Sport Journal 1: West Ham

My friends and I went to the West Ham v Watford Premier League match this past Tuesday, 8 February. It was a home match for the Hammers who play in London Stadium, which was used in the 2012 London Olympics for track and field and other events. One of the main aspects that I noticed was the sheer size of the stadium- it has a capacity of 80,000 people. I think this takes away from the normal environment that can be found at a Premier League match. We sat in the 71st row in the upper section of the stands, and I was not able to feel the excitement that I had felt at an EFL Championship game between Millwall and West Brom. There were few chants shouted out, little applause throughout the match, and relatively little atmosphere in general. Despite this, I enjoyed the match because of the social event it allowed me to take part in with my friends. I also just like football.

West Ham ultimately won 1-0 on a deflected shot- a relatively anticlimactic finish. As a whole, the match was somewhat dull in terms of play. There were chances for both sides that were not finished, and the two sides never appeared dominant. I suppose this makes sense for Watford, who sit at 19th in the table. However, West Ham are currently 4th in the table and competing for a top 5 finish. In my opinion, Watford even created better chances; they were just unable to finish them.

A bit of controversy was placed around this match because West Ham’s star defender, Kurt Zouma, had recently been seen kicking his cat in a video posted by his brother. Despite knowledge of the incident, Hammers manager David Moyes decided to put Zouma in his starting XI. This decision caused backlash in the media for days to come. Zouma was booed each time he touched the ball in the match (before hearing about the situation, I thought everyone was yelling Zouu).

There were many other sporting aspects that I noticed during the match. Because of their play in the London Stadium, West Ham is not able to capitalize on stadium naming rights, one of the largest sources of revenue for many professional teams. Additionally, there were very limited adverts around the venue; the main source was the perimeter of the field, plastered by West Ham’s sponsor Betway. There were few other brands advertised, such as Heineken (who had a section under the scoreboard) and Kuflink. However, the main advert on the scoreboard was self promotion; future matches were often placed on the big screen, which explains the cheap price we were able to get the tickets for. The last thing I noticed was the relative lack of organization in leading people out of London Stadium. All attendees were funneled into one singular area, making it difficult to leave at a pleasurable pace. It took nearly an hour to even get to the nearby tube stadium because of the starts and stops that the West Ham staff enforced.

I think there are many improvements that could be made to West Ham’s operations; nonetheless, the match was a fun and enjoyable experience. London Stadium is an amazing venue overall, but it is difficult to say that a singular Premier League club is the right fit for it. I think West Ham’s use of a stadium solely for them could be beneficial for their organization.