football – GW Blogs from Abroad

Are You Ready For Some (Gaelic) Football?

AdminFebruary 19, 2015

“I wish I did less on my trip overseas.” I have heard plenty of people regret not doing enough on a trip, not seeing or experiencing enough, but never someone regretting having too many experiences. My friends and I have taken this to heart, and here is why: this past weekend we wandered around downtown Dublin, visited Dublin Castle, spent a day on a farm milking cows, herding sheep, baking soda bread, and learning new sports, attended a Gaelic football match, visited the Wicklow Mountains and a nearby ancient monastery south of Dublin, and spent the rest of our Sunday exploring Kilkenny Castle and the Smithwick’s Brewery in County Kilkenny. Needless to say, I got 13 hours of sleep Sunday night. The weekend with friends was unforgettable and I am sure I will touch on many of the experiences in future blog posts. The Gaelic football match, however, was particularly special. In a jam-packed weekend, this event stood out because it was there where I met one of my distant Irish relatives for the first time. My parents made me aware of a network of Irish relatives we had on my dad’s side that I knew little about. My Aunt Kathleen helped get me in touch with Joe McDonagh first through email and eventually through phone. To put it simply, Joe’s great-grandfather is my great-great-grandfather. If I remember correctly, he informed me 9 of 11 children in our family left Galway in the late 1800s due to poverty for America. I am a descendant on my father’s mother’s side of one that left, while he is a descendant of one that stayed. He offered me information about our family and Irish ancestors that I had never heard before. My friend from DCU who tagged along even remarked after our night out that he spotted a family resemblance! Earlier in the night, my friend Luke and I got back from our farm trip, washed the bog mud off, and headed for western Europe’s fourth largest stadium, Croke Park, in the north of Dublin. Joe and I agreed to meet for a Gaelic football match. Luke and I got to our seats, but not without a ridiculously long and frustrating time getting into the stadium, with it’s multitude of entrances and a ticket office blocks away from the stadium! What? The first noticeable difference in sporting events here in Ireland is that you cannot drink in the stadium, only in the concourse. We were very surprised by this rule coming from a huge drinking culture at American sporting events, and being in a country notoriously known for alcohol consumption. The second difference was obviously the sport being played. The Gaelic Games consist of hurling, which is basically an ancient, more primitive version of lacrosse, and Gaelic football, which is like a super-awesome handball+soccer+football extravaganza. With no pads. And almost as much fighting as hockey. These guys are amateurs (another big difference, as pro sports is not really a thing in such a small country), so they do it for the love of the game. You score one point for kicking through football-style uprights, and three points for getting it underneath them, much like soccer. This means consistent one-point scoring, but when a three-pointer is scored, everybody goes nuts (for Dublin of course). It was like a perfect formula for a spectator sport. We missed the hurling match, but Joe met us at our seats and took in the second half of Gaelic football with us. It was almost a surreal experience meeting a blood relative in a foreign country. He was a great guy, a family man with two kids. In typical Dublin fashion, we met one of his friends at a pub after the match. It was actually a really fun time, as two 21-year-old Americans shared stories with two 50-year-old Irishmen. We left with a promise to talk soon about coordinating a meeting with the rest of the relatives in Galway. Gaelic football was awesome, but meeting Joe was even better. My immediate family is passionate for good sports, and it’s great to know my distant relatives are no different.

5 Fandoms You Can Explore in the UK

AdminDecember 27, 2014December 14, 2018

By Jess Yacovelle

For the majority of my blog posts, I've written about the United Kingdom social culture or the schooling system. This time, I'm going to wax on and on about arguably my favorite part of the UK: the fan culture. Living in the United Kingdom is like living in Hollywood: chances are, someone has filmed something on every major street in London, so if you're a big nerd like me, you can experience some major geek-out moments no matter where you go in the UK. Here are my personal top give fandom tidbits about the London and the United Kingdom.

1) Soccer, aka football. I'm not one of those people who insist sports aren't fandoms; anyone willing to spend hundreds of dollars a year on stadium tickets belongs in a fandom, and the UK is therefore a great place to visit. In London, there are (at least) four different football teams and games are shown at almost every pub. You can essentially watch a soccer game anytime you want. Many stadiums also offer tours, and all stadiums have a gift shop! If you're a soccer fan, the UK is the place to feed your addiction.

2) Olympics. In the same vein as soccer, some people are massive fans of the Olympics. The 2012 Olympics were held in Stratford, just outside of London, and you can go tour the area! Some of the stadium is closed for renovations until 2016, but the rest is currently open to the public and visitable. Furthermore, you can see some of the medals and the Olympic torch, which is kept in London's City Hall, by Tower Bridge on the Southbank.

3) Doctor Who. It's the show all generations of people love. Doctor Who recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. In Cardiff, Wales a Doctor Who Museum and set tour has been assembled for fans of the long-standing series to peruse. Fans of the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood should also go see the Roald Dahl Plass, where the Torchwood hub is marked and Ianto's Door, a memorial to a fictional character. You can also check out sites that appeared in the show, such as Cardiff Castle, Canary Wharf, and Trafalgar Square. Want more Doctor Who goodness? Check out fan forums for tips.

4) Literary love. If you're a fan of any English literature - Shakespeare, Victorian, Irish - there are tons of places you can visit in London. A replica of Shakespeare's Globe theatre stands on the edge of the Thames. The Fitzroy Tavern in Holburn offers literary pub crawls. Plaques all over London and Dublin detail the places favorited by writers and poets, or where they used to live and write. A certain cafe in Edinburgh boasts being the writing home of JK Rowling. For Victorian writers like Dickens, you can still see the same streets and landmarks that are mentioned in their stories! Do some research and check out the best sites!

5) Harry Potter! Remember how I mentioned JK Rowling earlier? The after effects of her works are visible all over London and the UK! In addition to visiting the famous Rowling cafe, you can head over to Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station. Then, visit Leavesdon Studios (off of the Watford Junction train stop outside of London), where they filmed the movies. You can take guided walking tours of places either mentioned in the series or used in filming, including Borough Market in London and the Millennium Bridge. Get your wizarding nerd on with some Harry Potter love!

These are just my nerdy Brit-joys; research yours and enjoy the experience!

Of Europe and Sports

AdminDecember 13, 2014

It's a bit of an understatement that the United States is big on sports. Be it baseball, basketball, or football, almost every American student has been on some sort of athletic team or taken lessons at some point during their childhood. Even more so, in the states, "sports" as a concept has taken on a life of its own: it's a billion dollar industry with multiple TV channels and a slew of weekends over the course of a year dedicated to various sporting endeavors.

So how do sports fit into Europe? More specifically, how do sports fit into the United Kingdom?

The biggest sport - in both Europe and the United Kingdom - is clearly football, or soccer as Americans call it. Each country has a national team, and various cities have their own teams as well. London, for example, has four teams that I know of, and near the end of October I went to one of the games.

I saw the Tottenham Hot Spurs play (and defeat) a Greek team at their home stadium. A friend of mine, who loves European football and actually understood what he was doing, organized the trip and booked field-level seats near the center of the pitch. The stadium - being outdoors - was quite cold, and it even started to rain at one point. However the atmosphere was lively - fans jumping out of their seat and screaming at goals or fouls - and the home team dominated play. Though I didn't know the official rules, it was easy enough to follow the action. My friend ended up explaining the rules to a group of us, but I mostly ignored him and focused on watching the game; I chose to apply NHL rules to the football game instead of struggling to digest my friend's diatribe, and for the most part, it served me well.

Hockey is one sport that England does not have, but the rest of Europe - especially the Slavic countries - loves. For me personally, one of the worst aspects of studying in London was the lack of hockey. Though I'm a Californian, my father instilled in me a love for the Philadelphia Flyers and ice hockey, and it kills me that I'm missing the first half of their season.

So when I traveled to Prague immediately following the football game in October, I made sure to catch a hockey match. The team names were all in Czech, so I have no idea who played who, but I do know that the home team won and it was a fantastic game. Since I'm so much more knowledgeable about hockey than I am about football, I can actually detail some differences between NHL hockey and European hockey.

To begin with, European rinks are slightly larger, their goalies are allowed to play the puck from anywhere behind the net, not just within the trapezoid, and offensive players are not allowed to enter the goalie's crease. Moreso, European hockey includes harsher penalties for players who break the rules.

And what do these rules include? No fighting. That's right, hockey lovers, in European hockey, you aren't allowed to fight or even be too physical. Check too hard? You're ejected from the game. Throw a single punch? You may be suspended for several games. As I witnessed in Prague, this creates a completely altered style of hockey. Instead of being physical, players emphasize their finesse and puck-handling skills. They use more fancy, fast passes and less of a forecheck to take the lead. How do I feel about these changes? Well for one thing, it makes it a little more understandable for me to watch players in the NHL - such as Finish Kimmo Timonen or Jaromir Jagr from the Czech Republic - play games so much less physical than American or Canadian born players. In general, however? I think I prefer American hockey. Though the skill with which these Slavic players handle the puck is awe-inspiring, there is a certain level of physicality I’ve come to expect in hockey, and it doesn’t feel right to watch the game without it.

Overall, Europe lacks some of the American sports - such as basketball and football - and it has some sports that we don’t have, like cricket and rugby. To anyone interested in studying abroad, I highly recommend watching some sort of athletic game in your foreign country; it can be really telling in regards to the culture.

¡Hala Madrid y Nada Más!

AdminNovember 14, 2014December 14, 2018

By makenadingwell

It finally happened. I went somewhere where the line for the men’s bathroom was twice as long as the one for the women’s.

I attended my first official European football game! I had my eye on tickets for the Champions League game between Real Madrid and Liverpool for weeks and finally found a couple the night before. After going to local bars to watch games with friends all semester and missing the ‘El Clásico’ against Barcelona for a program excursion, I was itching for some football. I didn’t come to Madrid to miss seeing the team I’ve adored for years. I was not going to miss seeing the Spanish "B.B.C." players, which my Spanish professor explained stood for "Bale, Benzema, and Cristiano."

For days I scanned websites and daydreamt of finally seeing each esteemed player, the reverberation of chanting fans, and the sensation of being consumed by the crowd’s passion. And while the game was packed and invigorating, the atmosphere outside was almost as intense.

After anxiously adjusting my gloves and Madrid scarf, I set off from my quiet neighborhood for the chilly fifteen-minute walk to Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid’s enormous home stadium. The streets grew boisterous as the crowds collected by color. The bellowing Liverpool fans that amassed in scarlet red could be heard blocks away as they sang raucously. They paused at every other corner to survey the intersection, reaffirming their tourist status. As the shape of the colossal Bernabéu ultimately appeared, looming over the neighboring buildings, throngs of Real Madrid fans slowly emerged, arrayed in black and white and brushing past the lingering tourists. Some cheered passionately, but many merely chatted with each other in thick Spanish accents, occasionally smirking confidently at the disorderly Liverpool fans.

Upon arrival, I hurried into the nearby metro entrance to wait for my friend and to escape the crisp evening breeze. Anxiously scanning the rowdy crowds, I spotted a flustered older English fan struggling to communicate with a metro employee. When the unruly swarm of attendees filtered through the turnstiles and disappeared up the stairs, I approached the disillusioned pair and offered to translate. The fan had lost his family, and therefore his ticket to the match, while the metro employee offered advice for a meeting location. The whole transaction was both gratifying and comical, not only due to the proficiency of my Spanish, but also because the thick Liverpool accent seemed to be the harder of the two to understand.

As I walked away to accost my late friend, I overheard the British fan say to the employee, “Sweet girl, nice people you have in Madrid. Lucky she spoke English.” And so that’s how it ended, Madrid 1 – Liverpool 0, just like the final score sheet. I can't wait to go back.