If you support a team that is regularly involved in games at Wembley Stadium you might get a bit blasé about visits to English football’s national stadium. In fact, what with kick-off times dictated by broadcasters, the cost and inconvenience of getting there, especially if there’s industrial action on the railways, and then the costs once at the stadium, you might find it something of a chore.
If, however, you support a team like mine the chances of
getting to see them play at Wembley are slim, so when they reach the Final of a
national competition the whole thing takes on an unreal aspect. In an earlier
blog, There's Only One F In Romford and We're Going To Wemberlee! I said that
even Romford reaching the Semi-Final of the Isuzu FA Vase was surreal. Knowing
we’d be at Wembley on Saturday 11th May to play fellow Essex Senior
League side Great Wakering Rovers was even more unimaginable.
For a club run entirely by volunteers – the lifeblood of non-League
football all over the country – and with an average gate this season of just
100 (boosted by crowds of 561 and 424 for the Vase Semi-Final and the Essex
Senior League Play-Off Final respectively), the prospect of the organisation
and logistical effort required to play the game was daunting. Club chairman
Steve Gardener and secretary Colin Ewenson were faced with numerous tasks that
are not normally associated with running a club at our level and along with
manager Dan Spinks and club captain Kris Newby – who has done a hell of a lot
of work off the pitch since we moved to our new home at Rookery Hill – were suddenly
faced with new media demands not previously encountered, including radio and TV
appearances.
With that average gate of just 100 this season a big
question was how many tickets could we sell? Well, we sold more than 2,500
and probably would have sold more had West Ham not been at home that day.
Regular supporters, fans who haven’t been for a while, and lots of people who don’t
normally watch us but were caught up in the excitement of Romford going to Wembley
bought tickets. Even my wife, who’s not been to a game with me before, wanted
to go. And there was a surprise in store for her when I told her that we’d been
given tickets for the Royal Box!
I mentioned in my previous blog that I have been
preternaturally calm throughout Boro’s cup run, and Val was surprised at how tranquil
I was on the day of the Final. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that
that unlike my usual matchday attire, I had to wear a suit and tie for this match.
Getting ready and going to Wembley didn’t seem like going to football, more
like going to a wedding or a similar event.
It started to get real once we got to Wembley Park Station
and started walking down what I still think of as Wembley Way (it’s actually
Olympic Way) and saw the merchandise stands (half and half scarf, anyone?), fellow
Boro supporters – all with soppy grins, unable to believe that this was
actually happening - and the electronic signs welcoming the fans of all four
clubs taking part in Non-League Finals Day (the FA Trophy Final between
Gateshead and Solihull Moors followed our game).
Entering the stadium wasn’t like a normal matchday
experience either. Up the escalators and into The Atrium, which was like being
in a hotel or on a cruise ship. We were fed and watered and shown to the Royal
Box.
Here I must pay tribute to the staff at Wembley, all of whom were friendly, efficient, and extremely helpful. I said to the chap who showed us to the Royal Box that he must get a bit blasé about working there, especially at a game involving two non-League sides. Not at all, he said telling me that he had worked there since the new stadium opened in 2007, and still got a buzz out of it every day. All the staff we encountered were brilliant and our experience was mirrored by everyone else’s. Our kitmen, Keith Preston and Paul Adams (who had seats on the bench with the substitutes and management) were highly complimentary about the Wembley staff in the dressing room area.
Our club photographer Bob Knightley was allowed free rein to take a brilliant series
of photos that captured the day, and our fans who had mobility issues also praised
the staff that helped them to their seats. Nothing was too much trouble for the
stadium staff, who all deserve high praise.
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| One of Bob Knightley's many pictures from the day with Boro manager Dan Spinks in the changing room |
The first half was somewhat disjointed. There’s a tendency
for players to play the occasion rather than the game, although Romford had a
trio of players – Scott Doe, Remi Sutton, and Sam Deering – who have played at
Wembley before, and their experience was invaluable. The occasion certainly
seemed to affect Great Wakering more and they didn’t really show what they are
capable of.
Romford had the better first half chances, but couldn’t score.
After the break however, Boro found the net three times. Hassan Nalbant scored
after 52 minutes, Sam Deering made it 2-0 three minutes later and Nalbant bagged
a third in stoppage time (for a full report, see https://www.romfordfc.com/teams/8433/match-centre/0-5923533/report)
The sight of the Romford players climbing the steps to the
Royal Box to receive their medals and the FA Vase itself was a marvellous one,
although despite the obvious pleasure of watching from there, a small part of
me envied the fans on the opposite side of the stadium where the players next
went to celebrate. But as much fun as that would have been, the chance to watch
the game from the Royal Box was one that I could not pass up, and I know that
Val thoroughly enjoyed her Wembley experience, not just the game, but meeting
people I’ve mentioned to her, and the post-match meal. Obviously, I’ve told Val
that if she comes again it will probably be a little different (a wet Tuesday
night at one of the Essex Senior League’s further flung outposts is a tad more
basic).
Just as we were about to leave, the trophy itself made an
appearance in The Atrium, so naturally I had to have a picture with it, a
souvenir of a brilliant day!
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| Left to right: Colin Ewenson, Lee Dorling (Essex Senior League chairman), Steve Gardener |
Everyone’s experiences at Wembley were different: From Steve
and Colin, who were able to move freely from Royal Box to changing rooms and
onto the pitch at the end; Keith and Paul, who are more used to the cramped
dressing rooms they find in our normal football and had the wonderful
experience of the all mod cons Wembley facilities, to the couple of thousand fans
watching from the sidelines. Everyone will have stories that they will tell to
everyone who will listen, and none of us will ever forget that marvellous
afternoon in the Wembley sunshine. Even the trackside fire at Neasden that
closed the Jubilee and Metropolitan Lines, making our journey home a little
convoluted, didn’t detract from a brilliant day, the best I have ever had in
the 50 odd years I’ve been watching Romford.
And when I got home, I grabbed a beer and watching it all again,
having recorded TNT Sports’ coverage of the game, another surreal experience
because while Premier League fans get to see their teams on TV all the time,
this was another first for me! TNT's coverage also enabled our daughter, holidaying in Cyprus, to watch the game and see Val and me in the Royal Box!
On Sunday morning there was proof that this wasn’t just some
wonderful dream; there it was, in black and white, in The Non-League Paper:
Romford had won the FA Vase!
Perhaps we’ll get the chance to do it all again at some point in the future, but if we don’t, I will still have memories that will last me a lifetime.
Photos in this blog are either mine, or were taken by Bob
Knightley. I think that the superior quality of Bob’s betrays whose is whose!
