Even though Crystal Palace beat the Richmond Kickers Monday night 3-0, the Red Army came in droves with unbeatable spirits.
Even though Crystal Palace beat the Richmond Kickers Monday night 3-0, the Red Army came in droves with unbeatable spirits. With almost 8,000 in attendance, fans made up new chants especially for the game, one being “You came a long way to lose!” among a few others.
Everyone gathered around to watch the Crystal Palace team arrive, only to start revolting when their bus accidentally ran over a young boy’s soccer ball. The loud pop emanated through the crowd, and once the Crystal Palace fans showed up, the Red Army chanted how they owed them a soccer ball and a lot of beer.
Oh and how the beer flowed. Wild Wolf Brewery was serving a number of beers, one being the official Richmond Kickers beer – Kick It Hunny.
Initially, the Kick It Hunny has very citrusy notes with some hoppy after tones. It’s very crisp, and not too hoppy, which makes it a very nice summer beer. After a few minutes you can taste the slight honey too.
Wild Wolf also served up their Alpha Ale, an extremely hoppy American Pale Ale. You get a chocolaty aftertaste you’d expect from a porter with the tiniest note of citrus. If you’re big into hops then I’d definitely suggest this beer to sip on.
When the Crystal Palace Eagle hit the field, the new crowd chant was “Tastes like chicken!” The comradery continued with Palace fans singing over the Kickers anthem, which only made the Red Army sing the National Anthem even louder.
The game got off to a slow start, but when minute 35 came along the score changed to 1-0, but unfortunately not in the Kickers favor. Peter Ramage’s header couldn’t be stopped. After the half, Palace continued to win the battle with Glenn Murray scoring at the 52nd and Marouane Chamakh scoring at the 70th minute of the game for the final score of 3-0.
Despite the loss, Richmond had a lot of chances. Forward Jason Yeisley had a couple very close scoring opportunities, in the first and second half. A Sascha Görres pass sprung George Davis IV down the left during minute 22 of the first. Davis’ cross found Matt Delicâte outside the six-yard box, and the Kickers leading goal-scorer’s powerful header missed just to the right.
The Kickers put in a lot of effort, and overall the game showed how we can handle ourselves against an EPL team of such a high caliber.
Having an EPL team here is a really good thing for Richmond. It brings a lot of publicity and exposure to the city. City Stadium is also a desirable playing field. It is part of the last generation of grass fields made to be a truly great grass field. In soccer (all over the world) and in the NFL/NCAA they have gone to more artificial fields which have become the norm.
Having a real grass field is definitely something which could attract other teams here. It could have been a reason Crystal Palace came – so they could play on one of the last good grass fields to be made for sports.
The Richmond Kickers take on the Wilmington Hammerheads this Friday, August 1 at Legion Stadium before returning to City Stadium to host the Charlotte Eagles on Saturday, August 9. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and tickets are on sale now at RichmondKickers.com
