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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not let my DH take DS to Wembley?

94 replies

sophe29 · 14/05/2014 11:03

DH football team since childhood (Leyton orient) have just got into the playoff finals at wembley. This is obviously a huge deal for DH but he is desperate to take our DS (5yo) to the final. Its on a Sunday afternoon, kick off at 3pm. We do not live in London so they will have to navigate trains and tubes there and back.

DS has been to a football game already but at our local, very child friendly stadium and enjoyed it but it was obviously very overwhelming for him. He is entering the football obsession phase and football is all he talks about but in a very abstract way that only a 5 year old can. Orient are not his favourite team but does pay attention to them as his they are his dads team.

I really am not happy about DH taking him. I feel he is too young and as it is such an important game there is more chance of the crowd being rowdy and violent. Apparently the Orient supporters stormed the pitch 3 times at last nights game.
I have also been to Wembley and know what an absolute nightmare it is getting in and out of it. Having spent over an hour trying to get on the tube after a Robbie Williams concert and hating all the pushing and shoving that went on, let alone the standing around, I can't imagine what it would be like with a bunch of drunk football supporters who will either be raucously celebrating or pissed off that they lost.

DH thinks Im HUGELY unreasonable for not letting him take DS but it really doesn't sit well with me and I just think 5 is too young.

Does anyone else have any experience of taking young kids to big football matches at wembley or similar? AIBU?

OP posts:

fanoftheinvisibleman · 14/05/2014 21:11

And as for swearing, we have always been up front. It is rude, but it is something adults do sometimes. It is not big or clever and you do not repeat it. It has worked so far.

PrincessOfChina · 14/05/2014 21:11

YABU. I've been going to the footy since I was 8 and DB has been going since he was 4. And that was back in the 80's!

Wembley is an amazing day out, and totally safe for all concerned. And I say it's amazing as a Sheffield United fan who's been to four play off finals and we've lost every damn one of them.

FourthTimeAround · 14/05/2014 21:28

Sophe29

So your baby was abducted?!? What happened next??

Lucyccfc · 14/05/2014 21:52

Wembley is a great stadium to take kids to. I have been taking my DS watching England there since he was 4. We are always given a wristband when we get into Wembley, and our seat numbers are written on it and my phone number. At 8, my DS hates it, as he thinks it's for babies. It's a good idea to be fair.

Yes the tubes can be busy, but I have never lost him nor has he felt uncomfortable.

Never seen a pitch invasion at Wembley (the new stadium), it's just not the done thing.

No disrespect to Orient fans, but there won't be a capacity crowd and they don't have a reputation for trouble.

He will have a great day out. Your main worry should be how much it will cost. The food is crap and hugely expensive. Burger or fish and chips will set you back £8.50, programme normally £10.

There really is nothing to worry about.

Lucyccfc · 14/05/2014 22:02

Fanoftheinvisibleman - just read your post. My DS has been the same. Loved running about the pitch celebrating after the City win. He said the atmosphere was amazing. He love the parade too on Monday, but said it was really busy.

I have taken my DS abroad watching football too. I am careful where I take him, so a fair few countries in Eastern Europe as 'no go's'. Bit like England in the 70's and early 80's. We have been to Germany, Andorra, Holland and Brazil watching England and it was great. We make a holiday put of it.

We are off to Miami in just under 3 weeks to watch England and my DS has been chosen to be a player escort. It's his birthday tomorrow and he is going to be over the moon when he gets his letter telling him he will be walking out onto the pitch with the England team v Equador.

ForalltheSaints · 14/05/2014 22:08

Leyton Orient may never go to Wembley again for many years. Not one for DS and DH to miss.

fanoftheinvisibleman · 14/05/2014 22:14

Wow Lucyccfc - what a fantastic experience! Ds keeps entering the competitions to be a city mascot. No luck yet but he has had his photo in the programme a couple of times.

Ds is thoroughly a club boy I am afraid though and won't even watch international matches at all My dad was gutted when ds got back from city game as he has a fully signed England shirt from the mid 90's which he won in a competition with William Hills I think. Everyone was high on the result so my dad told ds he could have the special shirt. Ds was polite but said " No thanks grandad, you'd be better off selling it. But if you every get a City one...."

Our work is obviously complete as parents. We have fully brainwashed him to the exclusion of all others. You have never seen a boy so disgusted that his school uniform was red

I hope your ds goes and has a similar great memory to treasure OP

NormHonal · 14/05/2014 22:15

Another positive story here. DH took our 5yo to Wembley, they enjoyed it, and the crowd around them were very kind and watched their language.

When the rude songs were sung, DH sang loud silly words over them.

clary · 14/05/2014 22:21

To me the key issue is, will your DS get bored?

5yo is pretty much the cusp for this. The good thing is that it's in May, probably sunny and certainly not cold and miserable. That makes it better for him.

It won't be lots of drunk rowdy fans. You'd be surprised. I see that lots of others have posted the same thing. It does annoy me, this assumption that all football fans are drunken rowdies. I am not really a big footy fan but I have been to lots of matches and rarely witnessed anything that would concern me.

I've been to Wembley for matches, most recently with DH and our two DSs, have no memory of any kind of nightmare getting in or out. Just recall DS2 in tears when the boys lost but hey ho. He was about 8 or maybe 9 btw. He has been going with his dad since he was your DS's age but he is a mega footie fan.

Lucyccfc · 14/05/2014 22:32

Fanoftheinvisibleman.

DS goes to City with his Dad, but I'm not a City fan, so I do the England stuff with him.

He was lucky enought to be a player escort when he was 6. The City v Liverpool game. He was hugely lucky to get to do it - he was having major surgery on his ankles and was in casts and then splints for 12 weeks, so City offered him the chance to do it. He loved it and I was so proud of him. Keep entering the competitions, it will happen for your DS.

I have been entering the competitions with England for the last 2 years and when I got the e-mail on Tuesday I was shaking and on the verge of tears. I know that sounds a bit soft, but I just know what this will mean to him. How I have kept quiet, I don't know.

My DS is the same as yours - won't wear red, moans about me wearing anything red and burst into tears when I said I was going to buy a red car.

I am dreading the thought of the F.A. making him walk out at the England game with a Man United player. If it's Rooney, he will refuse. If we get to choose, it will be Joe Hart.

We have also been (very luckily) invited to watch a closed training session the day before the match, so,he will get to see the team and get photo's and autographs. He knows about that and I have already had to remind him to be polite to Rooney.

I seriously know how lucky he is to have this opportunity and I know he will appreciate it so much.

TidyDancer · 14/05/2014 22:34

Wembley is a great stadium and I wouldn't have any qualms about taking my DS there. That said, you are right about the issues getting out of there. Never experienced any 'trouble' in terms of other fans ( I went there for rugby), but it can take a bloody long time to get on the tube. The police and stewards do handle it well though.

fanoftheinvisibleman · 14/05/2014 22:42

I shall keep my fingers crossed for a Joe Hart match lucyccfc. Verge of tears sounding soft? Not at all, I know for sure dh would cry like a baby if ds was ever a city mascot! I hope you have a fantastic time

Lucyccfc · 14/05/2014 22:51

Thanks fanoftheinvisibleman.

I shall too be keeping my fingers crossed for your DS with the City competitions. Do come back and let me know, so I can tell my DS to watch out for him. x

candycoatedwaterdrops · 14/05/2014 23:05

A stranger abducted your baby?! I think you may have bigger problems than this football match tbh.

glasgowstevenagain · 14/05/2014 23:18

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

ComposHat · 15/05/2014 01:14

Funny how this crucial piece of information doesn't get dragged out until the OP gets roundly told she is BU.

CountessDracula · 15/05/2014 12:16

If you had mentioned initially that your dh abandons your children to strangers at a whim, I think we may have felt differently.

BerniesBurneze · 15/05/2014 12:24

Why don't you go as well and support them both?

Owllady · 15/05/2014 12:36

Did you get the baby back or did Dom jolly keep her?

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