Football has changed immeasurably over the past ten or twenty years and, with it, Chelsea Football Club. Fans no longer exclusively hail from the Kings Road, South West London or Surrey. Since Roman Abramovich bought the club in particular, Chelsea has drawn increased interest from all over the world with blue shirts appearing on pretty much every continent. This blog alone has readers in 175 countries.
When I wrote a post summing up what the 2009 pre-season tour of the United States had taught us back in August, one of the main things was the clear impact the club is having stateside. It’s no NFL, but (real!) football is increasing in popularity in over there and selling-out 75,000 seater stadiums – largely with loud and enthusiastic Chelsea supporters - for a friendly is a good sign that the club is at the forefront of the revolution.
But Chelsea fans in America – whether American or Brits who have moved over there – of course have a very different experience to those of us fortunate enough to live within spitting distance of Stamford Bridge. Games are often on at awkward times. They aren’t always on television. They’re in the minority watching a game that is far from being the national sport.
The official North American Chelsea supporters club – Chelsea in America, or, amusingly, CIA – publishes a regular newsletter for its members, who now stretch well into their hundreds. The latest issue of its wittily titled ‘Bluesletter’ (which you can read here) includes a short article by Josh Hampton, an American chap I ‘met’ over on the bridgeviews.co.uk facebook page (where I’ve also chatted with Chelsea supporters from as far afield as Norway, Malaysia, Egypt and Newcastle). Josh gives an interesting insight into what it means to be a Chelsea fan on the other side of the pond:
It’s a secret few people share. A club with very few members. It’s most times being the only guy cheering Chelsea at the pub, vastly outnumbered by those bandwagon-jumping muppets known ‘round the world as Man U supporters (there’s always one or two lurking in the shadows, it seems). It’s a knowing nod and a smile to the rare stranger on the street in a Blues shirt. It’s pride. Joy. Excitement. Walking on air after a win. Week-long bouts of depression when we lose. Wearing a jersey to work every day leading up to big games—and having said jersey occasionally mistaken for a NASCAR shirt (“Who in the hell is Lampard and why’s he got Dale Jr’s number?!”)
It’s sometimes waking up at 7:45 in the morning to watch the match in a postage-stamp-sized window on my computer. In Turkish. That cuts in and out every five seconds. But still being able to tell who’s who on the pitch because of how they run and move. It’s having the opening credits of Blue Revolution on my laptop dock so I can launch it anytime I feel the urge, which is probably way too often considering I’m usually at work when I use my laptop. It’s obsessively memorizing the fixtures so I know what days I can watch the match delayed, and when I’ll have to take a day off altogether to make sure I don’t miss anything—with all the dates kept on a color-coded calendar tacked up on the wall at my desk, just underneath my framed autographed photo of Super Frank (Thanks, Mick!).
It’s having more Chelsea gear than everyday clothes, including just about every home and away jersey from the past six years. It’s going beyond just buying both the Millenniums and the NUAs—it’s making sure every pair of sneakers I buy are Adidas and have some form of Chelsea blue in them so they match all those damn shirts and jackets. It’s teaching my kids the Chelsea chants and songs (with a few choice edits of course). Getting my wife to come along to a game, and watching her get so sucked into the atmosphere that she actually sings the “Celery Song.” About a hundred times. With a great big smile on her face.
From Stamford Bridge to Louisville, I’ll be keeping the blue flag flying high, don’t you worry. Now you’ll have to excuse me, I’m pretty sure there’s a Chelsea episode of Classic English League Soccer about to start that I’ve just got see again. Cheers!
It’s kind of comforting to know that the aspects of the Chelsea experience aren’t all that different, whatever part of the world you come from. Don’t worry Josh – there are United fans in every pub in London, too. Thankfully though, we don’t have the NASCAR thing to deal with, or the mildly irritating need to call the beautiful game ‘soccer’.
Having more Chelsea fans around the world can only be a good thing – so hopefully CIA will continue to grow each week. In the meantime, I’m keen to hear more from other Chelsea fans not living in England. How does matchday go for you, and have you been to the Bridge? Are you on your own, or are there other supporters’ clubs? What are your views on the season so far? And what do you want from a Chelsea blog?! Leave a comment below, or drop me an email here.
Living in the States? Chelsea in America was established last year when four clubs – Midwest Blues, Pacific Coast Blues, Southeast Blues and Texas Blues – combined and already has over 350 members. Aiming to try and grow the club’s presence Stateside, CIA holds events, updates its members with the latest news and its website has a chatboard that is visited by thousands. Check out becoming a member here.
It really depends where you are in the U.S. I live in the southeast and I've never seen a Chelsea fan. While when I go visit up north and wear my jersey I get glared at by United, Arsenal and Liverpool fans, while at the same time having people pass by on the street, beep their horns and yell "CHELSEA!!!" So the main difference, I suppose would be that in some places there is no support for any club and if your jersey says "Football club," they just ask you if that team is or was in the NFL.
Another difference would be the atmosphere when we do see Chelsea. I was at the game in Dallas and it seemed like everyone there was more of a spectator than a fan (Same as at American football). I started Carefree several times and only about 30 people max caught on before it died. Then you go up to Seattle and those fans make just as much noise as any English club can. So being a Chelsea fan in the U.S. is highly dependent on where you are.
Posted by: Joshua T. | 05 November 2009 at 16:43
Part of the NY blues who have twice in the last year caught a match with Mr. Abramovich (ironically both were the away fixtures at Bolton). I take a 45 minute train ride to NYC then the subway another 10 minutes to the infamous Nevada Smith's.
Posted by: bmates | 05 November 2009 at 16:55
Joshua, where are you in the Southeast? If you go down The 'Brewhouse' in Atlanta on matchdays there will usually be a fairly large group of Blues.
Posted by: StamfordBridge | 05 November 2009 at 20:26
If you know where to go there's a decent EPL following in Boston. Most Saturdays bars will also serve breakfast or let you bring your own to watch at the pub. And CL play as well as international is a different story; some places are packed. For the recent Italy/Ireland WC qualifier they were charging $20 p/p to get in and it was PACKED.
side story,
I was running with my Essien jersey on once recently downtown and got a "You've got no history" chant from a Liverpool fan. We still get the stinging remarks here too : )
Posted by: Pete | 05 November 2009 at 21:22
One of my bosses at a job I worked at was a hard-core Chelsea fan. If we were working late on CL match days we'd watch them on our computer, much to our coworkers dismay.
My match day usually consists of me going for a run before the match and making a nice hearty breakfast. A beer in the morning if you watch at home is a lot of fun too.
Posted by: Brad | 05 November 2009 at 21:48
Blues brother here in Nashville, TN. Decent following for footie here. Girlfriends bosses are Tottenham fans, so needless to say after I was introduced and tried out my humor, she won't be getting a raise or a promotion soon. Liverfools and Mancs running amok down here too. CL final 2008 - watched at only bar in town that shows all games - and watched in a sea of red. 250 to about 20 we were outnumbered. Couldn't use the pisser, got in a number of shoving matches, but ultimately was bought a beer after the devastation.
Posted by: jeremy | 05 November 2009 at 22:09