One of the reasons we all love football is its unpredictability. Ironically and frustratingly right now we cannot predict exactly when it will be back. But it will be and, when it is, football will bring us together in a more powerful way than ever before.
In the meantime, it helps me to stay connected by thinking about the old and the new and the good and not-so-good memories through my beloved football club Brighton and Hove Albion.
My story started in the mid-1980s, so I’ve seen countless lows and some memorable highs in that time.
In 1994 as a teenager I worked as a catering assistant at Goldstone, where I served hot dogs, burgers, drinks and snacks to countless of often disgruntled Albion fans. I would arrive at 9am as my job was to pre-cook several hundred hot dogs for the stadium.
At around 1pm, I would help get all the food outlets set up ready for the crowds. It was the calm before the storm. During half-time it was madness as thousands of impatient fans pushed their way to the front of the non-existent queues and screeched their orders.
There were no such luxuries as cash registers, so when someone came with an order of “4 hot dogs, 3 burgers, 2 mars bars, 2 coffees, a hot chocolate and 3 teas” we used our heads to do the sums. And it was only as the second half started that the never-ending orders finally began to slow. We could breathe again!
Thankfully, we could close the food outlets in the second half which meant the quicker we managed to clean and balance the stock and cash, the more we could see of the game. I worked as fast as I possibly could. If everything balanced it meant I could skip off to the stands to watch the final minutes which made me the happiest teenager in the stadium. But if the stock didn’t balance I needed to re-count everything and I would miss the match. Post-match, I would return to the kitchen to be handed a brown envelope with a grand total of £26 cash in it. Kerching!
I would always check the back of the envelope. It had the date of the next home match on it and therefore my next shift. Most importantly, the date when I could maybe watch five minutes of my beloved Seagulls.
The Seagulls were forced to leave Goldstone, and then had two years of sharing with Gillingham 120km away before our home became the makeshift Withdean Stadium. If I tell you it was where my school held its sports day you will understand what it was like.
With a capacity of only 7,000, the not so glamorous Withdean boasted ‘temporary’ buildings as changing rooms and corporate hospitality spaces. For extra ambience, it was adorned with a discus net, a 400 metres athletics track and a long jump pit. Nonetheless, this was our 'home' from 1999/2011.
Against all odds Brighton and Hove Albion survived Withdean, all the time battling for planning permission to build a world class stadium at Falmer in the South Downs.
Our new stadium opened in July 2011. The first competitive match was held the following month when we defeated Doncaster Rovers 2-1. Of course, the brightest spot in Brighton’s recent past is when we secured promotion to the Premier League for the first time.
Until then, the closest the club came to fame was in 1983 when they reached the FA Cup Final against Manchester United, prompting the well-known phrase 'and Smith must score'. He didn’t and Manchester United won the replay 4-0. Enough said!
It was 17th April 2017 when promotion came and I was living in Australia. We started that season with an 18-match unbeaten run, going to the top of the league and clinched promotion after a 2-1 win against Wigan Athletic with almost a month of the season to spare.
I headed to England the following season to catch a home game in the top-flight. What a match-up too against Manchester United. A win would see us stay up and it was thrilling to see that happen as we beat one of the the giants of the Premier League 1-0. Not a bad first game for me in the Premier League.
Now? A sense of togetherness. We read about it week in week out and several clubs are using #TOGETHER in their marketing campaigns. In August 2015, the club’s togetherness was emphasised with the tragic events surrounding the Shoreham Air disaster. The crash happened very close to Brighton's training ground and sent shock waves throughout the club as two staff members sadly lost their lives.
And now during these crazy Covid-19 times, Brighton and Hove Albion are once again making me proud to be a fan by showing togetherness and community spirit. The club started a campaign to distribute free tickets to NHS workers in recognition of their front line role in fighting Covid-19. Players and staff are also making supportive calls to vulnerable fans and three senior management staff have voluntarily taken a significant pay cut. Other initiatives have been instigated too including Albion As One.
The club has one of the best stadiums in the country, a world class training facility, a generous and passionate chairman, an astute, business-savvy CEO, an experienced, dedicated, humble manager and a strong sense of togetherness.
Thanks for being such an important part of my life Brighton and Hove Albion. Here’s to many more seasons in the top-flight of English football.
Sally Freedman has worked in sport management for the last ten years in a variety of roles. In November 2018, Sally took up a role as Online Marketing Manager for Euro 2020 with UEFA. Find Sally on Twitter @freedmansal.
This article first appeared in the Play On online football magazine.