Reds v Lions

The final Texas ScrapFest 09 Challenge was to create a double page, with one full paragraph of journalling, using chipboard and metal embellishments. Now I always struggle with these mentally, because two pages mean double the work of one, right? Well, no - wrong. Two pages that go together are almost easier than a single LO because you have more space to play with, different configuration possibilities, and you can use larger elements without the result looking too in-your-face.

The last weekend in July, we went to a football match (that's soccer to you folks across the Big Pond ;-)) at the National Stadium in Singapore. Now DH and and I lived right across the Kallang river from this stadium for two and a half years - it dominated the view from our windows. My walking group used to walk around it, up and down its steps early most mornings. The National Day celebrations were held there, and we had probably the best unticketed view in the country from our balcony. Fireworks competitions were also held there (WOW!) and we could hear the roars of the crowds at football matches - only we never knew who had just scored!

Two years ago we watched the televised official "closure" ceremonies (and the live fireworks out of the window) as the authorities decided it was to be pulled down and replaced by a fancy new Sports Hub, and we mourned a little, and then watched in surprise as they carried on using it. Despite all that, we had never been inside.

So there we were, all excited. The stadium really is something else. And this was the legendary Liverpool FC, who at last one third of Singaporeans actively support (the rest being roughly one third Manchester United fans, and one third supporters of other British clubs) playing Singapore on their own turf. This was going to be good!

I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow account of the game. I don't do sports commentaries, and besides, I was too busy watching the crowds. Both Liverpool's and Singapore's home strips are red and white, and the stadium was a seething mass of it. It was hard to tell who was supporting who. And in fact it didn't matter because everyone cheered at every goal attempt, and groaned at every save no matter which end it was, which was rather nice. There was a lot of chanting, but whether they were shouting "Singapore" or "Liverpool" it was impossible to tell - they sound the same in a Singaporean accent soaked in beer.

At one point a Mexican wave started and it went round the whole stadium twice with a huge roar, until an attempt on one of the goals took people's attention back to the game. I LOVED that! I did notice that the Reds (in their away strip of black) did all the falling over and rolling around in agony before jumping up and carrying on. If the Lions got hurt, they didn't show it. No surprises there then.

At half time it was 1-0 to Liverpool and we wandered around taking photos and stretching our legs. The second half was even more exciting with goal after goal, and the final score was a slightly embarrassing Liverpool 5 Singapore 0. We watched the Reds kindly give the Lions several openings (it was a "friendly" after all) but the home team just couldn't seem to follow them through. Maybe they were intimidated by the most of the Reds being at least 1 foot taller!

And after all that waffle, here is my attempt at capturing the excitement. The Singapore flag was given to us at the door, no doubt in a vain attempt at getting us to support the home team. I printed off a Liverpool flag from the net. I used the laces saved from an old pair of trainers to thread through eyelets, and printed out photos of the scoreboard with the clock. The red paper is from my DCWV Citrus stack.