Latimer Road

Since arriving in England I have diligently searched for any opportunity to play football. In America, football (soccer) is very much underappreciated and it is hard to find people who share the same amount of passion for the game as I do. Europe it is a whole different story. It seems like everyone I meet can not only play the sport, but can hold a conversation for hours about what is going on in the professional football world. In fact, every weekend we all sit and watch football on television, cheering on our favorite clubs. We have even gone to downtown Richmond to catch a game on the big screen of a restaurant. As i will admit watching the games are fun, the real reason I wished to meet people who play football is so that I could actually play with them. Before last weekend I had played some small pickup games and such on the green outside the main building, but never anything too organized. Therefore, when I got the opportunity to jump on the tube and play some five aside football I took it. Our team consisted of five Richmond students, an Englishmen, a Greek, a Dutchmen, an Omani, and me, the American. As you can see the team was very diverse and everyone had their own playing style to bring to the team, causing me to wonder how well the team would be able to work together. So we arrive in south London after about a half hour on the tube, and take another short train ride over to Latimer Road where the field is located. Leading up to the match I had no idea what to expect. I pictured an open field with a couple of goals and sidelines, but I soon found out that this was not nearly the case. As I arrived at Latimer and walked towards where the fields were, I saw a large bridge in the distance. Little did I know that under that particular bridge is where I would be playing football for the next hour. I know it seems weird to picture five football fields all crammed under one bridge, but despite what your brain might be telling you it was remarkably clean and had nice goals and a turf fields. I never thought when I came here I would be playing under a heavy traffic highway, but England never ceases to amaze me. My team and I went on to easily defeat our opponents, despite my previous doubts. It was shocking just how quickly we were all able to mesh and feed off each other’s individual skill. In fact we had so much fun, that two days later we returned and played under the lights, once again coming up victorious. We could have lost both games and I still would have valued every minute of it. Just getting the chance to play the sport I love, thousands of miles away from home, with people from all over the world was rewarding enough for me.