It harks back to everyone’s childhood I feel, when the exotic summer time images from a far flung field invoke a shared excitement that the club game can’t match in quite the same way. As an adult, the exoticism may have been replaced by cynicism at FIFA and their antics, but the actual football remains as nerve jangling and highly anticipated as ever. Even if your team is perennially awful.
For many, going to a World Cup is a far off dream, something beyond the means of the average punter. Few tickets are made available to ordinary people, and those that are can be extremely expensive. Then there is the cost of travel and accommodation or tour packages and all that shebang. Of course there is always the black market; a prospect that either gives an opportunity to the enterprising fan, or strikes the fear of financial turmoil.
For Patrick Johnston, a former goalkeeper from the US who got within touching distance of making the grade in the professional ranks of England, the idea of feeding his habit as a true soccer junkie by attending World Cup matches was too good a prospect to miss. Beginning in Mexico in 1986, Johnston makes his first ventures into the black market of purchasing tickets around the stadiums where games are taking place. What begins as a rather straightforward task most of the time in Mexico, thanks to the generally good availability of tickets, develops into a tale with countless twists and turns as his adventures in Mexico continue.
But he didn’t stop there, travelling courtesy of a relative with access to cheap flights and with many a ticket provided by an unnamed “Benefactor”, Johnston made it to Italy in 1990, France in 1998, Japan and South Korea in 2002, Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010. The one missing from that list? USA in 1994 of course; it clearly just wasn’t challenging enough for him (that bit isn’t true, Johnston explains all himself). He also travelled to Switzerland and Austria for the 2008 European Championships and to Peru for the Copa America.
In each case, the story of his attempts, almost always successful, to attend numerous matches make for some fascinating tales. Among others, he acquired ten fake tickets in Italy in 1990 for no money at all from a nervous man in a café, endured nights on trains and other people’s floors with friend and stranger alike, raced across countries to make it to the stadium on time, made connections with people that brought future success in ticketing and other great deals, and on occasion made a tidy sum selling some extra tickets that had come his way.
Best of all is the elaborate way in which he got into the press zone and then behind the goal at the USA – Germany match in Nantes during France ’98, not to mention picking up a ticket for another match left by the Brazilian team captain, Dunga.
A few trips to England to see some Premier League clashes highlight the differences in black market ticket availability at big international events when compared to regular league matches when the authorities are rather more clued up at ensuring they know who holds a ticket for any given seat. His trips to England allow a bit of nostalgia for his time at Orient and Newcastle United, and also to visit various Premier League training academies to study their set up. Johnston’s past affiliations have made him a Newcastle United fan, and as a Newcastle man myself it would be remiss of me not to castigate Johnston’s visit to Sunderland causing him to develop some warm feelings towards the red and white loons. That’s just not on frankly (my tongue is firmly in cheek), but as he says he’s an American and so can be excused from the tribalisms of English football!
There’s a lot of talk of the benevolence of the Benefactor, and the deities and so on, but assuming that doesn’t put you off too much the sheer audacity of his odyssey makes for some stunning stories. There is downright good fortune at times of course, and opportunity afforded by simply putting himself out there are looking for it. Sheer persistence, and knowing when and where to go looking for the opportunity are skills that Johnston developed into a level of expertise by the end.
The narrative jumps from present to past in that some parts are told as though relaying the story to a fellow passenger on a flight and impressing him with tales of World Cups past. These conversations are slightly cheesy, but don’t take away from the truly fascinating tales of Johnston’s epic adventures. As a soccer and particularly World Cup junkie myself, though without the adventures Johnston has managed, it makes for terrific reading and great fascination. As he travelled and gained access to many a match I recalled quite vividly, my inner self longed to be there with him as I read, taking a chance on getting tickets late in the day and seeing where it took me. If only I had the spare cash to pay the occasionally exorbitant asking prices.
But with all that great drama, there is a downside to this book. The number of grammatical errors in the copy I read was far beyond simple typos and the odd thing missed during proof reading. Johnston repeatedly used “to” instead of “too” which just irritates me as a reader. Other examples include “queue” being used instead of “cue” when not talking about a line of people, “could of” instead of “could have”, “insure” instead of “ensure” and an insistence on saying “capitol city” rather than “capital”. Yes I know there is a Capitol in Washington DC, but the city itself is a “capital” as with all centres of power around the world.
Perhaps each of these in their own right should be considered fairly minor, but I found them irritating me a bit too much and this really shouldn’t happen in a book that the acknowledgements show has been proof read by several people.
But anyway, all that aside, there can be no doubting the magnificent story being told. In spite of my quibbles I thoroughly enjoyed Johnston’s adventures and can’t help but hope he made it to Brazil this last summer.
- Aidan Williams - http://thesportsbookreview.com
Publisher - Self-Published
Date of Publication - 2014