A personal reflection by Christy Au
It sounded funny that I, a non-football fan, would buy a ticket for the recent game of Leicester vs. Crystal Palace at the King Power Stadium.
However, I would say that this match (SAT,OCT15) has changed my mind completely, and football was amazing.
To go into a stadium and watch a Premier League match was one of my biggest goals in the bucket list of things that I need to do in the UK, during my visit here from Hong Kong, to study at De Montfort University.
Don’t ask an outsider for the reason because I also can’t understand myself sometimes. I just felt like it would be one of the most important experiences here.
Anyway, I opened an account on the official website of Leicester City, and randomly bought a ticket for their home match day when I was surfing online. I thought tickets would be expensive, as many people sold them with a high price on different football ticket websites. It turned out I just had to pay £35 for the ticket with a under-22 discount.
On game day, I arrived 10 minutes before the match started. While I was still finding my way to my seat, the MC was introducing the players of Leicester City, and everyone was standing up, clapping and cheering for them.
I was like, WOW, the atmosphere was fabulous, and I had already immersed myself in it. The game started suddenly after I had sat down for a few seconds. I had supposed a loud whistle would be heard like I had heard on TV before the game started, but I didn’t hear any.
Yes, the game then started quietly. I couldn’t take my eyes off the pitch. Everything happened like a flash on the pitch. Seeing the ball go to the left side from the right side one second, then there would be a corner in the next moment. I could only use seconds as a unit for everything that happened on the pitch.
Apart from the high accuracy of ball passing by the players, I was also amused by their skills, and how they defended wholeheartedly. All of them were so passionate and seized all opportunities that might become a goal.
Emotions of audiences and players influenced each other, everyone was so into the match. I could finally feel how nervous they were when all players were fighting for the ball in front of the nets, also how excited when a goal almost appeared.
I wish I can witness at least one goal in the future. Ever since I can remember, I have only watched football matches 2 to 3 times, including this time, and all those games were without any goals, so I joked to my mum and said, actually we didn’t need a match preview because I would definitely make the game result in 0-0.
Nevertheless, after this fantastic experience, I can foresee that I will still pay attention to football matches when I go back to Hong Kong. Of course, I will support Leicester City in the Premier League. Other than that, I am so looking forward to the World Cup which will start a few weeks later, I hope England will get a good result in the biggest football event on earth.
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