London and Washington D.C. seemingly switched weather on Saturday.
The D.C. Irons met at Fado Irish Pub in downtown Washington on a rainy morning to watch West Ham United take on Crystal Palace in the sunny Boleyn Ground. The diverse mix of Americans and expat Brits, all donning their preferred claret and blue gear, gathered around the bar at Fado’s and shared the bliss and the incensement of West Ham’s 2-2 draw.
West Ham acknowledged their international fan base this week on social media. D.C. Irons show exactly why the club thanked those abroad.
D.C. Irons have met at Fado Irish Pub since 2014, and it became the home of D.C. Irons, despite also housing Everton’s D.C. fan club.
Charlie Thompson, an Irish native, and Josh Field, a George Washington University grad, who discovered West Ham through his college friend, the brother of ex-West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, first met at the bar.
Since that fateful meeting, the group of Hammer faithful has kept growing.
“I snuck out of work – it was one of those weird 3 o’clock Monday games – and Charlie was there, and I’m not used to seeing West Ham fans,” Field said. “I don’t think either of us were wearing colours, but we realized we were rooting for the same team.”
After the initial meeting between Field and Thompson, the club kept finding more members.
“We met up the next week to watch, and we met another guy,” Thompson said. “Then I happened to meet another guy at a D.C. United game, and we said, ‘listen, we’ll come meet at Fado’s for the next game’. Everybody just seemed to come to Fado’s anyway because it’s quite a well-known bar.”
For Samuel Sams-Yeboah, sporting his 1998 Dr. Martens West Ham kit, the journey to D.C. Irons began as a 5-year old. “In Leytonstone, London, my uncle was in school and I lived with him in Leytonstone, so the closest team that we had was West Ham United,” Sams-Yeboah said. “He took me to my first match. Then I get to America, met a good friend of mine named Costia [Karolinski], and then he introduced me to everybody here with West Ham.”
Dimitri Payet sent the Boleyn Ground into a frenzy inaudible from the projector at Fado Irish Pub as the D.C. Irons exploded into their own celebration. Later on, well-deserved criticism of Mark Clattenburg over Cheikhou Kouyate’s dismissal emanated loudly throughout the establishment.
“We all had fun last season when we started well – it didn’t end that well, but we all loved it,” Thompson said. “But this season is just so much fun. The matches are better, the enjoyment factor is better, I’m not nervous watching West Ham anymore, I just enjoy. It’s a great time to be a West Ham fan, I think we’ll end up getting more members as people get into soccer here in the States.”
It is impossible for all American Hammers to make it for the opener at the Olympic Stadium next season. But for fans in the Washington D.C. area, catching a match at Fado Irish Pub brings some of the east London atmosphere Stateside.
“In New York City, because I commute from D.C. to New York, we have a lot of West Ham supporters. But fundamentally, [D.C.] is the biggest I’ve seen over the years,” Sams-Yeboah claimed. “D.C. is the place for West Ham United, around the bloody country.”
For more on the D.C. Irons, visit their website.
