Most people plan trips by looking at maps. Me on the other hand, the fixture lists is what I focus on. This habit definitely formed over time, but eventually it became something I did without even flinching. Once you notice that pattern it’s hard to go back to booking a trip without checking who’s playing first.
The first proper football trip I did wasn’t even far. Just a train up for a Saturday game, back the next morning, nothing special on paper. But the whole day felt different because the match gave it a reason. You notice things you wouldn’t normally care about. Which pubs are full early, which streets get busy first, where the away fans end up before kickoff. After that, every time the fixtures came out I caught myself thinking the same way. Not where I want to go, but where I could go.
These days I’ll sit with the schedule open before I even look at travel prices. Kickoff times matter more than hotel deals, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve checked the odds on premier league games while deciding if a weekend trip feels worth it. Big games have a different pull to them, even if you’re not a supporter of either side. You get the sense the whole city will be leaning towards the stadium that day, and that’s usually enough to make the decision.
When the ground becomes the destination
Some stadiums don’t need much of an excuse. You hear about them for years before you ever go. Anfield was the perfect example for me. A stadium I had seen so many times on TV, I had memorised the interiors without ever even visiting. So when the chance arose, it definitely felt odd, but familiar. The surrounding streets and energy was exactly as I anticipated it to be, busy but not in a rushed way. Football fanatics who have paved the way for other fans to make the same walk for decades.
Not all trips are as clear as this. One season, for instance, I ended up at a midweek game that hadn’t even been in my plans at all. Simply because I’d been in the area for work and seen that there was a game going on. These are the ones that tend to be remembered the most. No build-up or anything like that. Simply turning up, buying a ticket, and seeing what the place is like when the lights go on.
You begin to notice that every ground is different. Some grounds are loud hours before a game even starts. Some are quiet until the teams emerge. The bigger the club, the more the entire area seems to be moving in the same direction. Some grounds seem more real, though. You stand in a queue, talk to someone you’ve never met before, and for a moment or two, you feel as if you belong there.
The parts no one writes about
What never makes it into travel guides is how much of these trips happen nowhere near the stadium. Waiting for trains, getting lost trying to find the right stand, standing outside in the cold because the pub’s too full to get in. Those bits should be annoying but they end up being part of the story every time.
One of the best away days I had started with a delayed train and nearly missing kickoff. By the time we got there, the game had already started, and the first ten minutes were just spent trying to figure out where our seats were. It could have been a disaster, but it was one of those games that you talk about years after, not because of the result, just because the whole day was slightly out of control from the start.
You only really get that feeling when the trip is built around the match. If football isn’t the reason you’re there, the day never quite falls into the same shape.
Following the season without meaning to
After a while the fixtures in the Premier League amongst other lists starts to feel like a calendar. You look ahead and think about where you could be in a few weeks if the timing works. Sometimes you don’t even support the teams you’re going to see. You just know there’s a good game on, or a ground you haven’t been to yet, and that’s enough.
I’ve ended up in places I probably wouldn’t have visited otherwise just because a match made it seem like a good idea. Smaller cities, mid table games, even a couple of last minute trips that only happened because someone sent a message saying there were tickets going. Those are usually the ones that stick with you, because they don’t feel planned at all.
The strange thing is how normal it starts to feel. You stop thinking of it as travelling for football and start thinking of it as the normal way to travel. Check the fixtures, pick a game, see what trains are running, and figure the rest out later.
Why the fixture list always wins
People ask why anyone would plan a trip like this instead of just going somewhere new and seeing what happens. The only answer I ever have is that the match gives the trip a centre. You know where you’ll be at a certain time, and everything else fits around it.
You remember the walk to the ground more than the flight. You remember the noise when the teams come out more than the hotel. You remember the conversations with people you’ll never see again. Football just gives those moments somewhere to happen.
This is why going back to fixtures as a way of making my travel plans, is something I will always go back to. Yes, sometimes it isn’t always the most organised or the most relaxing of holidays, but there is something memorable that comes with it, that you never get in an all inclusive kind of booking. After you’ve done a few, you can’t help but look at a fixture list and wonder where it could take you next.
You never know it could the San Siro, it could be The Bernabeu, or it could be a lower league team like AFC Wimbledon.