Watching football in London

Football is our national sport and something we’re very passionate about as a country. If you’ve recently moved to London, watching football is highly recommended. Even if you claim not to be into sport, the atmosphere at a match is amazing. It’s highly charged, extremely busy, but a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, learning the chants of the local side and nipping out at half-time for a burger and a beer. Ladies get the added benefit of going to a location where it’s the men queuing to use the loo. This doesn’t mean that no women attend football matches. There are certainly many more men at a football ground than women, but the game is attracting more and more females these days, so you won’t stick out like a sore thumb.

So, where do you go to watch football? If you can afford it, try and go to a Premiership game. There are currently 5 London clubs in the Premiership. These are Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and Fulham. Tickets to high-profile games against big teams such as Man United and Liverpool will be thin on the ground and very expensive and you may need to be a club member in order to apply for a ticket, so instead try and pick a game against a side in the middle or bottom of the Premiership table.

There are also two London-based teams in the Championship (the next division down from the Premiership), namely Crystal Palace and Queen’s Park Rangers (QPR). These are also a good bet to watch, as the tickets will be much cheaper than Premiership sides and the competition between formerly big teams, fighting to get back into the Premiership is fierce, so you should get to see a good game.

Football League One (3^rd division) has 4 London clubs in it: Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Leyton Orient and Millwall. Charlton have been extremely unfortunate lately. They played in the Premiership from 2000-2007 when they were relegated down to the Championship. They didn’t last long in this division though and are currently in 2^nd place hoping to gain promotion at the end of this season.

Football League Two (4^th division) has Barnet and Dagenham & Redbridge playing in it.

If you’re not really interested in attending a match, but still want the buzz and experience of a football match, why not head to a London pub to watch a game between two London sides? A good game coming up next weekend, is Arsenal vs Chelsea at 4pm on Sunday 29^th November, which will be played at the Emirates. Fans from these two sides generally don’t have much love for each other, so head to a pub and listen to some (hopefully) good-natured banter between fans screaming obscenities at the TV, whilst knocking back several pints. Check out SportsPubs for your nearest football pub.