Archive for November 24, 2021
West Ham in the Town, But Nobody Can Watch Them
It was too good to be true! Rapid Vienna and West Ham United in the same Europa League group: two really special games for Vienna based RapidHammer… He now can only look back on his trip to the first leg (Post from blog “West Ham Till I Die”)
When back in late August the result of the Europa League group draw was West Ham United and Rapid Vienna playing in the same group, my phone was brimming over with messages that “congratulated” and asked me who I was going to support in the the games between Rapid and the Hammers, and if I would travel to London. My answer to the latter question was “of course”, that’s a “no brainer”. Who I would support and how I’d feel when one of my teams scored against the other one, was a more difficult question: “I don’t know yet how that will feel,” was my reply. I would find out later – subject to the conditions of getting tickets and being able to make the trip to London without having to quarantine in the UK.
An other task on hand was to find out who was going to accompany me to London Stadium and if the best wife of all would also be part of our West Ham Tour Group. We ended up being five: my friend Alfred who supports Rapid and Aston Villa (but also has a soft spot for West Ham), his son (also supporting Rapid and not having a soft spot for West Ham), our pastor from the ICF (that’s really the name of the church I’m going to in Vienna!) and Mrs. RapidHammer who never goes to footy in Vienna but likes to accompany me to West Ham games in London – or even Reading some years ago.
Once the number of the travelling fans was known, we had to get tickets and to find out how to travel to London in times of Covid.
And there were also various messages coming in from the UK to be answered in September, when friends based in London started asking if I could help them with getting tickets for the Vienna game in November.
Tickets for London and for Vienna could be bought, the flights and hotels in London were booked and then, as the day of the trip was drawing near, the task of filling in the UK Passenger Locator Form and booking a so-called “Day 2 Test” in advance took some hours of my precious time (prior to a trip/holiday, it seems there is always such a lot of work to do in the office!).
It was our first flight within almost two years and it was a great feeling to be back to London after such a long time. I really had missed these nice chats with the migration officers at Stansted. I was asked the reason for my trip and in the following conversation I told the officer I was a travelling football fan and supported West Ham. He looked at the “LL.M.” in my passport and said: “I see you’re a clever man, so why are you supporting West Ham?” Well … what would you have answered?
“Well, everybody makes a mistake at one point or another,” I smiled, “and this one cannot be undone”.
However, though the main reason for the trip was of course the Europa League game, the RapidHammer couple would not be leaving immediately after the game and stay until the Sunday. Therefore we had not booked an accomodation in east London, but stayed in a hotel near Westminster Bridge with a wonderful view over the River Thames and the Houses of Parliament.
On matchday with the kick-off at 8 p.m. BST, we had plenty of time to explore what had changed with Covid and Brexit since our last visit to the British capital. We noticed that there were slightly more closed shops on high streets and also the petrol station near our hotel was closed. But the streets are full of people and London seems to be a brimming and lively city as it has always been. Only two thirds of passengers are wearing masks on the tube, something that would not be possible in Austria. Last time when I forgot to put on my face covering when I got on a bus in Vienna, two old ladies immediately shouted: “Sie haben keine Maske auf!”
Our match day started with the “Day 2 Test” according to the appointment we had made before flying off to the UK. Our friends who travelled with us had booked a test that was brought to their hotel and even was cheaper than ours, but we had opted for a test facility near London Bridge, nearby Borough Market. I had told a friend that we would be there in the morning, and really I got a call by him and we met up and had a coffee together. Great to hear that he was doing well after having had Covid some weeks ago; being vaccinated twice he had not been severely ill.
We then learned that the Indian restaurant we had loved to go to on previous stays had not survived, but of course it wasn’t difficult to find something else, and then, in the afternoon, we had to get ready for the football and travel from Westminster to the fairly distant London Stadium. Sitting in the home end I dressed in West Ham colours (as I always do, of course, when I watch West Ham), but I have to confess that I wore a green and white shirt underneath.
In the London Stadium we managed to meet up with friends who planned to come to Vienna later, had a beer with them and handed over the Rapid tickets for the reverse fixture in November that I had brought with me.
West Ham’s game against Rapid in front of an almost sold-out crowd of 55,000 under the lights with a pre-match light show to mark West Ham’s first ever Europa League group stage game at home was really a win-win-situation for me. A very good first half of West Ham, with a goal from Declan Rice and two shots rattling the woodwork of Rapid’s goal, was followed by a welcome not-so-bad second half from Rapid. I did really enjoy every good move of both teams, and the match was highly entertaining for me.
Somewhere deep in my heart I would have fancied a shock result in Rapid’s favour (which could have been possible if the VAR had not ruled that it wasn’t a foul when Rapid winger Marco Gruell was tripped inside the box in the second half). West Ham’s second goal was much deserved though and I happily tuned in when “Bubbles” and “West Ham are massive” were sung during as well as after the game, alongside “Twist and Shout” and “Sweet Caroline” which were played when we left the East Stand to have an other beer with our friends to celebrate a memorable evening – only the second match of West Ham vs Rapid in history. But a third one would follow suit and we would meet again in Vienna within less than two months, we said.
I had bought one of those controversial split-scarfs prior to the game, paying almost double of the price that it was sold after the match, but in case of Mr. RapidHammer that was a “must” and I thought I would proudly sport it again in Rapid’s Weststadion for the return leg in November.
But that wasn’t to be as we all know since the Austrian government has decreed an other “lockdown” – the fourth now for Austria as a whole and the fifth for the Vienna region since the outbreak of Covid in 2020, though rumour goes that this directive was not issued because of rising infections but because of “West Ham being so massive that Austria had to close the whole country”. Well, since the measures have not been revoked after West Ham’s defeat on Saturday this theory might have got a little implausible now…
In his recent post “Irons1959” tells us about the trials and tribulations prior to his cancelled trip to Vienna. I could also tell you about all the messages and calls I had with various friends who wanted to come to Vienna, all the information I provided about hotels, always changing Covid measures, test facilities in Vienna, kosher restaurants, getting tickets despite of the UEFA ban for the away end, and much more, and all the anticipation and looking forward to meeting up in Vienna’s West Ham Pub, “The Tube Station“. But all to no end …
On Thursday I will wear the split scarf only in front of my TV, no friends will come to Vienna, but at least Rapid has confirmed that there will be a refund for the tickets we have bought for the game that will be played behind closed doors now. A weak consolation though for the West Ham fans who will not experience the atmosphere in Rapid’s ground. It would have been brilliant in this sold-out match under the lights.
Is a shock result on the cards in this fixture now with David Moyes rotating his squad and Rapid having got a new (caretaker) manager in Steffen Hofmann, Rapid’s so-called “football god” being the green and whites’ record player with a total of 540 appearances for Rapid, after Didi Kuehbauer had to resign due to a bad run of results in the Austrian Bundesliga? Or will West Ham, as I also hope, already secure their place in the knockout stages in Vienna? We will know on Thursday evening, though unfortunately we will not be eye-witnesses of this event and cannot cheer on the teams in the Allianz Stadion aka Weststadion in Huetteldorf.
All I can do now is comfort me with saying:
At least we have been to the first leg in London.
EXTRA TIME 
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