Forever Blowing Bubbles...

Some of you may recognize that opening line and know what I'm talking about. I'm assuming it'd be because you have seen the film Green Street Hooligans. For those of you still with no clue, this article is going to be about West Ham United FC. I'll be honest, there isn't an incredible amount of information to throw on here about West Ham. But the film about the club's hooligan sect, has led people to ask a few questions, so I will do my best to provide answers. It's not that the club doesn't have history, it has some cool stories, but they don't have the legacy that some of the other teams I've written about have. Still, the beautiful thing about football, every team has a tremendous amount of history, even if it comes from the third division.

I actually really enjoyed the story about how West Ham got their start. Like a lot of clubs they started as a club for workers at the local IronWorks. They were called Thames Ironworks for the first few years of their existence. That's where the Hammers, or the Irons nicknames comes from. Their big rivalry with Millwall comes from the fact that both clubs used to be the sports clubs for rival Ironworks companies in the London area. Millwall have spent a good portion of their history in the lower divisions of English Football while West Ham have been relatively successful, but still the feud rages on. Another interesting West Ham story is in their uniform. When I first got involved with following football, I noticed that Aston Villa and West Ham have nearly identical uniforms. I chalked it up to the nice color pattern (Claret and Blue, it really is gorgeous), and nothing else. Well, when I was reading about West Ham for this article I found out that it's not just the appealing nature of the color scheme. They are related. One of the fathers of the players for Thames Ironworks was a nationally known sprinter. Well it happened that he was somewhere around Birmingham (home of Villa), and a few of the lads from the team challenged him to a race, and put the team uniforms on the line. Not the right to wear the colors or anything, because they played in two completely different leagues, but just the right to own those shirts. Well the sprinter won the race, and brought the shirts home to his son. The team instantly started to wear the new Claret and Blue over the full Navy Blue uniforms. The guys who lost the shirts told the club manager that they had gone missing.

West Ham started playing their football as Thames Ironworks FC in 1895, and changed to West Ham in 1900. They moved into Boleyn Ground, currently known as Upton Park, in 1904. They have played in this same ground since they moved in. Their chairman Eggert Magnusson, Icelandic billionaire, is currently looking for a new home for the Hammers. They're biggest claim to fame is winning the FA Cup three times. Recently, they were in the FA Cup Final against Liverpool. If you are a fan of the underdog winning, or if you hate Liverpool, it's a painful match to have watched. I really feel bad for this team and their fans to get all the way to the door and lose. It's one of the better matches I've ever seen in my life, though.



The Hammers' best finish has been 3rd place in the top flight, and that was in 1985. They're not a team that will win the league, probably ever, but they can compete, and they can win a cup here and there. They are the Pride of East London, and that's not all actually. There is a pride at West Ham for their ability to bring up some of the best players in England. They call themselves the Academy of Football. That stems from the fact that three of the players in the famous 1966 World Cup winning England side, played their club ball at West Ham. Since then players like Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, and Joe Cole all learned their football at West Ham before moving on to bigger clubs. While I'm sure it's frustrating for the average West Ham fan, there is a sense of pride that goes with it.

I'll end the article with a nifty West Ham legend story. In 2007 the club was destined for relegation. They were bad, I mean, really bad. At the start of the season they signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano in an extremely shady deal. Unfortunately, the manager who was there to start the season, Alan Pardew, didn't know what he was doing. The team toiled away and sold Mascherano to Liverpool in January. With the team looking inevitably down the barrel of the Coca-Cola Championship (second division), Carlos Tevez went on a tear. The guy turned into a goal scoring machine. He loved it, and the crowd loved it. One of the greatest matches I have ever seen in my life was a match they played against Spurs where it ended 4-3 in favor of Tottenham. West Ham didn't get the win, but they played wonderful, exciting football. Tevez single-handedly saved the club from relegation and embarrassment. They're never going to break the top four, but they're a good team. If you're the kind of person who enjoys watching good young players compete consistently to battle for the top half of the table, and make the occasional cup run, then maybe West Ham is the team for you. The title of the song comes from the song West Ham fans love to sing for their team,

"I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air. They fly so high, nearly reach the sky, and like my dreams they fade and die. Fortune's always hiding, I've looked everywhere...I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air."