Watching an English Premier League soccer game at Hooligans

I’ve been to Brevard Court (courtyard area of Latta Arcade…what are we calling this place?) dozens of times for US soccer or World Cup games at Hooligans, but I’d never been on a regular Saturday until I went Saturday to watch Liverpool-Everton, or the Merseyside Derby (British term for rivalry, but pronounced “dar-bee” because it’s hip and British. Pretty annoying, honestly).

Hooligans is a regular haunt for Liverpool fans in Charlotte, and I was told about 20 or so of them gather weekly to watch games there. This game, apparently, was different.

The Merseyside Derby is neat because both teams are located in Liverpool, and the stadiums are less than a mile apart. Watching the game stateside at Hooligans, the two fan bases were nicely separated, with the Liverpool fans occupying the main Hooligans bar, and the Everton crew hanging upstairs. Downstairs was slammed.

I got there right before the 12:30pm kickoff and was able to watch from the doorway. I watched the first half downstairs, and the second half upstairs.

Fans sang throughout. There were many more Liverpool fans there, not surprising considering the amount of rabid fans in the area, but the differences in the upstairs and downstairs vibes were great.

Liverpool fans seemed more hip and buttoned up (wore glasses because they’re trendy), while the Everton fans were rougher around the edges (and wore glasses because they were smart developers).

Downstairs crowd at Hooligans in Charlotte.

A video posted by CharlotteFive (@cltfive) on Feb 9, 2015 at 10:56am PST

Liverpool fans sang about how wonderful their club was, while Everton fans sang about a crow pooping (they used the other word for pooping, which we can’t print) on someone below, which was hilarious, since they occupied the second floor of the bar.

Courtyard at Hooligans in Charlotte.

A video posted by CharlotteFive (@cltfive) on Feb 9, 2015 at 10:58am PST

Very fun for a not-so-thrilling 0-0 draw (cue the “soccer is stupid” comments), and a great way to spend two hours on a Saturday afternoon.

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 1:02 AM with the headline "Watching an English Premier League soccer game at Hooligans."