Lost in the Wilds of UK Sports: Flight to Chicago

After attending 17 sporting events in 15 days in three countries it was time to go home. Here were my stats:

I attended 12 games in England, 3 in Scotland and 2 in Finland.

I attended 10 soccer matches consisting of 4 English Premier League, 2 Champions League, 1 Europa League, 1 Scottish Premier League and 2 Carling Cup.
I attended 2 rugby matches – 1 in the Guinness Premiership and 1 in the Magners League.
I attended 2 county cricket matches – both Division I and Division II.
I attended 2 NHL games – the first regular season NHL games in Finland.
I attended 1 NBA game – probably the least exciting from a global standpoint.

My flight was scheduled for 2:40 pm so once again I packed up my stuff, said bye to Big Chris and took the underground to London’s Heathrow airport. The trip was a great experience but it was time to get home to Nicole.

Magners League: Leinster at Edinburgh

After the Hearts match I walked for 15 minutes over to Murrayfield. I have never attended two games within such a close proximity to one another. On my way back, I passed Roseburn Bar which is actually a Murrayfield pub more than a Tynecastle Stadium pub.

Obtaining Tickets
Rather than go to the pub I decided to check out how much tickets were at the ticket center. Tickets for the game were £20 for an adult ticket. However, since I had my student id I could pay £10 for a student ticket. Since beating £10 for a ticket takes a lot of work, unless you get lucky and receive a free one, I decided to buy the ticket rather than wander around the stadium.

Before The Game
Rather than enter the stadium immediately I decided to sit in the park directly outside the stadium. One of the most relaxing parts of Europe is sitting in a park as the sun sets. You do not get the opportunity often so take advantage of the opportunity when it presents itself. After 30 minutes of sitting in the park I decided to enter the stadium.

Just before the game was about to begin, one of the Edinburgh employees came by my section and asked a group of people if they wanted to participate in a halftime promotion on the field. The row of people said no, so I perked up and said I would do it. He said I was in and then selected one more fan from the same area.

Halftime
About five minutes before halftime the other fan (on a rugby tour from Australia) and I met the Edinburgh employee at the fence to the field of Murraryfield. He led us onto the field and we walked to mid-field on the sidelines. We were going to be apart of the halftime promotion – catching rugby balls at mid-field. The balls would be kicked from one of the Edinburgh players. The competition seemed simple enough. I have seen these in-game promotions before.

I was first up. The Australian was second. Steve Jones was kicking to me. Here we go:

Ball #1 (me): Ball was kicked relatively high but I caught it. Ahead 1-0.
Ball #2 (Australian): Ball was kicked higher than mine and the Australian dropped it. Still ahead 1-0.
Ball #3 (me): Ball was kicked shorter than the first ball so I ran up for it and the ball went right through my arms. Still ahead 1-0.
Ball #4 (Australian): Ball was kicked similar to my first catch, but the ball went right through the Australian’s arms. Still ahead 1-0.
Ball #5 (me): I could clinch the win catching this ball. The ball was kicked directly to me in the air and I caught it as I dropped to one knee. I’m ahead 2-0 and have clinched the win!
Ball #6 (Australian): He catches the ball kicked to him and is just happy he caught one. I still win 2-1.

I won the contest and two tickets to the Scotland vs. Fiji rugby match on Saturday, November 14. I will not be able to attend but decided I can either sell the tickets on eBay or give them to one of the Arsenal boys.

The Game
Even though only one try was scored between both teams, the game down to the wire as the lead changed twice within the last two minutes of regulation. With Edinburgh down 18-13, Edinburgh’s place-kicker, Chris Paterson, kicked two penalties at the 71st and 79th minute to take a 19-18 lead. However, Leinster’s Jonathan Sexton drop kicked for the lead 21-19 as time was winding down. That did not stop Edinburgh as Leinster Lion Jamie Heaslip gave away a penalty at midfield to give Edinburgh one last shot at winning the game. But Paterson missed the injury time penalty and Leinster ended up defeating Edinburgh 21-19 – a pretty exciting finish.

Post Game
Given the fact I had barely eaten anything all day (the lines were long for food in the stadium), I went to the restaurant at the Murrayfield hotel after the game. For £12.50 you could order a two course meal. Also, I should have considered staying here if I knew the hotel existed. The location was perfect for attending a game at either Murrayfield or Tynecastle Stadium and I could have relaxed in my room in between the games.

After walking back to the city center, I went to my hostel to “check in.” I arrived at my room at the same time my new roommates happened to be coming back from the rugby match. My roommates were three Germans who had flown to Edinburgh for the weekend. Rather than going to sleep as I had originally planned, I went out with them since I had not met anyone on the trip to this point. We started out by heading to pubs that were listed in Let’s Go. The Zorn was closest but too hot so we left. Next was Three Sisters which had a great outdoor beer garden so we stayed. After that we hit up Scotman’s Lounge and The Mitre (since they stayed open until 1:30 am).

SPL: Hamilton at Hearts

As I thought, I would not be able to check into my hostel until later in the afternoon. This meant I would not “actually” check in until after the Edinburgh rugby match I planned to attend Saturday night.

Since the Hearts match versus Hamilton kicked off at 3 pm and I could not check into my hostel until 1 pm there was no time to wait until 1 pm and then head off to Tynecastle Stadium. I wanted to hang out in a pub before the match.

The guy at the front desk of the hostel said getting to Tynecastle Stadium was an easy but long walk. Since I had some time I decided to walk. However, I ended up walking towards Murrayfield since there were signs for that stadium and not Tynecastle Stadium.

Pre Game
The Roseburn Bar was on the corner in the direction of Murrayfield. I decided to stop in there for a snack and ask directions to Tynecastle Stadium. All the pub had to eat was a tiny pasty which cost £1 – a good deal but not a great meal. The servers at the pub pointed me in the correct direction for Tynecastle Stadium and I was on my way.

Obtaining Tickets
It was about a 15 minute walk to the Hearts stadium from Roseburn Bar. I first went to the box office to see how much tickets were for the match. Since the cheapest seat was £16, I bought a ticket from the ticketing center rather than try to find one from a ticket tout.

Pre Game Part 2
After buying my ticket I checked out both pubs directly in the area. One was Robertson’s Pub and the other was Tynecastle Arms. I preferred Tynecastle Arms since it seemed more like a pub you would expect to find in Scotland. Another thing to note is I now truly understood why the Gastropub was a “new” invention in the United Kingdom. The pubs do not serve any food! At the Roseburn Bar I had a tiny pasty that tasted fine but was more of a snack than a meal. The other pubs did not serve any food.

The Game
This was the first Scottish Premier League game I have attended. The stadium was much smaller than most of the English stadiums and only 13,025 people showed up. However, there was not a lack of excitement as Hearts scored two goals within two minutes in the second half and Hamilton scored a goal five minutes later.

The best part of the stadium (or worst part for some) was that there was no scoreboard at Tynecastle Stadium. Everyone needed to keep track of the score and the time themselves. No hard feat in soccer, but definitely peculiar.

Morning Train from Newcastle to Edinburgh

This morning I woke up and showered in my hostel. Since the bathroom was not in the room and down the hall I had planned to shower in my hotel in Manchester. But my change of plans to travel to Edinburgh meant I was most likely without a room for most of the day.

I showered, checked out of my hostel and walked to the train station. Remember my train pass is “technically” only for England so I was hoping it would work for Scotland as well. I went to the ticket office to ask them if my pass would be accepted from Newcastle to Edinburgh and the man at the counter said it would be. I pointed out my pass was England only but he said not to worry so I did not.

I was on the 9:29 am train to Edinburgh. I figured my pass would be ok taking the train to Scotland since I got on in England. The train conductor came by, looked at my pass and said thanks. I was in the clear for this leg of my journey. Then I realized the next three days on my rail pass I would be coming or going to Scotland and I would need to go through the same exercise on each of those trains.

The train from Newcastle to Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. As you get to the England – Scotland border it rides adjacent to the North Sea and the views are spectacular. The train arrived at Edinburgh at 11:02 am. Luckily the hostel I booked was a short walk from the train station. I was at the Edinburgh backpackers before 11:30 am where I was told I could not check in until 1 pm.

Doubleheader Day in Edinburgh

One of the difficulties with planning a sports trip is trying to determine all of the possible sporting events that one could attend. This is why I always buy a local newspaper when I arrive in the country I am visiting.

My original plan for today was to attend the Premier League match between Hull City and Liverpool at Anfield. However, last night as I was sitting at The Hiding Place, I pulled out my fixtures for the week. While reviewing the league schedules, I realized there were two events I could attend in Edinburgh today – the Hearts Scottish Premier League soccer match and a rugby match between Leinster and Edinburgh at Murrayfield. I chose Edinburgh over Liverpool for multiple reasons:

1) I have never attended a Scottish Premier League match.
2) I have never attended a match at Murrayfield – home of Scottish rugby.
3) The train from Newcastle to Edinburgh was a short 90 minutes while the train to Liverpool was over 4 hours.
4) I wanted to attend the English Premier League match on Sunday in Sunderland meaning I needed to take the train back to Newcastle from wherever I was Saturday (90 minutes from Edinburgh vs. 4 hours from Liverpool)
5) I figured tickets two both events in Edinburgh would be cheaper than the one match at Anfield.

Thus after making this change of plans I needed to rebook my Manchester hotel for the weekend and book one night in a hostel in Edinburgh. First, rebooking my hotel in Manchester was easy since I had booked a cancelable room (always allow for cancellations in your reservations just in case). I changed the reservation from arriving on Saturday morning, September 26 to arriving on Sunday night, September 27. Second, booking a hostel in Edinburgh was easy as well but I was not sure on where I wanted to stay. I ended up booking the Edinburgh Backpackers hostel since 1) It was recommended in Let’s Go, 2) the hotels in Edinburgh were more expensive and 3) it was “ensuite” meaning there was a bathroom in the room and not down the hall.