Road To Damascus

I'm not a religious girl by nature. But today I went on a pilgrimage.

It all started on Friday when I was planning to go out on my motorbike over the weekend. I decided Sunday was the day but wasn't quite sure where to go. It is nice riding on your own in some ways but it helps to have a destination in mind I find.

Then all of a sudden it hit me. I would go and see the stadium. Our stadium. The Walkers stadium.

So that is where I have been today. Over 200 miles round trip. 2 and a half hours to get there. Lost in Leicester for a further 2 hours. No help from 5 of the 6 people I asked. 2 had never heard of it. Not sure they even knew what football was. 2 gave me detailed directions, but I didn't even manage to find the first landmark they alluded to.

The fifth was wearing a Leicester shirt. I couldn't go wrong. His directions were clear if complicated. I navigated my way through the city and there before me was the stadium. The Rugby stadium! Can you imagine.

Anyway, victim number 6 of my drive-by quizzing was spot on. As I went around a corner there it was. Massive. And beautiful.

The place was pretty much deserted. All locked up. I wandered around the small garden of remembrance at the front. I was touched by the messages of love for lost ones and by the passion they must have held for their team to choose that as their last resting place.

As I say I am not religious. But the hushed silence of the place reminded me of an empty cathedral. I reflected that maybe this is a modern cathedral. Both are places where people raise their voices together in worship.

And as I travelled back home along that old roman road, the Fosse Way, I thought about all those soldiers that had marched along that way over the years. All around I could hear invisible voices chanting "BLUE ARMY, BLUE ARMY"

No caustic comments to make. No irony. Today I was touched by the spirit of football. Awesome!