Games attended this year?
Brighton 0 Arsenal 4, 22nd January, Broadfield Stadium, Crawley (League cup)
Napoli 0 Sampdoria 1, 26th January, Arena Giuseppe Piccolo, Naples (Serie A)
Worthing 3 Keynsham 1, 23rd February, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Turbine Potsdam 0 Wolfsburg 4, 3rd May, Karl- Liebknecht-Stadion, Potsdam (Bundesliga)
England 4 Netherlands 0, 9th July, Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich (European Championship)
Stuttgart 2 Heidenheim 0, 20th July, PSV-Stadion, Stuttgart (friendly)
Worthing 3 Steyning Town 1, 10th August, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (friendly)
Worthing 0 Brighton U21 7, 20th August, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League Cup)
Worthing 1 Bournemouth Sports 2, 24th August, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Arsenal 4 London City Lionesses 1, 6th September, Ashburton Grove, London (Women’s Super League)
Worthing 1 Fulham 4, 7th September, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League Cup)
Worthing 0 Bristol Rovers 9, 14th September, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Worthing 1 Moneyfields 4, 28th September, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Arsenal 1 Lyon 2, 7th October, Meadow Park, London (Champions League)
Worthing 4 Abingdon United 1, 26th October, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (FA Cup)
Worthing 3 Ascot United 3, 28th October, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Worthing 1 Abingdon United 2, 9th November, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1, 6th December, Ashburton Grove, London (Women’s Super League)
Worthing 4 Keynsham Town 2, 7th December, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Arsenal 1 FC Twente 0, 9th December, Meadow Park, London (Champions League)
Worthing 2 Portishead Town 4, 14th December, Woodside Stadium, Worthing (National League)
Total number of matches?
Twenty one, more than double the last two years.
First match of the year?
Brighton 0 Arsenal 4, on a bitterly cold night in Crawley, Arsenal left it late to progress in a competition nobody really cares about.
Last match of the year?
Worthing 2 Portishead 4, Worthing got in the Christmas spirit early by giving three points to the team bottom of the table.
Most surprising game?
England vs Netherlands. After the opening group stage games for both teams I expected it to be a close, cagey affair, but England tore through their opponents like a hot knife through paper!
Most disappointing?
Worthing 0 Bristol Rovers 9. The beer was off, the team were off, it was cold and wet, nothing went right.
Farthest travelled?
Arena Giuseppe Piccolo in Naples, 1,188m/1912km from my front door. My front door subsequently moved a fortnight later, but this remains the furthest game away home I’ve seen this year.
States attended games in?
Cheerful, grateful, euphoric, bored, drunk, knackered and achy.
Stadium most visited?
Worthing’s Woodside stadium, 12 times (at present)
Worst injury?
Apart from being wet and cold at several games (Meadow Park remains twinned with outer Siberia, temperature wise) the worst was a raging hangover after the England game.
Most expensive ticket?
About £25 for the England ticket. I entered two Worthing games for free by turning up at half time, and both friendlies were free as well!
Player seen the most?
They’re definitely from Worthing, probably Skye Bacon as she’s been ever present this season. Outside of the Worthing squad, I’ve seen Alessia Russo play the most.
Best new discovery?
Been impressed by Katie Reid the few times I’ve seen her – sadly, due to the three letter curse, I won’t see her again for a while. Also impressed by Justine Kielland who ran the midfield for Wolfsburg against Potsdam. Checking the goals against above, you wouldn’t think I’d think highly of the Worthing defence, but the back four are enjoyable to watch.
Bands seen this year that also broke up this year?
I’m not sure how to make this football related, but I’m open to suggestions. Flew out to see Potsdam get relegated, that wasn’t fun (but was foregone when I booked my flights).
Friends made at games?
I’m going to defer this one to the next question.
Footballers met?
Bumped into Baldi and Bertucci from Sampdoria in the café after the game buying celebratory beers. I got an autograph from Camilla Kuver and a fist-bump from Jule Brand after the Potsdam game, and was swarmed by PSV Stuttgart’s men’s team for their halftime team talk against TSV Berkheim – their friendly was on an adjacent pitch to the VfL Stuttgart game, so my pre-match beer was accompanied by what I can only assume was German for “we’re doing well, but I think we can find another gear to take control of this game”!
I also have my own regular spot at the Worthing games. This has led to regular chats with their set-piece/goalkeeping coach during the game, as well as several substitutes, and I’m mutuals on Instagram with half a dozen players and the physio.
Best souvenir from a game?
I got a Euro 2025 pin badge which is next to my Euro 2022 one on my coat. Also got a Worthing scarf - they play in red and white so I ordered one thinking “great! This can double as an Arsenal scarf, but the smaller club gets the money!” Unfortunately it has the club name emblazoned across it so I can’t quite get away with that.
Longest time in line?
Two hours before the Arsenal v Lyon game, to get a decent spot on the North Bank.
Games seen from the front row?
I stood in the front row of the North Bank for the above game; the game against Twente was from the front row of the opposing stand for a change, and my spot at Worthing is also down the front.
Most games in one month?
September had four, as did December.
Most games in one week?
Three, Arsenal in the league on the first Saturday in December, Worthing in (a slightly less impressive) league on the Sunday, then Arsenal in the Champions League on the Tuesday night. All three in different stadia, too, and in the space of four days! I slept really well on Wednesday night.
Biggest crowd?
Arsenal vs London City was 38,000.
Smallest crowd?
Worthing vs Steyning was 65 on a sunny Bank Holiday Sunday.
Any drunk encounters?
I managed to get drunk in Switzerland. Had a beer for the fan walk with the Dutch fans, then before going into the ground and paying about £8 for 330ml of Heineken I found a shop nearby and got two cheap cans. I was cheerfully merry when I wandered round the ground collecting Pokestops and being interviewed by Deutsche Welle (again), then when I found my seat it was next to a Swedish woman who had been stood up and gave me two free beers because she couldn’t drink that many, and then wandering back to my seat at half time I got given another beer because I was wearing my Gillingham shirt so “had been through enough already”.
Highlights:
- One of the worst moments in 2023 was realising that the women’s game didn’t need my support and plunging into a mental crisis because of it. A year later I revised that view for the better, changing it from “they (women’s football) don’t need me anymore”, it’s become “they (Arsenal) don’t need me anymore, but there’s other clubs who are small enough that I could easily make a difference by going to a game and buying a drink (or several). Earlier this year we bought a place less than 2km from my local tier 4 side and so I’ve been attending every home game. It’s close enough that if I miss the first half with family obligations I can still wander round for the second half. I can get entry and a pint for less than a tenner; after half a season already I’ve become a regular face at games, and half the team know what my cat looks like!
- In a repeat of 2022, I booked a weekend trip to Germany to see Turbine Potsdam lose 0-4 to Wolfsburg. Instead of capitulating in the Pokal final, this time was their last (potentially ever) home game in the Frauen Bundesliga but after the best part of a decade seeing the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadio online through streams, I’m glad I got to visit in person.
- That was one of four overseas games I saw this year, in three different countries. The Naples trip was a 40th birthday present booked deliberately so that I could finally go to a Serie A game; and a two week stay in the south of Germany for my sister-in-law’s graduation provided an ideal base for games in Zurich and Stuttgart – the latter of which was a few hours before my flight home, so on 75 minutes I got a great reaction from fans wheeling my suitcase along the front of the terrace!
- The trip to Zurich was the only game I went to by car, as my sister-in-law’s partner and their younger sister are both Dutch, so I cadged a lift. I wasn’t entirely sure whether I would be getting a lift home and spent a large part of the second half looking up train connections!
Lowlights:
- I’ve not seen an awful lot of wins for teams I’ve been supporting this year, I’ll be honest.
- Saturday noon kickoff times in the WSL are rather frustrating - if I want to see an Arsenal game at home, I have no chance of fitting in a parkrun beforehand.
