England fans at the World Cup in the United States have been going under the radar, with little of the media attention that has followed other nations. While Times Square has seen viral fan activity from other countries, the English presence has been subdued. On Friday, the day before England's decisive Group L fixture against Panama, the only visible English fans in Times Square were two men holding a St George's flag with 'Seaham Harbour' written on it.
'We don't usually do dances or anything like that,' explained Joe, one of the flag bearers, who hails from Florida via Sunderland and says he works for Nasa in crowd control. 'We just like to do arm curls, as we call it, and have a good time.' He mimed the specific curl, the kind that moves a glass from bar to mouth.
Zero Arrests Among England Supporters
Only 10,000 England fans are expected to travel to the World Cup, and their low-key presence has been a positive development. To date, there has not been a single arrest of an England supporter in the US during the three weeks they have been there. The only friction, which was perfectly polite, occurred in Boston earlier this week when some bar owners made it clear they would rather serve the Scots.
Different Fan Culture
English fans do things differently from other nations. While many European countries have central fan groups that organise marches to the ground or matchday chants, England does not. On Friday, the only event laid on for the support was organised by Sports Direct. The company hosted a ticketed watch-along for the evening's matches in the basement of the downtown bar Carragher's, where Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher once held a stake and still records podcasts, according to staff.
Mike Ashley's sportswear company has put its name to a number of events, first in Dallas, then Boston, and now New York City. They have also paid for BBC podcaster and fake Sunday league manager Steve Bracknell to drive around the States in a bus. Sports Direct says it is the only company doing any such activity, which is eye-opening given the ubiquity of corporate sponsorship at this World Cup.
Darts Takes Priority
With free tickets and the promise of a T-shirt if you let the in-pub barber give you a Beckham mohican, the Sports Direct event was sold out. But most England fans looking for a gathering were off to the darts instead. The US Darts Masters is taking place at Madison Square Garden this week, a remarkable feat of programming. The first day's play was packed with England fans belting out 'Chase the Sun', and that number looked set to increase on Friday.
Tickets were sold out even on resale sites, so the darts won't be cheap. Jack, from Oldham, has been in the US for three weeks. He has watched every England game since the initial friendlies in Florida and has also travelled to Los Angeles and Kansas City to take in other matches. He says he is trying not to think about his budget.
'It's kind of on track, but I think this weekend it's going to go out the window,' he said. 'I'm going to the darts tonight, so that's going to be a fortune.' Then there's the next day to think about, where drinks at matchday stadiums can set you back $20 each. 'You have a few in the ground and before you know it, that's like 50 quid just disappeared. But you just don't care. The buzz is there, the adrenaline is there and you just deal with it when you get back.'
Planning Ahead
Jack said he had already booked flights that would cover the rest of the tournament all the way to the final, if England were to progress from Group L as winners. 'Obviously the Ghana draw was a scare,' he says. 'But the price of flights has just been going up and up.'
This is another factor that separates supporting England from some other nations: the expectation of travelling deep into the tournament. The Football Supporters Association, once again providing its embassy service for fans, has been sharing information about how to eat and drink cheaply in New York City as people try to preserve funds. The answer for many has been to stay elsewhere. Hoboken and Jersey City have proven as popular a destination as Manhattan, and an awful lot cheaper.
England's New York minute may not have happened yet, but if things go well on the pitch against Panama, there will be time for that yet.
