Olympic football
Living in London for the last 6 years, I have seen changes and preparation take place across the city, experienced the tensions around sponsorship deals, corporate decision making, the intended legacies and community involvement. It hasn’t been beautiful in the detail, but for me the beauty of a global sports event with 204 nations represented draws ranks in the overall view. I declare myself a bit of an Olympics enthusiast having been glued to the screen during every single Games as far back as I can remember.
So this evening when I had the opportunity to go to see the British women’s football team play Brazil - was I excited? Mhm. I was. A lot.
Having never been to an Olympic event, never been to Wembley, never seen a football game live in Great Britain and never watched a full women’s football game, there were a lot if firsts happening. I’ll spare you the pic of me in a Team GB t-shirt, but here are some photos to capture the vibe:
The Wembley Arch dressed in Olympic purple
Great view from the cheap seats below the rafters. Despite empty corporate sponsor seats the game drew 70,584 spectators, easily beating the previous highest number of spectators at a women’s international football game in the UK (29,000). The GB ladies scored 90 seconds into the game and secured their place at the top of the table with a solid and really well-played performance throughout the next 89 minutes.
The Wembley Arch shines
Not quite full moon but still rather striking
What a night! Can’t wait to go to the Olympic Village on Friday for some basketball…
