England fans have bought more than 5,000 beers and vandalised plant pots in a Dallas pub ahead of their World Cup opener against Croatia. Thomas Tuchel’s team will be hoping to get off to a fast start in this year’s competition, with the hopes of a nation resting on captain Harry Kane.
Pub Reaches Capacity
With all eyes on the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, which will host the Three Lions’ opening game, fans stayed out until late on Tuesday night at the Londoner Pub in the US city. Draping themselves in St George’s flags and fancy dress, fans were ordered to move on by bar staff and two police officers just before 10pm despite the pub advertising a later closing time.
Pictures show supporters in high spirits, speaking to different officers who were trying to disperse the crowds. The pub was eventually cleared, but many remained on the balcony outside the building for another couple of hours. Officers confirmed the early closure was due to the venue reaching maximum capacity, with only two security guards on duty.
Massive Beer Sales
Before closing its doors, the Londoner managed to sell 2,352 bottles of beer, more than 5,000 beers in total, making more than £30,000 from the evening. After supporters remained on the pub’s balcony, dozens of Dallas Police Department vehicles lined the road outside and officers stood looking up at the English fans who were chanting songs.
Officers stood on the road for around 20 minutes before all police vehicles moved away to a nearby area and out of sight. Supporters then spent around an hour kicking a football up and down the road and the balcony with the ball occasionally landing on the bonnets of nearby vehicles. A very small group could also be seen dropping plants off the edge of the balcony. At the end of the evening, many England fans stayed to help bar staff clean up the mess which was created.
Organiser Comments
Organiser John Gallivan, 39, from Bristol, said the scale of Texas had made it far harder for fans to find each other than at previous tournaments in Europe. ‘America’s massive, it’s so big, so vast. When we go to Europe, it’s really easy – you know where you’re going to be,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to ask, you don’t have to look, you just know where we’re going to be. In America, that’s impossible – so the whole idea of today was to just find somewhere, get them to put a deal on the beer and then advertise it.’
Bristol Rovers fan Gallivan said the event had grown far beyond his expectations after sharing it on social media. ‘We’ve been here since 4pm and it’s been grand. I feel sorry for the bar staff,’ he said. Gallivan said many regular England supporters had been unable to make the trip because of the cost of attending the tournament. ‘I think the way Fifa have managed it, it’s been disgraceful. We’ve been dealt a bad hand. We could have brought so many more out here, but sadly they’ve been outpriced,’ he added.
‘People that I spent time with in Albania and Latvia and had a really good night with, who go home and away, they’ve been priced out of it and that’s not right. They shouldn’t have been.’ This comes after fans slammed the ‘scandalous’ drink prices at England’s warm-up game for the World Cup, where a premium beer was selling for $18 (£13.45) and a domestic beer for $16.75 (£12.50).
Kane’s Message
Speaking ahead of tonight’s match, Kane told supporters at home: ‘It’s one of the best opportunities we will have as a team to win it. I want the fans to have that excitement, whether they’re here or back home.’
