Unofficial England Rugby Union - England Fan David Gough's Report and Photos

England Fan David Gough's Report and Photos

ENGLAND

By David Gough 22/1003
November 13 2003
England Fan David Gough's experience of the crucial England v South Africa game last weekend! David certainly captures the atmosphere. Thank you once again to David(our reporter in the field) and his family.

We travelled to Subiaco from the city on the train

We travelled to Subiaco from the city on the train, a full 3 and a half hours before the kick off, after spending a couple of interesting hours in the Moon and Sixpence pub in Perth City. The mixture of English fans. SA fans and the ubiquitous Australian agitators were there, the atmosphere was tense with anticipation. In Kings park in the morning, the beautiful park that overlooks the Swan river and the city, you could see England fans milling around, killing time whilst waiting agonisingly for the kick off.

We arrived in Subi and luckily had booked into a local Mexican for a meal, which is just as well, there were people everywhere, mainly England shirts. There was a jazz band playing in the park at the station, it was a total party atmosphere. People driving past in cars with Bokke and English colours and flags trailing behind. The pubs were overflowing and people spilling out onto the streets. The restaurant was jammed full of rugby fans, everywhere people spoke to each other as if they had been friends for life. There was absolutely no animosity between the fans at all. Bokke and English drank, sang and laughed together.

Closer to the kick off as the milling throngs of excited fans converged on Subiaco oval, and played "Spot the Harry" the atmosphere became thicker, you could almost cut it with a knife. As we took our seats the singing and chanting began to grow and become louder and louder until eventually the teams took to the field. By this time, it was a cacophony, a wall of noise. The Springbok fans were outnumbered by about 3 to 1, English fans were interspersed all around the stadium, which helped sustain the constant renditions of Swing Low. A workmate of mine, who usually watches the Fremantle Dockers at this stadium also went to the game, and he told me that never in all the years he has been going to Subi oval, even for the sporadic rugby matches has he felt so much passion, so much atmosphere, such overwhelming noise in the ground, he said he could hardly recognise the place.

The game went fast, before we knew it, it was over and we were singing louder and longer. It was like a small version of Twickenham had been brought to Australia. Which was absolutely fantastic for those of us who don't get to go to the fortress during the six nations because we live here, on behalf of all the Aussie based England fans, I'd just like to say thank you to the England team for topping the day with a win, and also to the travelling English fans, thanks for the memories, you changed the atmosphere in Perth for a couple of weeks, and it was marvelous!