Guest Post by Hamburg Hammer
It’s spring 1996. A 24 year old shipping clerk has just arrived in Barking of all places to take on a job with the local branch of a German shipping line shifting containers with pineapple, building materials for the Summer Olympics down under and beverages from A to B. Apart from the odd vacation it was my first prolonged stay away from home, my beloved city of Hamburg, Germany.
London of course was exciting, I instantly loved the place and all the sights. But something was wrong. The folks in my office spoke with an accent that made it hard for me to join in the banter or even understand most of the things that were being spoken. The food was weird. The beer had no head and was warm, but some of my colleagues seemed to like it as they downed 6-7 pints of bitter for our Friday evening after work drink. Or Tuesday. Or Thursday.
I couldn’t believe it a first, but it was true – I was bloody homesick!
I needed something to take my mind off this negative state of mind, I needed a place where I could feel I belonged, something familiar, a routine that would give me stability and hopefully some enjoyment to go with it – there was only one solution, I had to find myself a local football team to support.
But what team to choose ? Tottenham had German links as Klinsmann had played for them before. Arsenal had that cannon on their crest which looked appealing. Watford was Elton John’s club. Chelsea could have been my club, but it was a long way out from Barking. Instinctively I knew Millwall couldn’t be an option as it was on the wrong side of the river.
So me being a lazy lad I took the path of least resistance, one look at the tube map and wahey, Upton Park it was – West Ham United, the Academy of Football.
My first game was in March 1996, the 4:2 home win against Man City with their German contingent Uwe Roesler and Eike Immel. I didn’t know anything about Bobby Moore. I thought ham was something you put on your sandwich. I saw policemen on horseback for the first time in my life. And once I had taken my seat in the West Stand Upper tier near the corner of the Bobby Moore stand I was instantly hooked.
The team’s colours were something I’d never seen in Germany before. Claret and blue, what a fantastic combo! The fans constantly sang a song or chant I had never heard before, it wasn’t one of the usual singalongs, I couldn’t get all the words at first, but I sensed that this song was very important for the fans and they must have sung it for decades. It was Bubbles of course.
I instantly liked certain players like Dicks or Breacker, defenders doing so much more than just defending. I liked the action on the pitch, end to end stuff, but even more so the passion from the fans. I came back for more. The next home game against Wimbledon was less thrilling, but typical West Ham in a way, and I could have turned my back there and then, but no way! I got my season ticket in the West Lower, near corner Centenary Stand, for the following season for 440 pounds and saw players like Miklosko, Bilic, Rieper, Potts, Bishop, Porfirio, Kitson, Hartson, Dowie and yes, also the failures like Raducioiu, Dumitrescu or Futre.
I’m glad to say that this great club and its wonderful fans helped me settling somewhat during my 18 months in Barking. West Ham’s fortunes always gave me something to chat about with my colleagues in the canteen, with the chef ALWAYS singing Bohemian Rhapsody from the top of his lungs while preparing our apple crumble with custard.
Did West Ham win many games during my time in the UK ? No. Was it exciting ? You betcha!
West Ham instantly became my forever football love, instantly overtaking my local club St.Pauli. I’m wearing my West Ham shirts with pride here in Germany and spread the gospel of this wonderful club everywhere I can, I wouldn’t want to leave this endless rollercoaster of emotions for the world.
In the meantime I’ve read up a lot about our history including our former greats, watched games from days gone by on DVD and obviously got engaged in debate about our club on various Internet forums. I can’t put into words how glad I am to have found my way into the West Ham family.
And basically all because I couldn’t be bothered to take the tube across half the length of the city to watch some football.
Thank God Upton Park is only two stops on the tube from Barking.
Barking as a location may have a lot to answer for, in my case it brought me one of the biggest loves of my life – and for that alone I’ll be forever grateful…
Note from Iain: What a brilliant, brilliant article. Come on foreign readers, I’d love to publish more of this sort of thing. How did you become a Hammer?