Why visit the West Midlands to see Football?

In 2017, I was selected to attend a course on crowd control in England. The course was held in the West Midlands and as part of our training, we oversaw a West Bromwich football game. I’ve wanted to go back ever since, to be a fan. They were relegated to the Championship league a few years back, however I still follow the Baggies. 

As I was putting our fall 2024 trip together, there were many moving parts. Travel switched around as new ideas were discussed. In the end, the cruise through the Panama Canal would get us to Miami and from there we would travel to Ireland. The issue became Miami to Dublin airfare – ouch! Some diligent searching found Miami to London was waaaaayyyyy cheaper. Then I got the idea to see if the Baggies would be playing around the time we would be there. 

Scheduling works in our favour!

As luck would have it, they were playing at home on the Saturday. In the end, we decided to travel to London, then on to West Bromwich. We would see a football match on one day and a tour of the country side the next, before heading to the Emerald Isle.

Then the hard part started. How to get Baggies tickets? In Canada, you just go online and reserve. The Baggies don’t usually sell out, so it should be pretty easy, right? Not so fast. Remember, the West Midlands Police do crowd control at the football matches for a reason. English football hooligans are well known throughout the world. To keep a check on fans and in order to buy tickets, West Bromwich Albion requires you to have an account. All your personal details are required.

Can Baggies fans buy tickets?

I duly opened an account and then I installed the app. Single game tickets for our match did not go on sale until September 23^rd. We were at sea at that time, on our cruise and I didn’t have wifi. When I did get wifi, I found there were no tickets available. I tried the re-seller board and other areas, but no luck.

When our cruise ended in Florida on October 4^th, I had not yet secured tickets and was getting worried. One thing did concern me. A new friend we met on the cruise grew up in the Midlands. He told us when Millwall played West Brom, it was typically a rough game, with shenanigans and fighting in the stands. Had Millwall fans bought all the tickets? Was there going to be a dust up?

Overnight travel to England

We flew Miami to London overnight, landing at 7am Saturday October 5. We then took a 3 ½ hour bus ride to Birmingham. While the train is faster, it would require two transfers (Gatwick to the Victoria tube Station then to Euston Station). After an overnight transatlantic flight, sleeping on a bus sounded better than schlepping luggage through the London Underground. 

We arrived at our West Bromwich hotel around 1:30 PM and then walked the 30 minutes to the ‘Hawthornes’ – the home stadium of the Baggies. We found the ticket sales office and I noted people were buying tickets. I went to the counter and asked to buy two tickets and was told “there were no general sales”. This seemed a bit confusing as others were getting tickets.

You have not bought tickets, you can’t buy tickets

Off to the side was a desk marked ‘ticket enquiries’. I headed over there and enquired why I could not buy tickets. I had an account, so what was the issue? The clerk told me games against Millwall were ‘restricted’ and only account holders who had purchased tickets previously could buy tickets. I tried to explain we had just flown in from North America, we were Canadians and didn’t even know who Millwall was. She just smiled, but did offer a suggestion. If we could find someone with an account, they could possibly buy tickets for us.

We need to find a fan who can buy tickets

We looked at each other and talked about finding someone to buy us tickets. Heading outside, right in front of us were two dads, each with a 10-year-old boy. I wasted no time in approaching them to tell them our storey. When they confirmed they had accounts, we asked if they would get us tickets. They could tell we were not locals, our Canadian accent stood out, and they agreed to help us. A few minutes later, under another account, I bought two tickets to the match. As we were parting ways, they suggested, if we wanted to the full experience, after the game we should go to Vines for some curry and to re-hash the game.

We then headed into the stadium. It’s a bit different than going to a game in Canada. At West Brom, you queue up at a gate. About ¼ of the fans are searched by a full “pat-down”. Then you go past the turnstile, which is truly barely wide enough if you squeeze it all in. Once inside the stadium, we must have looked like a deer in the headlights. Someone came up to us and asked “is this your first footie match?”

Locals help out first time fans

Having blank stares, he asked for our tickets and then pointed which way to go. As we were walking, another person came up and said “do you know where you are going?”. We said no and, looking at our tickets, he walked us into the stands and took us to our seats. They could not have been more helpful or polite.

The pre-game warm up was on, then there were the typical young players on the field as the teams came out. I wasn’t really paying attention, but all of a sudden, the game was on. There was no anthem. The scoreboard flashed “COYB”, as did the signs all along field level. This I learned, stands for “Come On You Baggies”. Everyone was chanting and, unless you knew what they were saying, you could not understand. 

The first 45 minutes were dominated by West Brom, with 90% ball possession, however the score sheet showed 0 – 0 at the half. The second half only had 70% possession for the Baggies, but the score sheet remained 0 – 0. The game was a draw, despite West Brom leading in all categories. Our first English League game was a scoreless affair, but was still enjoyable.

Post match pub visit

Exiting the stadium, Vines was our destination. Once inside, we learned it was a Mecca to the Baggies. We ordered drinks and dinner, listening to the locals chat about what was wrong with the game, team and how they could fix it. As we were finishing, a gent, with his grandson, asked if we were from Zimbabwe? We told him we were from Canada and he told us why he liked Canada. His Son-in-Law joined him and we talked for about 45 minutes. 

It was a great to get such insights on West Brom, its history, the back story why Millwall is a difficult team, etc. He could have easily been a tour guide with all the information he passed on. Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city and was created out of the Industrial revolution. Coal and iron were plentiful in the region, so it was natural that factories were set up there. Each community was known for an item. West Brom made springs. All shapes and sizes.

Heading back to our hotel in the dark, we were very pleased with how the day turned out. We traversed the ocean, carried on to the Midlands, saw a football match and tried a new pub. A great start to our English trip.