How it began

Let me introduce myself to you. I am a mother of two boys. I am from a tiny place in New England, Vermont, USA and did not grow up knowing ANYTHING about football. To me, the game of football was something played with pads, helmets and oval-shaped balls. However I do love sport and so I am inclined to get interested in any competitive sport. We live in Northamptonshire now and my husband (Nick) is more a rugby person, but indulges us in our interest. We play football on the village green outside our house. My boys, Toby (8) and George (6) are getting better at it than me - which is a new surprise to me. I thought I would have a few more years of their admiration. But I think that I still play with them most evenings should keep up the admiration none the less.

About a year ago I was at the library and got out this book about the Football Grounds in England and Wales. 

It had all the stats about the grounds of the 92 league teams written for fans that might be travelling there. I knew we were onto something when we had to renew the book several times and the my two boys were taking it to bed. We had recently caught the football bug and this book was exciting and appealed to our limitless interest in fact and figures. 

I might better mention now that Toby supports Arsenal and George has chosen Tottenham Hotspur. I know that this is unusual for most families to have chosen two different teams, let alone two teams that despise each other. (For my American friends this is like a Red Sox/Yankees rivalry) The fact that Nick and I didn't have teams that we grew up supporting meant that our boys were free to choose for themselves. George doesn't despise Arsenal and Toby is the same with Tottenham  - but we do get some funny looks when the boys are walking down the street in their opposing strips. We have found that playing Fantasy Football helps bridge any problems about who is better than whom when we can all admit that some teams have some good players.

We lived in London for 10 years and I am confident getting around the city with the children. We've visited all the museums and playgrounds over the years and though we enjoyed our time doing that, during the school holidays it can be just too chaotic for us to entertain ourselves. On one such trip to London in the glorious October sunshine we had some free time and decided to take the tube to Emirates followed by a quick trip to White Hart Lane. It was fun for the boys to navigate the tube and we left at Highbury and Islington and walked up Holloway Road to Emirates. We made mistake number one of not reading up in the book about how to get there, as we followed the path that Toby had taken a few months earlier when his uncle had taken him to a game. You see, on game days, Holloway Road station is closed, but as we were going on an ordinary week day, we could have gone to the station right outside the ground. But with our adrenaline pumping, it didn't seem to matter. With a flutter in my stomach as we approached the stadium, it was a thrill to see the boys faces. We spent a good deal of time in the shop looking at all the things for sale. We had only planned on buying a pencil case for Toby but came away with an away top too. I just could not resist - I was transported to my own childhood. Upon leaving at Holloway Road, we asked at the station how to get to White Hart Lane. Again we made the mistake of not reading up in the book and headed the slow way -  via Finsbury Park, then a train to White Hart Lane overland station. What we should have done was get off the Victoria Line at Seven Sisters and taken a bus. The boys didn't mind, but I was getting hungry by the time we got to Tottenham ground only to find there is NO WHERE nice to stop and eat with children. To be fair, a top was also purchased for George at the Spurs Shop.

Here are some pictures of that first trip:

Van Persie was the hero of the day

It was a lovely Autumn Day

This is why I had the idea of starting to visit the football grounds during the holidays - a pilgrimage. This satisfied my boys love of football and travelling on the tube and buses around London. 

Our first official trip was planned with our neighbour Adam coming along for the fun over two days in the next holiday. Our reason for the trip was that as it was Toby's birthday, we could do the Emirates tour as a special treat. I will tell you about that trip in my next installment. Thank you for reading....

-Ali