Skip to content

THE BEST DAY

2024-03-05 · story · John · 5:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Sports · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, on location

John recounts flying to London to watch fan-owned AFC Wimbledon, rebuilt after Wimbledon FC was moved to Milton Keynes, play the Milton Keynes franchise, and a last-minute moment of ecstasy; he argues that loving something together with others is the human condition and that hope is sometimes rewarded.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Morning in London; how Wimbledon FC was moved to Milton Keynes and fans rebuilt AFC Wimbledon; its stadium, results and finances

  • ★ John woke early in London, had coffee in the hotel lobby admiring his Wimbledon shoes, then set off for Plough Lane. — 00:00:05 · London
  • ★★★ John says that 22 years ago Wimbledon FC was stolen away from its community and moved to Milton Keynes. — 00:00:14
  • ★★ John says teams sometimes move in American sports, like the St. Louis Rams becoming the Los Angeles Rams, because US teams are franchises; it had never happened in England, where teams are community assets. — 00:00:20 · England
  • ★★★ John says Wimbledon supporters started over with a fan-owned amateur team with no stadium, kit, staff or players, climbed the amateur divisions, turned full-time professional in 2011, and now share Milton Keynes' league. — 00:00:33 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John says that in 2020 Wimbledon opened a new stadium at Plough Lane, paid for and owned by the fans like the club. — 00:00:59 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John jokes Wimbledon have not been good since returning to professional football: no professional team in England has lost more games in the last five years. (playful) — 00:01:08 · AFC Wimbledon, England
  • ★★ John says only four of England's 92 professional teams were profitable last year (2023), Wimbledon among them because, with no rich owners, it has to be. — 00:01:17 · AFC Wimbledon, England

00:01:27 — John's trip with Stuart to the Milton Keynes match, the tense goalless 90 minutes and the last-minute moment and ecstasy

  • ★★ John does not care that the club is perpetually underfunded: he is in love, so he flew to England with his friend Stuart to cheer against the Milton Keynes franchise. — 00:01:30 · AFC Wimbledon, England
  • ★★ John shouted himself hoarse and was filled with dread: Wimbledon had never beaten Milton Keynes at home in front of their fans. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ John says some Dons players have been with Wimbledon since age 9 or 10; after an exhausting 90 minutes there were 12 yellow cards but no goals. — 00:02:04 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ In the last minute, John's friend Lex was filming what seemed the end of the game, but it was not; John then plays the moment in commentator Mikey T's voice, calling a chance for Ronan Curtis and crying go, go Wimbledon. — 00:02:22
  • ★ John assures Hank the ball boy is fine; the boy later said it was the best moment of his life. (playful) — 00:03:04
  • ★★★ John says he was out of his body, in a light-soaked plane where all hope is rewarded; the whole stadium was in ecstasy and breathless joy flooded him. — 00:03:07 · hope
  • ★★ John points to the 20 years of shared commitment and effort that brought the club to this moment. — 00:03:15 · AFC Wimbledon

00:03:34 — Football as the most important unimportant thing; celebrating with fans and players; loving something together; community and hope

  • ★★★ John says that of all the unimportant things, football is the most important. — 00:03:34 · first in: 2016-05-24, Easier Than IKEA: A Video in Two Parts
  • ★★ After the game John celebrated with the Nerdfighters of Plough Lane, met left-back Jack Currie, and Wimbledon's manager and coaches came to the pub to sing with fans. — 00:03:38 · Nerdfighteria, AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John does not need viewers to love football, only to love something that brings them together with others whose love points the same way. — 00:03:56
  • ★★ For John that thing is football; for others it could be crochet, Jane Austen or distance running. — 00:04:05
  • ★★★ John says being bound up with friends and strangers is the human condition, and being in community makes him more fully alive. — 00:04:12
  • ★★★ The game could have gone the other way and usually will, but sometimes we are reminded hope is the thing with feathers and fall in love with the broken world again. — 00:04:29 · hope

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment, John confirms the fan-owned club is like the Green Bay Packers, but no individual can own more than one voting share however much they put in. — creator comment · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★ In a comment, John says there is nothing wrong with Milton Keynes itself; it is the football club he dislikes. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: AFC Wimbledon · association football · sense of community

Also: People: Jack Currie · Jane Austen · Lex Croucher · Mikey T · Ronan Curtis · Stuart Hyatt

Works: "Hope" is the thing with feathers

Organizations: Los Angeles Rams · Milton Keynes Dons F.C. · Wimbledon F.C.

Concepts: crochet · fan ownership · hope · Running

Places: England · London · Milton Keynes · Plough Lane

Also centred on association football: The Unimportant Things

Also centred on sense of community: Thoughts from a Cruise

← Previous: Flyana Boss Asks Hank Anything · Next → I Believed These Four Lies