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).

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.

Guinness Premiership: Harlequins at Newcastle

After spending the day at my hostel, it was time to head out for the reason I was in Newcastle – Newcastle Falcons rugby. Even though the game was not scheduled to start until 8 pm, I departed the hostel around 4 pm. I was hoping to hang out at a restaurant or pub around the stadium before the game. In order to get to Kingston Park, I took the subway from the Monument stop to the Bank Foot stop – although I could have gotten off at Kingston Park the woman at my hostel called the subway and they said to get off at Bank Foot.

Area around Kingston Park
My hopes of restaurants and pubs quickly dwindled as I walked from the subway stop to the stadium and saw no place to eat or drink at. As I got closer to the stadium, I saw a sign for an Italian restaurant that was located in the stadium. I figured this was my best bet for any pre-game meal so I walked that way.

Obtaining Tickets
However, rather than eat at the restaurant first, I walked directly to the ticket office to buy a ticket for the match. This was the first game of my seven days in Northern England and I was unsure how much ticket demand there would be. Since the cheapest ticket at the box office was £18 I bought the ticket.

Pre Game Dining
Before buying my ticket I noticed a pub over the ticket office that I thought might be better than the Italian restaurant. My arrival at the pub was delayed since as I walked out of the ticket office, the Harlequins bus pulled up outside the ticket office and the team walked off the bus. I followed the team into the lobby entrance – they headed to the locker room while I headed to pub called The Hiding Place.

The Hiding Place is a traditional English pub. Traditional enough where they did not plan to serve any food until 7 pm. I was starving at 6 pm, so I walked over to the Italian restaurant to get some food. However, I found out the hard way that the Italian restaurant only seats hospitality guests on game days. My plan of eating a nice meal and enjoying some drinks before the game was dead at this point. The only place in the area was The Hiding Place and they would not serve any food for another hour.

At 7 pm, I rejoiced in the fact I would finally be able to eat. However, all the pub did was roll out a cart of poorly made hamburgers and hot dogs. At this point I started to understand why a Gastropub (a pub that serves quality food) was such an invention in England whereas it is standard in the United States.

Finding My Seat
After eating a bad hamburger and having a couple more pints it was time for the match between Newcastle Falcons and Harlequin to begin. The one perk of being in the bar before the game was that I could exit the bar directly into the stadium. Ah, but there was a catch. You needed to have a ticket for those sections and I was in the standing only section behind the end zone. I actually walked into the stadium, without having my ticket checked at first, but then realized I could buy a beer at the bar and bring it into the stadium.

After buying a beer at the bar, I walked to the other “ticket taker” since the line was shorter. He checked my ticket, and, since I had a standing only ticket he told me I could not enter the section I was heading towards. Instead I needed to take my sorry ass and walk outside of the pub and into the end zone sections. I did that but decided I could not stand since I had already been in the sitting section. I walked by security on the other side of the stadium and ended up sitting at mid-field.

The Game
With a crowd of 5,714 in attendance (so much for being worried about a sellout), the Harlequins and Falcons ended up in a 17-17 draw. It was the first non-soccer or hockey tie I have ever seen as Harlequins came back from a 14-3 deficit.

As with cricket, fans could buy beer during a rugby match.

Post Game
After the game an Irish band played on the side of the stadium I had snuck into. I watched the band for a few songs, but was concerned that I might miss the last subway train back to downtown Newcastle. The last train left at 11:13 pm so I left in order not to be left in Kenton.

Downtown Newcastle
When I arrived back in downtown Newcastle it was time to grab some food. Of course, nothing was open at midnight so I ate at a Kebab restaurant and ordered a gyros platter. As I was ordering another guy had already ordered was incredibly drunk to the point where he could barely speak. When his pizza was ready, he sat down to eat it and proceeded to take his shirt off. The owner yelled at him to put it on which he somehow managed to do so.

After eating, I was back wandering the streets of Newcastle. Once again, the town had come to life with people lining up for a block or two to get into certain clubs.

International Day Game #1: Wales at USA Eagles

In the first game of the day, Wales pounded the USA Eagles 48-15.

Pre Game Dining
Before the game we stopped at Potbelly’s located at 5709 S. Harlem Ave. There are a few chain restaurants on Harlem Ave. on the way to Toyota Park, including one of the Ultimate Sports Wife’s favorites – Portillo’s, located at 5532 S. Harlem Ave. If looking for a good family restaurant before or after an event at Toyota Park, Portillo’s may be the place for you since they serve a wide selection of food including alcoholic beverages.

Obtaining Tickets
As had been the case with the women’s professional soccer league two weeks ago, there were no scalpers when we arrived at Toyota Park (we were about 40 minutes early since my second cousin, who plays rugby, wanted to get in the stadium 30 minutes early to watch warm-ups). Thus, we bought the cheapest tickets available from the box office - $20 each. If we had waited, we probably could have bought tickets for cheaper (or received for free) since there were quite a few rugby clubs who had bought groups of tickets. However, since the cost savings would not be that substantial and we wanted six tickets together we bought the tickets from the box office.

The Game
As stated before Wales defeated the US team handily 48-15. It was the most lopsided lost in the eight rugby matches I have attended and definitely the worst played – it is USA Rugby (versus the other more high profile rugby matches I have attended) after all.

International Day in Chicago

Today is International sporting event day in Chicago. At 1 pm, USA Rugby hosts Wales at Toyota Park in a friendly. At 7:15 pm, USA Soccer hosts Honduras in the first World Cup Qualifier hosted at Soldier Field. I am planning to attend both games with Blackhawks Jim and his son Carl. The Ultimate Sports Wife and Blackhawks Jim’s wife and daughter are planning to attend the rugby match.