Fans

Our Olympic moment finally arrived, and although we didn't make it down to London, a Men's Football Quarter-Final at Old Trafford in Manchester still made us feel part of the event.

The match was between Japan and Egypt, and 7yo decided that we would be cheering on the Samurai Blue, and a rising sun flag was purchased on the way to the stadium.  The Japanese supporters in the stadium lent a lot of character to the day with their blue balloons, fans and even the occasional samurai costume.  

The one downside was that the organisers seemed not to have prepared for a 70,000+ crowd, and the security checks were being done very thoroughly by hand.  Each bag was searched individually, which is fine, but they simply  didn't have enough people doing it.  This meant we spent 45 minutes in a queue waiting for our bags to be checked, and then another 30 minutes in a queue for the right turnstile.  We didn't get to our seats until twenty minutes after kick-off and missed the first goal, and we were far from the last in.

Still, once we were in we could enjoy the occasion.  It was a much more diverse crowd than you would normally find at a football match, and much more family oriented. The game was fairly quiet for the next 45 minutes, so we joined in the Mexican waves and the rest of the stadium experience.  This was 7yo's first time in a big stadium, and first football match, so even if it weren't the Olympics it would have made a big impression.

This image is from half-time, with one of the Japanese supporters just in front of us waving their fans.  A fan with fans I suppose.  Samurai Blue ran out 3-0 winners, with a couple of late goals.  Sadly  they won't be meeting Team GB in the final, out on penalties (of course) to South Korea tonight.  Still, that clears us to cheer Japan on to the gold now.


olympic fans
waved for samurai blue
a summer breeze