I want to talk about the FIFA Women’s World Cup again. Why? It’s funny that you should ask that, because I got to attend a game at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, aka Dunedin Stadium.
Let’s back this up briefly, and I’ll try to explain. As the amazing followers of Some Geek Told Me would know, I love the beautiful game. When I discovered my proud little country would co-host the FIFA Women’s World Cup, I knew I had to go to a game.
And so the football gods smiled at me, because I uncovered a surprise. Not only were games going to be played in Dunedin (the closest venue to me), but New Zealand would be playing Switzerland there, for their final pool game.
I talked to my family about going, and the truth was exposed. Yes, they all wanted to go to Dunedin, but only UMC1 wanted to go to the game. And with that, the die was cast.
It took a while, but I managed to purchase two tickets for the UMC1 and myself. Hot damn I was happy! I was going to a FIFA World Cup game! For over nine months, I had small bouts of geekasms.
Fast forward to 29th July, when we left to travel to Dunedin on Saturday. We were all pretty stoked to be going, but UMC1 and I were amped up to 11. Of course, travelling with two children is always interesting to be polite.
When we finally arrived in Dunedin, I made sure I pointed out the stadium to UMC1. His response was to roll his eyes; which is standard now, but he was doing it with a smile.
Let’s move on to the next day for the game.
I had read about some free buses were being used to transport people from the Octagon in the CBD to the stadium. Obviously, this was going to be the best way to get to the game, and after discovering there was a FIFA double-decker bus being used…well, UMC1 and I both declared that was the bus for us!
Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk to the Octagon, but we missed the FIFA bus by 25 seconds. That was a great start! After waiting for 15 minutes for another bus, we got on one, though we did promise each other that we would try to find the FIFA bus on the return trip.
After the bus dropped us off, we had another 10 minute walk to the stadium, and once we got there, it was crazy. UMC1 was concerned that the game had already started, but we had 45 minutes to spare. Once we went through security, I asked UMC1 the biggest question of the night: Did he want to eat before the game started or at half-time? He selected to eat at half-time, because he just wanted to find our seats; he was afraid someone would steal them!
Forsyth Barr Stadium is unique for a few reasons. Firstly, it can seat 28,000 people, but secondly, it’s the only fully roofed, natural grass stadium in the world. This makes it an intimate experience to be seated there. We were seated in line with the goal box and got to see both teams do their training routines, but we were closer to the Swiss team.
New Zealand TV sports celebrities were there to ramp up the crowd, with singing and dancing. I noticed UMC1 started gingerly at first, then he was singing, stomping, and clapping along with everybody else, which was astonishing.
Eventually, the teams were ready and after the national anthems, they got underway. New Zealand was playing left to right, from our perspective. UMC1 quickly noticed that every time the Swiss goalkeeper received a back pass, the crowd shouted, “WWWWWHHHHOOOOAAAA!” Every single time. UMC1 thought this was hilarious!
When New Zealand hit the post in the first half, UMC1 got angry at the referee. His argument was that if the post wasn’t there, then the ball would have gone in. It’s difficult to argue with a passionate 8 year old.
My wife often mentions that I’m not very observant. This is relevant because as I was watching the ball, the referee would stop the game. I’d be curious to know what had happened, only to discover a player was lying on the field and I didn’t even notice them.
Half-time came around, so it was time to pay for some overpriced food. UMC1 wanted some hot chips and ice cream. This was because everybody knows it’s not football without hot chips and ice cream.
After purchasing the food, we were just sitting down as the players were running back onto the field. The second half started with the Swiss goalkeeper still getting hassled with every back pass.
As the game got on, everybody was becoming more vocal. The people behind us mentioned that Norway had destroyed the Philippines in the other pool match, which meant New Zealand could not afford to draw the game; they needed to win to qualify for the Round of 16.
Things were looking desperate, so the New Zealand goalkeeper kept moving into the Swiss goalbox for corners. As you probably already know, the full-time score was 0-0; which meant Switzerland and Norway were through to the Round of 16, so New Zealand and the Philippines were out.
It’s interesting to note that both Switzerland and Norway lost their Round of 16 matches to Spain and Japan, respectively.
While we were walking out of the stadium, UMC1 was sad, but not angry. I was proud of him because I was just annoyed! Anyway, UMC1’s night improved when we managed to find the FIFA double-decker bus and found two seats, on the top level no less!
Even though it wasn’t the result we wanted, UMC1 and I had fun together; even though he threw me under the bus to my wife about not dancing in the stadium. Seriously mate, where are your priorities?! It’s been over a week now, and he’s still talking about the whole experience; the food, the bus, the noise of the stadium, and the game.
We’re still following the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and I’ll be watching as many knock-out matches as I can; especially the semi-finals and final. And speaking of World Cups, the Rugby World Cup starts on 8th September (9th September for me) to 28th October (29th October for me). I’ll be doing some badly written blogs and posts about it soon, so for my non-rugby followers and subscribers, I’m very sorry.
Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m also on Twitter and Mastodon, where I spout about various things. All cool stuff, mind you. Sometimes. Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch some FIFA Women’s World Cup football, and I’ll see you next week.
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