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Chelsea in AmericaBluesletter
In this issue:•Notes from theChairwoman•Summer Tour News•5 Questions For...•Tales from Heaven,an Anfield MatchReport•Tales from EastLondon•Back from the Brink,Thanks to Hiddink
The end of the 2008/09 Premier Leagueseason is almost upon us. It may seeman inopportune moment to start up aChelsea newsletter, but fortunately wehave a lot to look forward to in thesummer! The boys in blue will be backon our side of the pond to showcasetheir skills, and I for one cannot wait.Having missed the preseason toursbefore, I am quite excited to see Chelseaplay on our "home" turf, if I may call itthat.But there will be plenty of informationabout that, in this newsletter and infuture. If you haven't already, please besure to join the Chelsea in Americaforum to be kept up-to-date on all theimportant info.Welcome to the first issue of the Chelseain America newsletter. We wanted to putthis together to give the members of oursupporters' club a place to get and shareinfo about the club on a monthly basis. Iwant to encourage anyone and everyoneto participate. We would love to hearabout your trips to the Bridge or yourtrips to the pub early in the morning (onthe weekends no less!) to watch Chelseaplay, if you read one of the manyChelsea-related books and had anopinion, anything involving Chelsea orwhat our supporters are doing would bea welcome addition. I'm looking forwardto compiling a massive August additionof the newsletter full of stories about thesummer tour and the upcoming season!Don't be shy!There will also be a feature each monthwith a focus on a Chelsea in Americamember called "5 Questions For..." Ourglorious leader, Beth, will also bemaking a monthly column appearance tofill you in on what is going on with thegroup. I am open to any ideas orsuggestions of what else you would liketo see. This is the first issue so it is stillvery much a work-in-progress. It won'twork without the help of our fantasticmembers, so please - get stuck in!
Jamie Edwards is a member of theSoutheast Blues currently living inVirginia and helping out withCommunications for Chelsea inAmerica She can be reached atnewsletter@chelseainamerica.com
Chelsea in America is excited towelcome the Blues back to the States aspart of their pre-season tour.“We are delighted to be in the UnitedStates again for pre-season,” said PeterKenyon. “This is our fifth pre-season outof six that we have toured here and it isalways a pleasure to see our fans andtrain and play in excellent facilities ingreat cities.
Chelsea, of course, willbring a full-strength first team squadand with the quality of the opposition,and the backing of our partners, thisseries of matches will be the bestpreparation and the most high profile wehave played in America.”Chelsea's schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, July 21 - Chelsea vs. Inter atthe Rose Bowl (Pasadena, Calif.)Friday, July 24 -AC Milan vs. Chelseaat M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, Md.)Sunday, July 26 - Chelsea vs. ClubAmerica at Cowboy Stadium(Arlington, Texas)
Chelsea will kick o
f
their tour of America with a match against MLSfledglings
Seattle Sounders on July18th
.Tickets are on sale for each matchalready, but CIA has a special allocationof tickets for the crowd who wants to sittogether and sing and engage in plentyof Chelsea spirit. Seats for members areavailable in the "singing and chanting" or"family" sections, and you can even sitwith your specific regional supporters'group! Sign up for the mailing list orkeep an eye on the message board forCIA ticket information!In addition, stay tuned for details aboutgroup get-togethers and fun stu
f
withChelsea in America - it is going to be afantastic summer!
CHELSEA RETURN TO AMERICA FOR SUMMER 2009
MAY 2009VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
A BLUESLETTER WELCOME
Chelsea Dates toRemember:
5/2 /2009 - CIA Spring Tour hits theBridge vs. Fulham5/13/1998 Chelsea win the ECWC
again this time beating Vfb Stuttgart 1-0in Stockholm with a superbly taken goalby Zola5/18/1978 - Ricardo Carvalho'sbirthday5/19/2007 - Chelsea beat a team fromStretford 1-0 to win the first FA CupFinal at the “new Wembley”5/20/1982 - Petr Cech's birthday5/20/2000 - Chelsea thrash Aston Villa1-0 to win the last FA Cup Final at the"old Wembley"5/21/2009 - Annual Awards Dinner5/30/2009 - FA Cup Final vs. Everton* compiled with help from Tel Stevens
DEEP FROM THE HEART
NOTES FROM THE CHAIRWOMAN, BETH WILD
Hope everyone is as excited and busy asI am! And thanks to Jamie we have a newnewsletter to bring you all the news of Chelsea and CIA. Jamie has a lot plannedand I know it will be a great addition,but please if you like to write, have anidea, or would like to help, let her know!A good result in the quarterfinals andwith a bit of luck and more playing likethat from our boys, well I would hate to jinx it, but . . .
Of course many of you are alreadymaking plans and counting down thedays to the summer tour. It should be afantastic event. And I would like to telleveryone how much I am overwhelmedwith the groundswell of support andvolunteerism in the group from coast tocoast! With all these folks on deck weare surely to have the best summer tourever! But if you haven’t raised your hand,WE WILL STILL NEED VOLUNTEERS, soplease don’t be shy! If you are going andcan spare an hour or more at any of thegames, remember the hour you donatemeans that someone doesn’t work morethan their fair share. The tour is foreveryone to have a great time andsharing the load means that all of ushave an opportunity to have a greattime.
But before some news on that, we havesome important stu
f
going on RIGHTNOW! Third in the league in the tightestrace to the end I remember in a longwhile, so fingers crossed. An FA CupFinal in the o
f
ering and fingers crossed.And still in the middle of a battle in theChampions League so all looks good.Closer to home we have a lot going on.We just finished taking the orders for theMembers Shirts from Chelsea. As soonas they get a date for when they will bedelivered, all those that have orderedshirts will be alerted when to startlooking for them.We also had our Club Travel Chairs onsale as well, and I know I am lookingforward to them! I can’t wait for lazysummer days sitting by the pool in mylovely blue Chelsea chair! We have anever growing number of CelebrityPodcasts. If you haven’t had a listen,well, you are really missing a treat -some of our Chelsea legends inconversation and what a great listen!http://www.chelseainamerica.com/Podcast.htm And yes, there is a link tothe weekly CIA Podcast as well, and if you haven’t had a listen to one of thoselately you are really missing out. Thanksto Jeremy and Danny for theirpersistence and care in making thatavailable to everyone.Membership for next season is justaround the corner, and we are workingon expanding the benefits for CIAmembers, thanks to the tireless e
f
ortsof our Chris and Kevin! Thanks guys formaking our membership the best valuearound!
Behind the scenes our Design Divas havebeen working tirelessly on all kinds of things, and the unveiling of the new CIAcrest and Chelsea Chick identity iscoming soon. so stay tuned. Terri andRaciel have a lot ontheir plate but aredoing the most incredible job pulling allof our design issues together to makethings more uniform and identifiable.And yes, that includes a new version of the Chelsea Chicks merchandise, andNEW CIA SHIRTS FOR THE SUMMERTOUR! You might want to give up a beeror two to be sure to have one of those t-shirts as I have had a sneak peek andthey are WONDERFUL.
We have loads of plans in the works forthe summer tour, thanks to folks all overthe country for organizing for Seattle,LA, Baltimore and Dallas. There will begreat events, great get-togethers, andloads of fellow Blues to share it with.And our tech team is hard at workupdating websites and making sure thatall of you get all the latest updates tothings as they happen. So be sure tocheck www.chelseainamerica.com OFTENas the tour approaches to stay up oneach venue and all that is going on, YOUWON’T WANT TO MISS A THING! And of course the bulletin board is the best andfastest way of keeping up on plans, so if you haven’t logged in, check it out.
I am sure this is again too long, so Ihope you all enjoyed a pint whilereading it. Stay tuned for more info.
AND KEEP THAT BLUE FLAG FLYINGHIGH!- Beth
Want to contribute anarticle or photo to theBluesletter? You couldmake my day. I'd love tohear from you! SendJamie an email atNewsletter@ChelseainAmerica.com.
How did you become Chelsea, andwhen?
I have always been Chelsea, thanks tomy 17-years-older-than-me brother, John.
My father grew up in East Hamand is a Spurs supporter, but growing upin the Kingston area my brother hadgone to school with the son of the thenChelsea captain, so balked the paternalline and went Chelsea blue, and Ifollowed his example.
To be fairthough, my dad did take me to many,many Chelsea games when I was little(but sadly I was too young to remembermy first, and he doesn’t remembereither). My brother moved to Manchesterin his later years and always delighted inwearing his Blue at Old Tra
f
ord, butunfortunately succumbed to cancer in2000.
My last Chelsea memory with himwas in hospice listening to Man City vs.Chelsea on the radio, the game thatbroke our horrible almost season longstreak of not winning an away game.
Hewas buried with his son’s Chelsea scarf,and I owe my allegiance to him.
What is your favorite Chelseamemory?
Oh boy, this is a tough one.
I havedi
f
erent memories that mean di
f
erentthings to me. I think the most emotivefor me was the 0-2 win over Bolton towin the Premiership the first time.
Like Iam sure I share with so many peoplereading this, I cried out all those years of frustration and “almost’s” as Frank ran inthat second goal.
In terms of pure, rawemotion, that moment still causes me towell up when I think about it, and I knowalways will.
What is your most cherished piece of Chelsea “stu
f
”?
Perhaps I’ll say the 12” vinyl original“Blue is the Colour” that was passed onto me by my aunt when my cousinpassed away recently.
However, insearch for an interesting anecdote I willtell you about a school trip I made to theold Wembley Stadium as a young schoolboy.
They had been trimming the fieldand there was a barrow with thetrimmings sitting right there as I walkedpast, so I shoved a divot in my pocket.
When I got home I planted and nursed itlovingly in a corner of the garden andonly to one day discover my mum hadunwittingly dug it up as a weed.
I wasgutted (you have to remember whatWembley meant to a school boy backthen) but I guess I got over it, and Bethbought me some seeds from the newWembley which I plan on planting *andprotecting* this summer!
If you could have any player from anyother team play for Chelsea, whowould it be?
Another tough one, but I would have tosay Lionel Messi because to me he stillembodies what an old fashioned wingeris all about.
I am a defender by tradewith a little bit if midfield, but I canappreciate a player of his style, in muchthe same vein as Damien Du
f
when hewas with us perhaps, and as he’s stillyoung I think he would be my choice.
Do you have any pregame rituals? If so what are they?
Not at all.
I am mildly superstitious, butnot the point of rituals.
I think theclosest I get is the bizarre idea that if Ihave not been watching a game (on TV)and turn on to see the team I preferwinning, I have this notion that if I startwatching their fortunes will change.
Of course this only applies to casual sportswatching like my local sports teams – Iwould never not turn on the tellie towatch Chelsea or England!
5 QUESTIONS FOR....
My name is Andy, and I live in Oxford, Michigan with my wife and 14 year old son.
Ioriginally started the Midwest Blues back in 2005 after meeting Beth in Seattle, andthen again with Beth started Chelsea in America when we realised there was a wholecontinent of Chelsea supporters out there who didn’t realise they were Chelsea yet andneeded saving from the evil red dark side.
My current o
cial role is treasurer of CIAbut I also help Beth liaise with Chelsea, and along with some of the other techiesamongst us I also help guide our technical direction.Southeast Blues member Erik shows o
f
his CPO share! "I am a big Chelsea fanand this is a great way to show one'ssupport at the o
ce while owning partof the club (more like pitch)."
May Matches to Remember:
- compiled by Tel Stevens -
May 21, 1963Chelsea 7 Vs
Portsmouth 0Goalscorers
: Kevan,Tambling4,Blunstone,Venables(pen)Att
54,558A new era in CFC history, we simply hadto win this game to return to thepromised land of Division 1. TommyDocherty’s “Ducklings” did us proud witha good ole thrashing.
May 22, 1971Chelsea 2 Vs Real Madrid 1Goalscorers
: Dempsey, Osgood.Att 41,000Our second trophy in as many seasonsbringing us our first European trophy,the newspapers read in England thatChelsea were the “Kings of Europe”.
May 12, 1984Grimsby 0 Vs Chelsea 1Goalscorer
: DixonAtt 13,995What a di
f
erence a year makes. Oneseason after nearly falling into the old3rd Division we clinched promotion toDivision 1 with a
magnificent header byKerry Dixon. Even a missed Speediepenalty couldn’t dampen the estimated9000 Chelsea fans' spirits as wecelebrated amongst the police and theirhorses and dogs.
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