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Chelsea FC First Game Stories – Yasuko From Japan

Every fan remembers the first time they go to watch their team play live and in the flesh. For some people this trip involves a trip on the underground or a long drive, for others such as Yasuko Sekine this involves a 12,000 mile round trip plane journey.

This vivid memory cares not for the occasion and includes the minutest details that would normally just fade into the background. From the stadium to the opposition and the bantering atmosphere of the fans, no detail can be classed as too small to remember.

Yasuko in traditional Japanese dress, however I am assured she also enjoys wearing a Chelsea shirt

Yasuko’s story is no different, like wives and girlfriends of football fans around the world, not only did Yasuko gain a friend and companion when she met her boyfriend Bob, she gained a football team, a passion and an obsession.

Over the next couple of years Bob waxed lyrical about the football club he supported back in England and how important it was to him, encouraging her to share his passion.

Yasuko was quickly swayed by his enthusiasm, watching the game on television with her boyfriend, which due to the time zone involved keeping some strange hours.

At Christmas last year Bob took Yasuko back to meet his family for Christmas, her first trip to England. Immediately he saw his opportunity to take Yasuko to a game, after calling in a few favours he was able to secure two tickets for the Premier League’s Boxing Day lunch time kick off.

The game may not have been the most glamorous game of the season with Chelsea playing away to Birmingham; however this mattered not, especially as the tickets were in the Chelsea end.

Here is Yasuko telling the story of her first Chelsea game.

Yasuko’s Story

From when I was a school kid myself, I’ve always loved the beautiful game of football. Both playing and watching that is. However, I’ve watched the Premiership on TV with my boyfriend for a while, but always wondered how it would compare to the Japanese league games that I’ve watched.

So when I heard from my boyfriend that on our Christmas trip England we were going to go to a Chelsea game, I almost couldn’t believe it. I get so emotional watching the games on TV in Japan, I wondered if I could even handle a real game! Time after time, I’d heard from Bob (my boyfriend) that the atmosphere was so great, you could never fully understand until you’d seen a game for real.

On arrival to England, the first thing that hit me was the obsession of the game. Every kid wanted to tell you their life-long picked out team, every shop window was full of team kits. This was not Japan anymore!

So as the finale to our Xmas England trip, we took a car up to Birmingham for the 2009 Boxing Day game Birmingham City Vs Chelsea F.C. On entering the stadium, we went to find our seats early and were really surprised that it was pretty empty right up until kick off.

However, this gave me a chance to see my favorite player, Peter Cech, about 20 meters from me warming up before game on an almost empty pitch. People close to me shouted his name and I was really surprised when he waved to them.

Seeing Chelsea player’s wave to their fans gave me a real sense of how close they were to their fans and this felt great.

Even throughout the game, players would take the time to acknowledge the supporters. It made me fall more in love with the blues right away!

I was really surprised however about how separate the fans were kept for the opposing teams. In Japan, you can freely walk between the different sections wearing opposition shirts and not worry about any trouble, but I was a little nervous to be honest.

I saw several people from both sides doing aggressive wrist shaking actions (that Bob surprisingly explained to me were signs of masturbation) to each other and didn’t really want to go anywhere away from my fellow Chelsea followers at that point.

Another fun thing was the bookies inside the stadium. I’d never put a bet on before and, after a short consultation with Bob, I decided to take John Terry as first goal scorer at 20/1. Obviously we cheered a little extra for him when he was close to the goal and got really excited whenever he went up for a header.

Of course I was impressed most of all by the singing. I had no idea (from my TV based supporting prior to the game) of the amount and persistence of songs from the Chelsea fans.

Among ‘Care Free’, ‘Blue Flag’, ’10 Men went to mow’ and other my favorite had to be the ‘bouncy song’. I’m not sure exactly what was happening, but after everyone singing “We’re all going to bounce in a minute”, I was suddenly jumping up and down like a crazy woman with my fellow fans for no apparent reason at all. It was a lot of fun.

Even though the game was a 0-0 boring draw, the game was a real eye-opener for me and one that made me go back to Tokyo and keep the blue flag flying high in the East. Next time, I hope to make it to Stamford Bridge and see them in action at home and maybe have time for some shopping in the MegaStore!

Do you have a Chelsea story you would like to share?

email Kristian_uk@hotmail.co.uk

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Can Michael Essien Return To His Best?

Yesterday we had the fantastic news that Michael Essien returned to competitive action for the reserves.

However when he is fully fit he returns to a very competitive Chelsea midfield with Lampard, Meireles, Ramires, Romeu and Mikel all hoping to keep him out of the team.

Whether they succeed will depend on what condition physically and mentally Essien is in when he takes to the field again.

He has been out with a rupture to anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus, which 20 years ago would have meant the end of career, saved by modern science we hae to hope he still has his speed and strength to compete at his best.

Mentally this will always be tough for him to recover from, when challenging for the ball it can be difficult for players to be as committed and fierce as they were before the injury.

Many players return but never comeback, subconsciously protecting the injured limb, this would rob Essien of his greatest attributes.

Coming back will be tough but if anyone can it will be ‘the Bison’ we will all be behind him 100%!

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Chelsea FA Final Cup Songs

Although the practise now seems to have ended, teams that reached major cup finals (mostly the FA Cup) used to release a song to mark the occasion. These songs were mostly cheesy pop songs which often featured the vocals of the first team squad and a video of them recording it.

Chelsea may have only reached four major finals between 1960 and 2000 but we had a fine record with our songs.

Two of our most famous songs ‘Blue is the Colour and ‘Blue Day’ were recorded and released in the run up to major finals and feature vocals from the teams of the era, today we are going to look at our Final songs.

Blue is The Colour (1972)

‘Blue is the colour’ was our song for the League Cup Final in 1972 and reached number 5 in the UK charts and became a club anthem.

Blue Day (1997)

Whilst ‘Blue Day’ sung by Chelsea fan Suggs and the players for the FA Cup Final in 1997 signified an era of hope amongst fans but could only reach number 22 in the charts.

No One Can Stop Us Now (1994)

These songs are popular still today, however you are unlikely to hear the 1994 song ‘No One Can Stop Us Now’ as it was naff and didn’t really catch on with the fans despite reaching number 23 in the UK charts.

I am proud of our songs (even our 1994 effort) and think its sad the tradition has died out, who knows maybe we can revive it this year?

Didier Drogba Joins 150 Club But What Is His Place In Chelsea Folklore?

Didier Drogba scored his 150^th goal for Chelsea in our defeat against Aston Villa and moved himself up the Chelsea record books to share a stage with legends such as Peter Osgood.

I often forget that through the good and the bad Drogba has now been at Chelsea nearly 8 years and been a key component in the most successful period of our history.

So this leaves me in a quandary, given his Jeckyll and hide nature is Didier Drogba a Chelsea legend?

On his game he is one of the most feared strikers in the world, he is strong, technically brilliant with a keen eye from goal that makes him a threat from four to forty yards out.

I remember his goals and matchwinning performances that have won him and the club accolades and trophies.

For these feats he is in many ways a Chelsea legend; however there have always been incidents that have dented his reputation with Chelsea fans.

Sometimes he can appear not to be bothered with what is going on in the game and totally uninterested and this has happened at various stages of his Chelsea career.

These are also punctuated with some less than impressive media displays from him and his agent in which he has stated that he has wanted to leave on more than one occasion, only to reverse himself or sign a new contract.

I think that in time and his medals and records will speak for themselves and he will be regarded as one of the greatest strikers in our history and a legend.

For now thou there are still marks on the copybook of an amazingly talented player, however I will let you make up your own mind.

Chelsea FC A Brief History – 1994 FA Cup Run

In 1994 Chelsea reached the FA Cup final for the first time in twenty four years as Glen Hoddle led Chelsea all the way to Wembley.

This was a cup run of old acquaintances as Glen Hoddle faced his brother Carl on the field in 1993 and Chelsea were forced to see off Blue’s legend Kerry Dixon as he spearheaded the Luton line in the Semi-Finals.

This long overdue cup run developed as Chelsea overcame Barnet, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United, Wolves and Luton to reach the final of the competition for the first time since 1970.

Third Round

In the third round Chelsea were drawn away to lower league Barnet, however under police advice and the behest of the Underhill club the tie was switched to Stamford Bridge. When the first match ended 0-0 the replay was also played at Stamford Bridge in which Chelsea ran out easy winners.

Barnet  0 Chelsea 0  – Attendance 23,200 (Stamford Bridge)

Chelsea 4 Barnet 0 – Attendance 16,209

Scorers – Burley, Peacock, Stein, Shipperley

Fourth Round

Chelsea drew Sheffield Wednesday in the next round and after a 1-1 home draw Chelsea then went to Hillsborough and secured an excellent 3-1 victory secured with goals from Craig Burley, Gavin Peacock and John Spencer.

Chelsea 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1 – Attendance 26,094

Scorer – Peacock

Sheffield Wednesday 1 Chelsea 3 – 26,144

Scorers – Burley, Peacock, Spencer

Fifth Round

Chelsea again faced lower league opposition as they were drawn away at Oxford United, the home side took the lead with a goal from Joey Beauchamp however Chelsea rallied with the heroes of the fourth round John Spencer and Gavin Peacock clinching victory again.

Oxford United 1 Chelsea 2 – Attendance 10,787

Scorers – Burley, Spencer

Sixth Round

Chelsea faced another team from a lower division in the quarter finals as Chelsea took on Wolves at Stamford Bridge in the first televised game of Chelsea’s cup run.

It took a solitary Gavin Peacock goal to secure a trip to Wembley against Luton

Chelsea v Wolves – Attendance 29,340

Semi Finals

The semi finals were held at Wembley in a move that was as controversial then as it has been in recent years.

This was the author’s first trip to Wembley to watch Chelsea with around 30,000 Chelsea fans watching Chelsea try and secure their first FA Cup final in a generation.

The game itself was relatively comfortable with Gavin Peacock providing the goals to secure a two goal victory and end the dreams of surprise package Luton Town from the equivalent of today’s Championship.

The most poignant memory of this would be Kerry Dixon and the reaction of the Chelsea fans to him facing the club which regards him as a legend.

The Chelsea fans chanted his name when the teams were announced, again when he came onto the pitch and then finally he got a standing ovation as he was substituted.

Chelsea 2 Luton 0 – Attendance 59,589

Scorer – Peacock x 2

FA CUP FINAL

Chelsea were in the FA Cup Final for the first time that many fans could remember, fans queued for hours to secure one of 18,000 tickets that were made available to Chelsea fans in the time before allocations to fans were split equally between sets of supporters.

Aged just 8 at the time of the game, I can still vividly remember the single “No One Can Stop Us Now” that Chelsea released which reached number 22 in the music charts.

I remember as we drove into the car park at Wembley in our car decked out in Chelsea flags stopped with my Dad excited beyond belief, walking in front of us on his way to the television studio was none other than his childhood hero Peter Osgood. The windows were frantically rolled down as he bellowed at his hero, who despite the rain obliged and came over and shook our hands.

This however was the bright point of the day, on the walk up Wembley way, I was knocked off my feet by a drunken man rushing towards the stadium without a second look, my Dad swears to this day that the culprit was Manchester United legend George Best, however I cannot say for certain.

The weather for the final reflected the end result of the match, grey, miserable and full of rain, despite having a share of the play Chelsea were beaten 4-0 in a game that did not reflect the final score.

In the first half Gavin Peacock hit the bar and in the second half it was the referee that assisted Manchester United with two more than generous penalty decisions that gifted Eric Cantona a brace. Even the emergence of Glen Hoddle from the bench at 2-0 failed to inspire Chelsea to an unlikely comeback and Chelsea’s day ended in despair.

This however did not deter the Chelsea fans who were deafening throughout the match and even once it became clear that the match could not be won.

It still sends shivers down my spine when the final whistle went and the whole Chelsea end was chanting “Chelsea are Back, Chelsea are Back” in one of the most demoralising and electrifying memories of watching Chelsea. This was at the same time interspersed with chants reminding David Elleray the referee how disliked he was for his poor refereeing.

Chelsea 0 Manchester United 4 – Attendance – 79,000

Chelsea may not have won the trophy that day, but although the Chelsea fans chanting may not have believed how far the club would go from this platform, Chelsea were indeed back.