During the summer of 2002, I traveled “across the pond” to England during the 2002 World Cup.
So during this time I did not realize how much a World Cup meant to a country like England — the founders of football — until I was there. This was also when I discovered what a pub was. Pubs are similar to a bar in different parts of the world, but have a different type of atmosphere from the people, the language, and the drinks served. During the World Cup, the pubs had so many people in them during every single England game. A country coming to a standstill in pubs across the UK to watched its beloved team.
Pubs are similar to a bar in different parts of the world, but have a different type of atmosphere from the people, the language, and the drinks served
This brings me to England’s second group match versus Argentina. Needing a win to help chances to advance to the round of 16. My family and I, on the day of game, were looking for a place to watch the game and saw a pub as the the perfect place to go. We were a little naive to walk into the pub 20 minutes before the game… the beer had already been flowing two hours before the match, the pub absolutely packed standing room alone, chants for England ringing around the bar.
I did not realize how much this really meant to them until I saw all the fans in the pub drinking pint after pint ready to watch their team. Going to the pub grabbing Pints before the game, during and after game. I did not realize this was such a tradition to drink pints of British beer and Guinness while watching soccer or should I say football.
Unlike in the United States, you don’t wait to get served at a table. Whenever you want a pint go up straight to the bar and order what you want. These were little things I tried to pick up on as I tobserved what was going around the mass amounts people that were in the pub. The game started shortly after we arrived and that’s when my parents took me out of the pub. Maybe it was too much beer drinking or the incessant language that was coming out of some of the fans’ mouths, but for myself at that age my parents thought I was not old enough to be around the kind of atmosphere.
No matter what though, experiencing the beer drinking of England soccer fans in the pub is an experience I will never forget, and maybe one day soon enough I will be able to have a pint in the pubs with locals to experience their beloved. Different cultures have different norms when it comes to drinking in different establishments and that is something I found so intriguing. Traveling and learning about the way different cultures live their daily lives are great experiences that you keep with you for the rest of your life.
