CNN TV
SCHEDULE ANCHORS REPORTERS CONTACT US
World Sport
October 13, 2008
Posted: 1619 GMT

When a colleague offered me her spare tickets for the England v Kazakhstan game at Wembley stadium, I jumped at the chance to go to my first live football match.

Ashley Cole was booed by many of the 90,000-strong capacity crowd at Wembley.
Ashley Cole was booed by many of the 90,000-strong capacity crowd at Wembley.

And I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment and my initial timid shouts of "Go on England," soon gave way to loud screams, one of which attracted a look of alarm from the young boy in front of me.

Soon I was leaping out of my seat in anticipation every time an England player approached the opposition's goalmouth.

Although, it did get a little frustrating in the first half as chance after chance was squandered and the half ended in a goalless draw.

Things obviously livened up in the second half with six goals in total, but most of the drama was happening off the pitch, with what seemed like half the crowd booing Chelsea player Ashley Cole, for his, admittedly schoolboy error that landed the Kazakhstan side their only goal.

Initially, I thought it was outrageous when the chorus of boos resounded around the 90,000 capacity stadium. But after the fourth or fifth time, it quickly became tiresome and - to me - unpatriotic.

It was left to a lone Cole supporter in our section to stand up and tell the crowd, in no uncertain terms, how they were unfit to clean Cole's boots etc. "You're all effing scum. He's worth more than all of you put together," he screamed, fury etched on his face.

That's probably true, they don't call him Cashley Cole for nothing!

After that, every time Cole touched the ball and was booed, he would get up and applaud him loudly.

Pretty soon, others in our section (and me) joined him in clapping Cole.

Unfortunately, we were drowned out by the unrelenting sound of booing reverberating around the stadium.

What do you think? Did Ashley Cole deserve to be booed by England fans?

Posted by: ,
Filed under: Football


Share this on:

subscribe RSS Icon
World Sport Blog

World Sport provides an inside track to the major issues and stories making news in the world of sport with CNN's anchors, correspondents and journalists providing opinion and in-depth analysis as well as a left field look at all things competitive.

Categories
Contributors

Related Links
Powered by WordPress.com VIP