Yesterday I attended my first Premiership football match. Arsenal Vs Chelsea at the Emirates (2-2).
Prior to this game I had absolutely no interest in football. As a kid I supported Liverpool FC, but that was solely down to my big brothers 
I was invited to the game by Martin Best, the Head of Brand Marketing for fast-rising digital money transfer company WorldRemit (ongoing sponsors of my company’s Tech in Ghana Conference).
WorldRemit was founded in 2010 by Ismail Ahmed, a UK-based entrepreneur from Somaliland. They recently partnered with Arsenal to become the Premier League club’s first official online money transfer partner.
Initially, I wasn’t up for it. Aside from my lack of love for football I’ve also got a thing about big crowds, which I think stems from being crushed at Notting Hill Carnival back in the 90s.
However, I quickly changed my mind after convincing myself to face my fears, and use the opportunity to genuinely ‘bond’ with the WR team.
Interestingly, the experience highlighted a few unfounded preconceptions I had about football, its fans and the nature of the game.
Here are 10 things I learnt about myself and the football industry after attending my first Premiership match:
1. The people who attend football games are very ‘normal’. When I alighted at Arsenal station I quite frankly expected a to see a crowd of loud, drunk hooligans. But nope. Instead, there were cute couples, old people, young people, and all nationalities. Two guys walking beside me were having a conversation about Bitcoin!
2. Everything looks so pretty! The view from the upper tier was like a scene from a Hollywood movie. The ground was super clean, the players all looked immaculate, the lighting was perfect… I was expecting muddy grass and dirty boots. But nope. Far from it. (The pic below is a Google image, but you get the idea).
3. The crowd action is hilarious. All the synchronised boos and cheers reminded me of watching WWF. The chants are funny too. The few but very lively Chelsea fans singing ‘you will never sing back’ to the Arsenal crowd was my favourite I think.
4. Fans have A LOT to say to their team’s players. The passion from the Arsenal fans around me was commendable. They didn't care that the players couldn’t hear them, they’d still scream from the top of their lungs. I heard things like: ‘Don’t keep the ball too long!’, ‘He’s playing like he wants to leave’, and ‘Don’t give it to Alexis’ quite a bit. There’s also some random swearing thrown in to the mix.
5. You will 100% end up getting involved in points 3 and 4.
6. Referees have to do a lot of jumping. Don’t be getting in the way of that ball mate!
7. Time flies by! The first time I looked up during the first half there were only 8 minutes to go.
8. Chelsea’s Eden Hazard is a decent footballer. (One of our group was an undercover Chelsea fan who told me Hazard’s name when I pointed out how skilful he was).
9. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. That moment when the home team scores is priceless. But, as I learned when Chelsea received a penalty (undeserved in my opinion) and scored, that feeling can disappear in seconds.
10. I quite like football.