When this weekend’s match was first discussed in October 2012, I thought about it for a few days.
During that time something struck me, admittedly obliquely, about another match I’d been to earlier that year.
Comparing Guernsey v Wembley with a game in the Egyptian Premier League just over a year ago from now, most would agree, understandably, seems a bit far-fetched.
Looking beyond the obvious geographical and cultural incongruence of the two events, drawing similarities might not take such a stretch of the imagination.
Living in Cairo it didn’t take too much deliberation on my part in deciding to follow the club whose grounds are based in the former British Officers’ club on an island on the river Nile. Named after this upmarket riverside district, yet playing their games in a down at heel suburb of the capital city, Zamalek Sporting Club, like Wembley FC, trade on a glamorous or at least a more famous name.
Former Tottenham names Ahmed Mido and Hossam Ghali, and more recently Wigan’s fleeting starlet Amr Zaki all started out at Zamalek and are well known to remain resolutely partisan.
Wembley on the other hand had to make do with a brief stewardship at the beginning of this season from no less than the former Premiership names of Venables, Keown, Seaman, Parlour and the Channel Islands’ very own Le Saux, though it’s not known whether they remain partisan to the Middlesex club.
The fact the Cairo club turn out for home matches in resplendent white and red concludes the similarities between the clubs themselves.
The match I am seeking to draw similarities with Wembley’s trip to Guernsey this weekend took place in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria between Al Ittihad, the main team from the city, and Zamalek.
Situated on the Mediterranean coast, the region is a haven for wealthy Egyptians escaping the stifling heat of Cairo during the summer months. The adjoining desert terrain was once well trod by British boots during the North Africa campaigns, walls of bars in the city still bearing graffiti etched by the idle hands of said troops.
Guernsey, a haven of a different kind for wealthy British businesspeople and companies, is similarly well trodden, though the footwear may be a good deal more formal.
A Friday morning in late January 2012 started with a sluggish train journey from Cairo to Alexandria. After three hours encased in archaic rolling stock built by the French and subsequently palmed off on the Egyptians like a grateful younger brother with a hand-me-down football shirt, we were ready for some football.
By the time we snap out of our sluggish start and continue not quite so sluggishly to Gatwick and onward this weekend in late February 2013, we will surely be ready for football too, laden with a heavy thirst.
We were not expecting much in the way of pre-match or half-time hospitality in the Estad Iskandariya, being a dry stadium; our drinking was done afterwards. It is not yet known what sort of fare will be proffered at Footes Lane this weekend.
It’s safe to say we will likely be imbibing before, during and after the match and, barring some exceptionally poor facilities both there and in St. Peter Port, shouldn’t have to queue too long for it either.
The goalless draw that was eventually wrung out on the pitch that day in Alexandria may well hold some similarities to what will be served up in Guernsey, despite the glut of international players who featured in both Egyptian sides.
I mean that in a positive way. For this is surely a credit to the standard of the English game at this lowly end of football’s pyramid.
Replete with banners, horns, face paints and flares, the 13,000-strong crowd embodied a vibrancy and effervescence in the tradition of Mediterranean European clubs. Though in this case maintaining a wall of noise throughout the entire game off the pitch, merely made up for a lack of endeavour and quality of 22 on it.
The atmosphere was perhaps intensified by the mounting political instability in the wake of 2011’s ‘revolution’ and the associated elections that were forthcoming.
Either way, a week after this game, 21 supporters of Cairo’s Al Ahly -Zamalek’s fierce rivals were killed at a match in Port Said, another city on the Mediterranean coast. The cause of the unrest during this game which led to what were mostly accidental deaths was not overtly political, but there was undoubtedly a mood that was stoked up by bubbling tensions going on elsewhere in Egyptian society at the time.
The fans attending the match at Footes Lane this weekend will without doubt resemble nothing of this: not in size, colour, nor volume. And despite David Cameron and his mates cutting everything that can be cut, including any faith British people had in their political system, disturbances of a political ilk are about as likely as Cameron himself attending.
As for unrest of another kind, if Chairman Gumm doesn’t lay on a platter of sausage rolls after the game then it’s virtually guaranteed. He has been warned; so have Guernsey FC!
So this winding journey of perceived parallels has finally alighted on some of the differences between what we are going to Guernsey to see and what I saw over a year ago in Egypt.
In terms of spectator numbers and habits, a cultural difference is surely at least partly at play and political situation, definitely. With absolutely no offence intended, few would disagree that Ian Bates’ men may not be purveyors of the most fashionable brand in football, languishing in an unglamorous league.
But for those of us from that part of the Harrow Road that stretches from Stonebridge to Northwick Park, we are steadfastly proud of it nonetheless.
Moreover, for us who grow weary at times of the nature of the game and its participants at the other end, a former Sudbury resident sees going to watch Wembley as “a welcome escape from the greed and hype of the Premiership.”
That says so much, but I feel it’s even more than that: not only because these blokes otherwise earn an honest living, but because it’s Wembley, it’s ours, and we want the local team to do well. It’s as simple as that.
A fixture like this might ordinarily encourage a few Wembley boys out of the woodwork, or more accurately the Swan, the Regal and the Fusilier. After all, playing away at Guernsey certainly holds a little more glamour than trekking away to Colliers Wood United, barring the obstacle of a flight of course. Whoever said fair-weather fans lacked loyalty?
Accusations to that effect are all abandoned for this weekend, I’m sure. For all residents of Wembley not able to find a last minute flight amongst the scrabble, you are implored to at least think about it at 3pm on Saturday. For those going to Guernsey: why would you want to be anywhere else?
What started out here as an attempt to draw a comparison between two apparently disparate footballing fixtures has transpired into both similarities and differences being highlighted. The match will not evoke any memories for anyone else.
But for me at least, this Saturday afternoon when I am enjoying the spectacle at Footes Lane Stadium, St Peter’s Port, I will squint and maybe, if only for a few seconds, I might just be reminded of that other match. That is until I hear the bellows of WEMBLEY! WEMBLEY! from my two mates next to me.
JAMES SMITH
