barcelona's city centre. I'd like to say that we sampled the local beers of Catalonia, but it was mainly just San Miguel. We drank a lot of them, so maybe that's a positive review? Although, I've been known to drink a cocktail of Tesco Value vodka and lemonade. If anyone from the San Miguel marketing team is reading this and they want a quote, the Tefl-on Don says "San Miguel's alright".

Tuesday was a stunning day, we spent the afternoon taking in the sights of the city from a rooftop bus. It's the best way to see a city that boasts churches as its main attractions. Take a picture from the bus and move on. We did stop and have a look at the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona's famous unfinished Catholic church. Apparently construction started in 1882. What the hell have they been doing for 133 years? I'll tell you what they haven't been doing - working! Stop sleeping in the afternoon, get off your arse and get it finished. It's no wonder that their economy is in the pan. Then they have the audacity to try and charge me a €15 entry fee. For what? To have a look around a building site? No thanks.

Lazy builders still haven't finished the Sagrada Familia

The bus tour took us to the other sites of Barcelona including the Columbus Monument, The Olympic Stadium, and around the foothills of Mount Tibidabo where we went hiking. We were at the end of this path, and we came to a clearing, and there was a lake, very secluded, and there were tall trees all around. It was dead silent. Gorgeous. And across the lake I saw, a beautiful woman, bathing herself. She was crying...

The Columbus Monument - Christopher Columbus pointing towards America (apparently he's pointing in the wrong direction!)

The evening rolled around and it was time for the main event - Camp Nou. A visit to Barcelona isn't worthwhile without taking in the "tiki-taka" playing style of FC Barcelona.

We arrived at the ground in plenty of time, in hope to pay a visit to the club museum and take in the pre-game atmosphere. Unfortunately neither happened. The queue for the museum was enormous and atmosphere - what atmosphere? Where were the local fans? The majority of people there were tourist fans such as myself. Barcelona is a gigantic club that has attracted a worldwide fan base, but they've traded in their essence. It's resulted in the commercialisation of literally everything. Before the game you must pick up an FC Barcelona toasted sandwich maker, and an FC Barcelona toothbrush. How did I ever get by without them? And I know this is a very hypocritical summary as I was a tourist fan, and an Arsenal supporter, a club notoriously known for doing the exact same thing. But it's a grind a have with modern football.

Into the stadium and it is awe inspiring. The sheer magnitude of it is rather incomprehensible. Despite the capacity being 99,354 it is not that steep, but rather wide. The view is good even from the top and it's the perfect setting for an evening game. Then the teams are announced and it's exactly what I've been hoping for - Neymar, Suarez, and Messi all start. I feel truly privileged that Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp once wore the red of the Arsenal, but when you hear the names that have represented Barcelona you certainly feel envious of the magnitude of the club. Players like Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Cruyff, Maradona, Xavi, Iniesta...and Hleb, the way the front three play together the fans should be honoured that they get to watch the most exciting front line in world football right now.

The show that the current XI put on that evening was majestic. Barcelona destroyed mid-table Getafe and were 5-0 to the good by half time. The team play so well and pass the ball effortlessly. It finished 6-0 and I left a little disappointed that there was only one goal in the second half. Only one of very few disappointments with going to see Barcelona play.

The crowd was subdued. Maybe this was because it was a Tuesday night game, or because it wasn't a sell out, or maybe it was to do with the thousands of tourists at the game. Of the 65,356 people there there were around 200 fans that made noise throughout.

The next stadium I go to will struggle to follow the Camp Nou.

Back to Bedford and back to work. I wonder how long it will be before I'm planning the next trip...

Sport in Korea: Which is Better, Football or Baseball?

Football

I’ve been to a couple of football games in Korea now, both domestic and continental. I attended Seoul’s opening game of the season against Chunnam Dragons they started with the usual opening day procedures. When the game got underway the most noticeable difference to the English game that I’m used to is the considerable drop in quality and talent. Poor passing, no control, and shambolic organisation. I have been told that the best Koreans players get offers from abroad and head to Europe or Japan, and even those that can kick a ball straight get lured to oil-rich nations such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia leaving Korea’s domestic game lacking quality to say the least, even Emile Heskey could look good in this league… OK, maybe not.

Korea was lucky enough to joint host the World Cup with Japan in 2002, as a result Seoul got a brand new stadium which Seoul FC were fortunate to inherit after the tournament. The downside to this is that Seoul FC usually attracts crowds of around 15,000 which don’t quite fill the 67,000 seater stadium that the team plays in. The fans are too spread and the stadium looks empty. This is how a stadium would look if Joey Barton ever had a testimonial, no one would go.

I’ve also made an appearance at an Asian Champions League game, when Seoul took on Kawasaki Frontale. The Asian CL is different from the UEFA CL, I was expecting to hear that glorious, recognisable theme tune (The Champioooooons!). Instead I got a Korean rendition of If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands. Not quite the same.

I took my seat and before long the game was underway, I noticed the two guys in front of me had a feast of snacks to eat throughout the game, they even had a huge pizza.

This is what’s wrong with football today, the American influence has changed every sporting event into an eating competition. You don’t go to the football for the food. It’s called “The Beautiful Game” for a reason. It’s meant to be watched, observed, studied, it’s about passion, and creating an atmosphere, not filling your face with over-priced hot dogs. If you’re hungry, you have a dodgy pie before the game. Unfortunately too many clubs have gone down this route, and yes my club (Arsenal) is also guilty of this. Sure, we can boast that we have one of the highest incomes from match days in global football, but at what cost? Filling the stadium with plastic fans and out-pricing genuine fans creating one of the worst atmospheres in European football. The FA are guilty of this too, for too many reasons; for the over budget Wembley Stadium, milking fans, charging them £50+ for irrelevant friendlies – they’ve sold out. It’s a major shame… Maybe I overthought those two guys having pizza.

I moved in the second half and got amongst the signing fans, they were a delight. Real fans.

Seoul have lost the games that I have attended so far. Last season Seoul finished 4^th (surprise, surprise, I’m supporting the team that finished 4^th) and qualified for the Champions League. This season they’re 2^nd bottom and have scored a less than impressive 6 goals in 11 games. This demise has occurred since I have started “supporting” them, I’m sure they could do without my support.

Baseball

The most popular sport in Korea is baseball so for months I had wanted to go to a game. We decided to attend the Doosan Bears vs. LG Twins game, these are both Seoul based teams so it was pretty likely that this game would sell out. We came up with a plan to get to the stadium at 11am (3 hours before kick-off) to ensure that we got tickets. There was only one slight hiccup to our plan and that was that we went out drinking the night before and therefore slept in. We arrived at the stadium at 1:30pm (30 minutes before kick-off) and inevitably the game had sold out. This left us with 2 choices, call an end to our baseball adventure or find a ticket tout, in no time at all we found a tout.

They seem to be very common, all there to make a quick won. In very broken English we asked him how much he wanted for a ticket, he said ₩9,000 (£5). We agreed and he led us to though the subway station to the man with the tickets (it was very dodgy). We tried to give him the cash but he was refusing saying that he wanted more, he wanted ₩19,000 (£11). We weren’t happy about the increase in price but decided to pay it anyway as the game was starting very soon. So we handed him ₩19,000 and he said no again, we realised that in fact he wanted ₩90,000 (£52) for a ticket. We told him where to poke his ticket.

The game had started and we decided to wait 15 minutes for the ticket prices to come down a little and not long after we found another tout and got a ticket for the reasonable price of ₩15,000 (£9). We stocked up our beers for the afternoon and made our way into the stadium. We had standing tickets and found a good spot at the back of the stand. The sun was shining and I had a cold beer in my hand, I cared little about everything else around me.

I had no idea what I was watching. Scott tried to explain the rules to me but ultimately it’s just glorified rounders. The atmosphere was good and everyone else was really into it, although I couldn’t bring myself to cheer at a girls’ school sport.

Scott made a comment that made me chuckle. He said that he was impressed with the crowd chanted in unison. Well, yeah… that’s what all sports crowds do, don’t they? He went on to explain that in American sports there is no organisation with the chanting, everyone just shouts what they like when they like. ‘Murica.

After a while I realised that watching baseball is very much like watching cricket, you go along not because it’s a great sport but because it’s a nice day and you can get drunk. I did have fun, and I’d probably go again but when you have a choice to attend a good baseball game or a poor football game I will always go to the poor football game. 

For all of football's downfalls it is still adored worldwide, and baseball is just another bat-and-ball game. Football is the greatest sport on the planet. No questions asked. 

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more important than that."
Bill Shankley