The Great Tottenham Hotspur Loyalty Point Swindle

I wrote this for the Bleacher Report last week.

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after an absence of 49 seasons is now available to buy for £4.27 (inc VAT) on Amazon and Smashwords. It recalls the Glory Nights at the San Siro, the North London Derby Comeback, Peter Crouch's winner at Manchester City, putting Inter to the sword at White Hart Lane and Diego Maradona's one appearance in a Spurs shirt. It ends with an epilogue at the end of 2012 season, the day after another season of Europa League was confirmed. Further details and photos here.

Guest Blog: Spurs in the USA (July 2012)

In a guest post for 'Glory Nights', Tottenham Fan, North London ex-pat residing in New Zealand and Goalkeeper for Metro FC, Paul Ruscoe, writes about his trip to LA to see Spurs in the States.

 

Living in New Zealand, there is not much point in holding hope that one day, my beloved Tottenham Hotspur will tour The Land of The Long White Cloud to take on the Wellington Phoenix in preparation for a gruelling Premier League campaign. Maybe one day, years into the future when technological developments make the long flight feasible, we may see European teams visit Australia to take on A-League opposition. But even in Oz, the standard of football is still 5-10 years behind even the MLS. Depressingly, that gap is widening with the increasing influx of ‘designated players’ into the North America’s top flight. So lets face it, it’s not likely we’ll see the Europeans here any time soon, and that was justification enough for me to part with $2,000 to watch the mighty Spurs in LA.

So, with no likelihood of seeing Spurs in NZ, when they announced they were to undertake a second US tour in three years, I leapt at the chance to snap up tickets to see the Lilywhites take on Robbie Keane’s LA Galaxy. After all, it’s only a 12 hour flight away. (It takes 8 hours to drive to Wellington to see the Phoenix.) The game not only gave me the rare opportunity to see Tottenham (probably the only thing I miss about London, since I emigrated) but also to reconnect with acquaintances and fans I spent the summer of 2010 with, when embarking on my journey to see Spurs’ previous west coast encounter in San Jose.

I arrived in San Francisco on the Saturday, to meet up with an old friend, comic and of course, Spurs fan, Trevor Hill. We were both excited to see the Spurs, while enjoying a few other perks of being on vacation. (Namely the ability to consume copious amounts of alcohol on a school night, without having to feel guilty about it.) After two days well spent in the Haight Street bars, we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7am on Monday morning, to catch a flight to Long Beach from where we would ride the train into Hollywood.

The Cat and Fiddle, a fine boozer and home of the Los Angeles Tottenham supporters club, would be our next stop. Upon arrival, a huge navy and white banner greeted us, with ‘Pride of North London’ emblazoned upon it. Meanwhile, sat in the beer garden were some familiar faces from the San Jose escapade of 2010. Staunch ‘Yiddo’, Graeme Rudge, welcomed Trevor and I to the pub. Graeme is a colourful character. One would describe him distinctly ‘old school’, and we were soon reminiscing and looking forward to the evening’s events. He had the previous day, been evicted from Tottenham’s open training session on the tour. This was not a surprise to any of us, but we knew with Graeme around, we would definitely have a good laugh.

Graeme had brought with him a number of prostitutes to provide ‘entertainment’, should they be required. In truth, I was more excited at the prospect of meeting Steffen Freund and Tony Parks, both of whom were expected to arrive at the Cat and Fiddle at any time. 

The LA Spurs had created a stage from which Freund and Parks would take questions from an anticipant crowd. Indeed, as Freund took the microphone, we welcomed him as only we would know how, with chants of ‘Yiddo’ interspersed with shouts of “SHOOOOOOOOOOOT!”

The pair spoke eloquently, and professionally, while also dropping subtle hints of another imminent signing for Andre Villas-Boas’ new look Tottenham. However, the undisputed highlight has to have been when Parks’ joined us in our sing song that went late into night, even as we danced to the “let’s all do the Gomes” tune. I’m not so sure if Parks or Freund were as keen to let our Brazilian Goalkeeper spend the night with their wives as us Spurs fans were though.

As the early hours were upon us, we had been joined by a couple of well-known Hollywood porn stars. Freund and Parks were still enjoying themselves with a few beers, and Graeme’s prostitutes had disappeared, obviously having found some company. The LA Spurs group, the San Fran Spurs group and the New York fans that had travelled were in good voice, as was the sole Kiwi supporter among the crowd. As the night drew to a conclusion, I smiled. Sun, Spurs, beer, porn stars, prostitutes and good friends. It doesn’t get much better than this!

We returned to the scene of the crime on Tuesday afternoon. Match day. Time for a few beers prior to our departure, with the buses set to leave at 5pm to escort us to the Home Depot Center. After a merry old sing song on the bus, Graeme and I marched into a local Galaxy pub with tens of fans following us in singing “This boozer is ours, this boozer is ours! Tottenham Hotspur are here! This boozer is ours!” I’m not sure the local Galaxy fans really knew what to expect!

I’ve been to a number of sporting events in the US over the years, including a number MLS matches. Indeed, American sports generate a unique atmosphere, but lack the intensity of European football stadia. The MLS clubs try, but the support still doesn’t feel organic like it is at the Lane. The atmosphere in the MLS is a little plastic, a little forced, and still a little too ‘American’. However, that wasn’t the case last Tuesday night. 

The hardcore LA fans behind the goal were in good voice, although lacking the wit to really challenge the local and travelling Tottenham support that comprised mainly of expats based around the US (and of course, New Zealand!). It was these Spurs fans, all craving the camaraderie felt when they once stood on the terraces at White Hart Lane that shone. Singing for 90 minutes non stop and enjoying one of the few opportunities they would have to see their idols.

Bale, Walker and Van der Vaart all started for Tottenham. The latter of whom was withdrawn halfway through the first half. However, it was LA, and Robbie Keane who created the better of the chances, despite going behind to a fine Gareth Bale header. Defensively, Tottenham didn’t cover themselves in glory and there was an air of inevitability about the Galaxy equaliser, coming just 13 minutes after the opener. The second half saw Tottenham grow into the game, and new signing Gylffi Sigurdsson had a golden opportunity to give Tottenham the lead, but he shot wide when it looked easier to score. Chances continued to flow at either end, as both sides sought to exploit each other’s defensive frailties, but ultimately the game ended in a tie. A fair result.

The result was not important. After all, this was merely a pre-season fixture for Spurs. And LA, without Beckham and Donovan (who were both on All-Star duty), have important league games in the coming weeks. 

However ‘meaningless’ this fixture may have been, what is clear that even 52 years after our last League title, there is mystique about Tottenham Hotspur that intrigues football fans across the globe. To the Spurs fans with whom I shared this experience, some relatively new, others who remember the great successes of the 1960’s through to the 1980s, it is clear that the glory of the past, and even the glorious failures, the history, the passion, the fairytales that come with following this great club mean so much to them. There is something about Tottenham Hotspur that no other club has and yet it is so difficult to pinpoint. It’s the glamour, the unwavering belief even at our lowest ebb, the noise of the Park Lane end that some of these fans remember fondly. 

When they reminisce about the great players they have witnessed prior to moving Stateside, you can see the glint in their eyes, for those eyes have most certainly seen the glory.

Paul Ruscoe

Mel Gomes' e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after an absence of 49 seasons is now available to buy for £4.27 (inc VAT) on Amazon and Smashwords. It captures the flavour of travelling overseas to follow football and recalls the Glory Nights at the San Siro, the North London Derby Comeback, Peter Crouch's winner at Manchester City, putting Inter to the sword at White Hart Lane and Diego Maradona's one appearance in a Spurs shirt. It ends with an epilogue at the end of 2012 season, the day after another season of Europa League was confirmed. Further details and photos here.