How a playoff semi final turned a Dutchman into a Brighton fan
How do you get through a weekend of Premier League football when the game of your favourite team has been postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak?
If you are Dutch, like me, you watch the final Grand Prix of the Formula One season. I am not a big F1 fan and am clueless with regards to the rules and regulations. It appears to be more complicated than driving faster than all the others.
Anyway, I liked the final result but due to ignorance I don’t have an opinion on whether it was fair or not. However, seeing an orange wall at the other end of the world cheering on ‘one of our own’ gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Back to football. Watching matches is a lot more fun if you have some sort of stake in the game. Being an Albion fan does give you a different perspective.
I remember the days when I supported the underdogs. Now I seem to be pleased when Manchester United beat Norwich, when Leicester beat Newcastle and when Chelsea beat Leeds. Dubious penalties in favour of the so-called big teams are a welcome gift rather than a total irritation.
It will not come as a surprise to you that I was not ‘born’ an Albion fan. My favourite English team in the past was Arsenal,
For me, Robert Pires was the most graceful player ever to set foot on the old Highbury pitch. Watching him was worth the entrance fee alone.
He contributed 62 goals in 198 Premier League appearances, which is phenomenal for a winger at the very highest level.
Patrick Viera was immense in midfield in the nineties and early noughties. A real powerhouse. It was a shame his career as a manager went dramatically downhill since his summer decision to join Crystal Palace.
My appreciation for Arsenal faded heavily over the years as the club developed a seriously unlikeable side in the last decade. Piers Morgan’s tweets and general existence didn’t help either.
It took a few years but eventually I saw the light. I moved to Brighton in October 2013. The first time I visited the Amex was for a Championship match in November 2015 against MK Dons.
I lived in Milton Keynes for a few years in the nineties and had since visited the local stadium a handful of times. The Dons who came to the Amex that day were a decent team and played a tidy brand of football under Karl Robinson.
The Albion won the game 2-1. I remember being impressed by a young winger with a bag full of tricks and a nice change of pace.
His name was Solly March. Little did I know he would become a Premier League standard wing back in the years to come.
Waiting for the train at Falmer Station afterwards, the Dons’ fans were singing: “You’re nothing special, we lose every week”. That was the highlight of my afternoon.
Although my first visit to the Amex did not stir any feelings of passion, the second one did in abundance. The match in question was the playoff semi final versus Sheffield Wednesday in 2016.
I am sure I don’t have to remind anybody how the first leg in Yorkshire finished. Albion played the majority of the match with 10 men after Tomer Hemed, Anthony Knockaert, Connor Goldson and Steve Sidwell left the field prematurely as a result of injuries.
The pre-match atmosphere at the Amex for the return leg was unbelievable. No team had previously overturned a two goal first leg deficit to reach the final of the play-offs.
Brighton made every attempt to write their name into the record books but were desperately unlucky. From that moment I was hooked and instantly bought a season ticket for the following season. The rest is history and the season ticket has been automatically renewed ever since.
I apologise for never having travelled to Gillingham for a home game or visited the Goldstone Ground. My friends in the North Stand at the Amex don’t seem to hold it against me…. anymore.
On Wednesday, I will be able to watch my team without nervously looking down the table. Well for another few weeks at least. And yes, I was very pleased when Raul Jimenez was booked twice in 30 seconds last weekend. One less threat to worry about for our depleted defence.
Fortunately there is no need to wait long for the next Albion home game after last weekend’s match against Spurs got postponed. Which is just as well – there is no Formula One to replace the football for another three months.
