Page 13 - THE ORACLE MAGAZINE SUMMER'23 EDITION

A C L A R E T &
B L U E P R A G U E
Recently, Prague hosted the final of the European
Conference League, an international football
tournament, a level below the Champions League and
Europa League, but prestigious nevertheless. Up against
eachother were West Ham, an East London club that
hadn’t won a European title since 1965, and Fiorentina, a
Florence-based club that hadn’t won one since 1962. As a
result, this match meant the world to both sets of fans, a
chance for their beloved clubs to forever write their
names in the history books. In an attempt to experience
this first-hand I decided to watch the match with
thousands of West Ham fans in the official fanzone at
Letna. Here’s my experience.
Firstly, to my delight, the fanzone was completely free to
enter. After a quick pat-down, I was let in and
immediately greeted to the chants of about a couple
hundred West Ham fans. This was around 2 hours before
kick off, and the atmosphere was already building. One
let down were the extremely inflated prices for food, so I
went elsewhere to grab dinner.
When I returned, it was around 15 minutes before
kickoff. The dark sky and the light rain added to the
atmosphere: something truly grand was about to go
down. The fanzone was packed to the brim with men,
women and children of all ages, strangers who for this
one night were one big family, joined by the
unbreakable bond of their unwavering love for West
Ham United. As the clock hit 21:00, all their attention
shifted to the large screens in the venue. The next 90
minutes could changed the club’s history forever.
The kick off was welcomed by a loud roar and we were
underway. Sadly, the first half of this encounter barely
resembled the beautiful game. The lack of any
excitement had the West Ham fans celebrating not
goals, not chances, but rather tackles and fouls, of
which there were many. These became an issue when
they were committed by a Fiorentina player, the
fanzone naturally responding with boos and insults,
some very creative. To a casual watcher, this could
perhaps come off as “inhumane” and “disgusting”
, yet
to a true appreciator of the sport, these are the
moments we live for. This is football.
The first moment of significance occurred in the 2nd half.
A penalty for West Ham! The Algerian winger, Said
Benrahma, steps up to take it and… converts! West Ham
take the lead! A unanimous roar fills the Prague air, beers
fly into the sky and the crowd jumps in unison. In this
stampede, I drop my phone and thankfully recover it a
few minutes later, a middle-aged man handing it to me,
covered in mud (the phone). However, before the
celebrations can settle, Fiorentina equalize and Letna
goes silent. Was it all for nothing?
The clock ticks the time away, and it’s looking like the
game will head to extra time. The pre-game excitement
and enthusiasm has been replaced by a cloud of tension
looming over the fanzone. Then, the unimaginable
happens. 90th minute, ball in behind, Jarrod Bowen,
through on goal… 2-1 WEST HAM! This is the stuff of
dreams, the perfect ending to an incredible story.
The celebrations this time are indescribable, the release of
all emotions imaginable, there are shouts, hugs, smiles,
tears. The final whistle blows: West Ham are European
champions.
Euphoria fills the air. The crowd chants together, that
“West Ham are massive” and “Bowen’s on fire”
. You can
truly see what it means. The celebrations surely go on late
into the night, and the next morning.
From my point of view, this reminded me of what football
and sports in general are all about. We can endlessly dive
into statistics and argue over which player is better, but at
its core, football is about bringing people together, no
matter the age, gender, class or race, to share their
passion for the clubs they love. Amen.
A L E X R A P A L A
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THE ORACLE MAGAZINE