When I was a young boy, round the impressionable age of 8 or 9, I met a family friend. He was interesting to say the least, and hard to understand. He was from England, but also lived in New Zealand and Australia for a while. The next time he came to visit, he brought me a jersey, very big for my little frame, and my mom put it in the closet for when I was grown. Years passed by and I grew and continued to play soccer (creature of habit to call it that) until I re-discovered the jersey when I was in high school. I took it out, tried it on, and wore it.
After that day, the badge never left my soul. I looked Villa up via the Internet only to find out they were just purchased by an American. All the news reports pointed to positive things for the sleeping giant that is Aston Villa. I still wear that patch with pride.
This week has been amazing, I finally got to see the Villa play, granted a summer friendly, but I don’t give a damn. A year ago, I joined AVFC California on Facebook. The leader, Rick, raised $1000 for Acorns through a raffle. He put up most of the gear donated by the Portland Timbers and Aston Villa, including a new jersey signed by the whole Villa team at the open training session on Monday. The joy to know that I helped contribute, if only a little bit, to fund such a great cause not only lifted my spirits, but those of many more when fans found out about the raffle, buying tickets as fast as they could.
Most of the time we were located in the two bars. The first one, the morning of the game, Villa sent out Russell Jones, head of Marketing and Communications, his assistant, and Ian Taylor. You have no idea how amazing it was for myself, a 23-year-old die-hard Villa fan, to finally get to meet Ian and buy him a beer. He was really a down to earth guy, wanting to chat and talk about his time, asking us how we were, and how we fell in love with the club.
I was over the moon; it was the best drug I could ask for. Russell sat down with me and talked all things from food to the mighty Villa. The most impressive thing was his willingness to listen and talk freely. Our club really does still care about us, and our ideas. He gave me his card, telling me to email him for anything. I didn’t just get the feeling that I as an individual cared, but I knew I did. He then called the AVTV crew to come over, holding interviews with a few people with interesting Villa stories, one being Rick for the acorns benefit, the other being a man who had hung out with Ian in China or someone else in Asia, and myself, about how I became a Villa fan. It was unbelievable.
The pre-match pub time came, a blue nose turned up, and we all made him feel very unwelcome. We also had the raffle at this time. The match came and went, and by the end I was a little drunk, but completely happy. I had started plenty of chants in the Villa section, my favorite being Gabby’s song (even though he didn’t play). The play was something amazing; in defense we stayed in our shape better than any time last year, and in attack the players played with freedom. Ireland broke free first, but was called offside. “ It’s his year,” I said after that goal, and I’m standing by my words.
After the game we went back to the pub, where I ran into Matt Kendrick. He told me in confidence of a deal we’ve heard about and that things should be wrapping up soon. He, too, was a complete gentleman, spending about an hour with me, as I continually bought him drinks…so not sure if he did it for the drinks, but it was fun nonetheless and was a great time.
The last day in Portland I ran into the cameraman who sat and ate breakfast with me and my friend, a pleasant way to finish off the trip. The last few months had been very depressing for Villa, and for me, being a soccer coach as well, despite winning a month-long tournament. The way I was treated by Villa not only made my love for the club even greater, but also my love for soccer in general.
All I can say is I envy all of you in England, those who get to see the Villa every weekend. It’s one thing to be angry at a player who isn’t giving it their all, but to be angry at someone who is working for the club, or who pours millions of his own money to make them a top team again, shame on you.
Ok, so I went on a tangent…
Thank you to my Aston Villa Life family. Hope to talk to you all more on here.
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