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Thoughts from Places: BROMLEY!

2024-08-20 · documentary visit · John · 3:39 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Sports (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: recurring series, on location

John flies to London to watch AFC Wimbledon lose away at Bromley, mock-praises the town before it charms him, and argues that football is love and hope shared with people, past and present, so that even in defeat he is in joy again.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Flight over the Irish Sea, the TB book Breathless, London, a nap and meeting Rosianna

  • ★★ John woke up over the Irish Sea, started reading a great book about tuberculosis called Breathless, and landed in London, taking a cab when his train was cancelled. — 00:00:00 · London
  • ★★ Tired but eager, John came to watch AFC Wimbledon play an away game against Bromley. — 00:00:00 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★ John jokingly dismisses usual English tourism, such as seeing Shakespeare's second-best bed in Stratford-upon-Avon or ancient castles, as boring. (playful) — 00:00:00 · England
  • ★ After a 27-minute nap John met Rosianna, his producing partner and fellow Wimbledon fan, and they took a double-decker bus and a train to Bromley. — 00:00:00 · Rosianna Halse Rojas, AFC Wimbledon

00:00:29 — Bromley the town, TripAdvisor tips, the tiny Hayes Lane ground and Bromley's first league season

  • ★★ John says a great joy of following AFC Wimbledon is visiting places tourists usually miss, like Bromley. (playful) — 00:00:29 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★ John says Bromley was once home to David Bowie, Charles Darwin and H. G. Wells. — 00:00:29
  • ★ TripAdvisor's Bromley suggestions were a Christmas tree farm, two graveyards and Charles Darwin's home, which is actually a 35-minute drive away. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John started out negative on Bromley, but its miniature carnival, vegetable market, walking paths and horse farm charmed him, ending at the tiny Hayes Lane stadium. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says Hayes Lane fits 5,000 people but has only 1,300 seats, so the rest of the fans stand. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says this is Bromley's first season in England's professional football league, an old-school experience from the narrow turnstiles to the away fans' lounge. — 00:00:58 · England

00:01:27 — DFTBA logos, 11 years of sponsorship, irrational love of Wimbledon, a community includes its ancestors

  • ★★ John admires the new DFTBA logos on the Wimbledon uniform, between left thigh and buttock. (playful) — 00:01:27 · DFTBA, AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John says this is the 11th year of sponsoring AFC Wimbledon and he falls deeper in love with the club each year. — 00:01:27 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John loves football; about AFC Wimbledon he is utterly and deliciously irrational, which may be the defining feature of love. (hedged) — 00:01:27 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John says football loves you back, or at least the people you love football with love you back. — 00:01:56

  • ★★★ John thinks of the Wimbledon fans who died, who passed the club on and fought up the leagues at tiny grounds: a community includes its ancestors. — 00:01:56 · AFC Wimbledon

    “a community, present tense, includes its ancestors”

00:02:26 — The defeat on two Bromley goals, shared love and hope, being in joy again; sign-off

  • ★★ John says the outcome of individual matches doesn't matter much, but in the moment it feels significant. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Bromley scored in the first half; John and Rosianna stood to change their luck, but the home team added a second goal, Wimbledon's first defeat of the season. — 00:02:26 · Rosianna Halse Rojas, AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★★ John says he wasn't there for the goals but for the pleasure of being with a few hundred people whose love points the same way as his. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ John says he was there for the hope that kept Wimbledon alive when the Football Association said it shouldn't exist, that brought Bromley into the league, and that kept him here in hard times. — 00:02:55 · hope, AFC Wimbledon

  • ★★★ Playing on 'enjoy', John says even when Wimbledon loses he is in joy, and it is a relief to be able to feel in joy again. — 00:03:24

    “Even when we lose with this football club, I'm in joy.”

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a comment, John tells a US viewer that Wimbledon games stream on the AFC Wimbledon website, with several on Paramount Plus this year (2024). — creator comment · AFC Wimbledon

Humor (significant)

  • John lists Bromley's famous former residents, its TK Maxx and its tanning salon. — 00:00:29

    “The white-hot center of British culture.”

  • John admires the new DFTBA logos on the Wimbledon kit. — 00:01:27

    “in the liminal space between left thigh and buttock”

  • Only his marriage and sanity stop John from selling his home and giving the proceeds to AFC Wimbledon. — 00:01:56

    “to buy a box-to-box midfielder who can chip in some goals now and again”

  • After the defeat, the fans' verdict on Wimbledon. — 00:02:55

    “we are, for lack of a better term, a bit shit”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: AFC Wimbledon · Bromley · Bromley F.C. · hope

Also: People: Charles Darwin · David Bowie · H. G. Wells · Rosianna Halse Rojas · William Shakespeare

Works: Breathless · Can't Help Falling in Love

Organizations: English Football League · The Football Association · TK Maxx · Tripadvisor

Terms: DFTBA

Concepts: love

Places: Down House · England · Hayes Lane · Irish Sea · London · Stratford-upon-Avon

Only in the description or credits: Paramount Plus · Thoughts from Places

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