National Disgrace

Wembley, the history, the dreams, and the £6 soggy pizza. OK, in case you’re wondering why a Southend fan was at Wembley it wasn’t to watch the Quo or to see the Chuckle Brothers (who were in the Rotherham end by the way). It was in fact to watch Dagenham in the league 2 playoff final. The main reason for the visit was to watch Paul Benson (a friend from school) who is currently playing up front for the Daggers.

The game itself was great. Beano scored and the daggers won 3-2 in a thrilling game. Halftime was a different story! A baying crowd demanded booze from the idle staff. Apparently, it’s essential that alcohol is served at half-time on the dot and not a second before!

Eventually, I got to the front where the following conversation took place.

Me : ‘6 beers, a bottle of water, and a slice of pizza please’
Vendor: ‘Vegetarian or meat’
Me: ‘Meat’
Vendor: ‘We only have vegetarian’
Me: ‘Right!’

I could sense the angry crowd behind me getting angrier.

Me: ‘Whatever, just hurry up’

He proceeded to get the only manky bit of pizza remaining from the shelf and handed it to me. He then started to pour each and every beer individually from bottles. I eventually got my order which cost £30 and I even had a spare 2 minutes to enjoy my £4 beer and £6 rubber bread pizza!

I’m trying to work out why our national stadium would be so chaotic?? Perhaps it was the fact that the crowd was lower than normal or maybe that Millwall had played the day before (I assume drinking the place dry). The organisers are surely missing a trick here. How often are Dagenham and Rotherham fans going to get to go to Wembley? Why not make it a trip to remember! Without this debacle, fans may choose to come to Wembley for other events like the Quo!

By the way, I hate the Quo…love the Chuckle brothers!