We love you arsenal we do! Ohhh Arsenal we love you 👏🏾📢
(That's the only one I know)
As you can tell, I'm not a huge footie fan lol. But I'll conform to a cheer if the atmospheres right haha!
As the title states, I put my hooligan hat on and went to the Leyton Orient VS Colchester match.
I'd like to reintroduce my bestie, Shae. We call her "the plug" because she's a woman of action, she gets things done and she is the Bring-in-Queen.
Bring In: To include your friends in motives/plans they would not usually have the opportunity to be involved in.
We were given box seat tickets which included a free meal and drinks from the bar 🤗
Next step was fill our bellies! I can't remember what the other options were but I can't say no to spring rolls 😍
I'm a fish lover, so any opportunity to indulge in some salmon, I'll take!
For those who are like me, and not a huge footie fan, a match is basically a series of claps and cheers, anticipation and beers 🍻
Randomly, some fans would throw flares out. This would put the game at a stand still whilst stewards would run on and throw them in a bucket.
*strike one*
(I could already tell this was going to be a disruptive match lol).
Yay, it was half time time AKA dessert time!
I had a gorgeous salted caramel cheesecake, then sampled the chocolate and orange tart with clotted cream.
(I'm not meant to have cream, but I couldn't resist!)
We eventually made our way back out. As you can see, Shae and Ayla's bother we're having a blast!
Suddenly, at the 85th minute the tables completely turned!!!
After a red flare was thrown, Leyton Orient fans slowly began to pour onto the pitch.
This steward really tried…
…within a blink of an eye the pitch was filled with kids, OAPs, fans, friends and foes.
"Crowd control crowd control!"
😂
Can you believe, the match was postponed for nearly two hours because hundreds of fans occupied the pitch protesting against the Orient owner Francesco Becchetti.
During this time people started to play their own mini games of football.
Some even sat in the middle of the pitch sharing drinks and singing songs.
Others ran around, took selfies and helped each other climb onto the pitch.
At this point, stewards simply didn't have enough man power to get everyone off. Instead, they stood and almost acted as a barricade to the Colchester fans (who were pretty outnumbered).
After the first hour you could see it was actually a bit of a peaceful protest lol. Nobody fighting, all smiles and chants.
After several failed attempted to clear the pitch, the police decided to announce that the game had been abandoned. They felt this would help clear the pitch, which proved correct.
"Despite requests for the fans to clear the pitch, there wasn't sufficient movement to allow the game to restart following a pitch invasion."
What fans didn't know is that we got word that the match would carry on.
The police and stewards slowly cleared the pitch. Luckily, we were allowed to stay however nobody could take any footage or post on social media, in case people got light of the secret match lol.
Eventually, the police and stadium security staff were happy for the match to restart at around 6.40pm.
After a near 2 hour wait, the players came back onto the pitch and played the final eight minutes without a crowd.
By this point the players had probably admitted defeat or didn't really care because everyone was just kicking the ball around nonchalantly. Or maybe it was hard for them to warm up again and get back into the speed of the game.
🤷🏾♀️
A Football League statement said
the game was concluded 'to maintain the integrity of the competition'.
"The decision to play the match to a conclusion was agreed with both managers and with the support of the match officials.
"However, it was deemed appropriate that the game needed to be played to a conclusion in order to maintain the integrity of the competition and in respect of Colchester United's position of being able to qualify for the League Two play-offs."
Oh, by the way, Colchester had already won the match 3-1.
Overall, it was a really fun day! Full of banter and good vibes and free food!
Shout out to Alya and Auntie Laxmi, you gave Shae and I the special treatment and we appreciate you!
I'll let you know if I suddenly become passionate about football like the majority of my peers 🤷🏾♀️
😘⚽️
25 for 25 Challenge 