Foyer reporters new and old meet Chelsea FC
Posted on 02/08/2007
We (Kate Wilson, David Gillespie and Natalie-Jane Teese) were lucky enough to get tickets to the Chelsea v Brøndby pre-season friendly, courtesy of Richard Brown from the Big Issue in the North, the street paper that organises the England Homeless World Cup Team. These are our experiences:
KATE:
We had amazing seats right in the centre, the view was incredible. I had been to stadiums before but never when there has actually been a game on. The atmosphere was enticing and even though I am not a Chelsea fan I found myself screaming and shouting in support of them.
One of my favourite rookies, Scott Sinclair, who had an amazing season on loan at Plymouth Argyle last year, even came on for the last 20 minutes which made my day!
After the game we lined up outside to try and get interviews and autographs, which I thought would be quite difficult, but when the players found out who we were and what we were doing they were suprisingly accomodating. When I asked Ashley Cole about supporting the Homeless World Cup, he said: " I only found out about it a few hours agao, It's a great thing."
I asked if he would support it and look into doing something like Didier Drogba who has got stuff on the official Homeless World Cup website. He said: "I didn't know Didier had anything up there but yes I'll definately look into when I get back."
When talking to Frank Lampard I asked him if he knew about the Homeless World Cup he replied: "I do now - if I'd known earlier I would have come and shown my support."
I asked each player I spoke to (Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Sean Wright-Phillips and Scott Sinclair.) if they had a message for the England boys. They were all supportive with messages of "good luck" and some said they hoped that they (England Homeless World Cup Team) would do better than they themselves had done at their previous tournaments.
DAVID:
My first real media scrum. I can't quite believe I was waiting to try and catch a quick interview with the Chelsea team. It was good enough just to watch them from the stands, given it was my first time at a football match, but waiting a few feet from the dressing room with a video camera in hand was unbelievable.
It had been a big deal day already, meeting Eric Cantona, and I was running out of battery. Everyone was jostling for position trying to find that crack in the crowd. We had left the match early so we could stake out the best spot right at the front.
It was a real buzz filming the players. Kate was doing a great job getting them over for a chat, while I filmed and Natalie snapped away with her camera.
The 'special one' didnt stop to say hi, but a few players did, including Ashley Cole, Sean Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole, Scott Sinclair, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard. They signed autographs and gave good luck messages and support to the Homless World Cup.
Oh and I nearly forgot - the game ended Brøndby 0 Chelsea 2. So no blues for the Chelsea team at Brøndby.
NATALIE:
When we got tickets to see Chelsea I was so excited, I didn't think I could top it, sitting there watching them, however that was about to change. After the game we were standing with other people from the press, we waited there excitedly to see if we could catch a glimpse of the players.
I was a shocked when they came out of the dressing room 'cause as soon as they heard we were from the Homeless World Cup, they came straight over! As they were signing our tops Kate asked up them what they thought of the Homeless World Cup and if they were going to sign up as fans to which they all replied that it was a very good cause and if they had heard about it before today they would have come along.
Kate, a very big England fan was relentless: "have you got a message for the England boys?" "Good luck and carry on playing" was once again a commonplace response.
Sean Wright-Philips' response to Kate's comment about his latest Wii advert was "Cheers! I've been trying to forget that. I'm never going to live it down." He started laughing as he walked towards the bus.
They were all very nice people and they did say that they would become fans of the Homeless World Cup so we shall see if anything comes of it.
We'd like to thank Brøndby for the tickets and Chelsea for their time.
Written by Kate Wilson, David Gillespie and Natalie-Jane Teese
