Paul’s Soccer Stories
A Festive Diary: Watching Soccer in England Over the Holidays
While it wasn't quite as fun and festive as years past, for reasons I need not state, my experience of watching English soccer over the Christmas period was nonetheless enjoyable. Here's a diary of my experience. If you are considering coming to England for a soccer-focused trip over the holidays in 2022, I can't recommend…
MLS Cup 2021, or Losing, Winning, and Wondering Why
What is it that makes us sports fans sign up for all the ups and downs, the emotional and financial costs, the abuse, and the exhaustion? Is it the chance at joy? It must run pretty deep, like into our DNA, because there seems no shaking it, no matter how often we say we’re done.…
Groundhopping at Blackpool FC
Let’s take a trip to Blackpool and see a game at Blackpool FC. Just understand, as we depart, that much around here seems to be about the past, some of which is to be celebrated and some, well, forgotten. Blackpool is a city many visitors to England might not think about, because they didn’t grow…
Groundhopping at Fleetwood Town FC
Going to a football game at Fleetwood Town is a chance to see a small club that got big quickly, step just off the tourist path for a truly local experience, and – lucky for me – witness the kind of magic that only live sports can produce. For many newcomers to English football, Fleetwood…
Groundhopping Weekend: FA Cup First Round 2021
A weekend in the FA Cup brings highs, lows, drama, dullness, rain, sun, joy, and grief -- plus all the stuff that happens on the pitch. The first three rounds of the Cup are some of my favorite weekends to be in England to watch football. The First and Second Rounds, generally the first weekends…
Seeing a Game at Dulwich Hamlet FC
I had the honor of seeing Dulwich Hamlet FC's Boxing Day (2018) return to their home ground of Champion Hill. Here's a report, and an introduction to this famous little community club in South London. (This post was originally written in 2019.) Out in South London, in a residential area next to a Sainsbury’s grocery…
Seeing a Game at Burton Albion FC
It seems to me the soul of English soccer is on the terraces. And it was in Burton-Upon-Trent that I was reminded not only of that fact, but also where the game has gone astray somehow. (Originally written February 2017 but updated for the 2021-22 season.) Stumbling around Birmingham New Street in the morning, waiting…
Seeing a Game at Barnsley FC
(This post was written in March 2017, when Barnsley and Huddersfield Town were both in the Championship. For the 2023-24 season, Barnsley are in League One and Huddersfield Town are in the Championship.) Going to a game at Barnsley FC is right around what I call the “sweet spot” of watching English soccer. Allow me…
English Soccer Travels:
Visiting Swansea, South Wales
In my quest to see all the 92 soccer clubs in the Premier League and English Football League, in 2017 I made my way to see a game at Swansea City. Here is a report on the game I saw against Burnley, when both were in the Premier League. Burnley still are for the 2021-22…
Seeing a Game at Swansea City
Seeing a game at Swansea City would seem, without context, to be a pretty standard English Football League experience--except it's in Wales, of course! Not that it lacks interest or passion or drama -- certainly it was the exact opposite when I visited in March 2017, when they were in the Premier League. But if…
