MIAMI — While visiting South Florida for the England–Norway quarterfinal knockout match on Saturday, England supporters stopped by the Marlins–Guardians game for a night of singing, free drinking, and not really knowing what was going on.
Throughout the World Cup, visiting soccer fans have flocked to baseball stadiums on off days to take in American culture. Last month, thousands of Tartan Army members went to Fenway Park on Scottish Heritage Night. Many also stopped at Yankee Stadium, before about 8,000 Scottish supporters went to a game in Miami, fueling the Marlins’ best Monday attendance in nine years. On the whole, MLB attendance is up in World Cup host cities during the tournament.
The Marlins told Front Office Sports about 600 England supporters went to the game. Some Norway fans were in attendance wearing jerseys or draped with a flag—and a Marlins bartender took on a second job of banging a drum to encourage the infamous row chant—but the Scandinavian supporters were outnumbered. (They were busy doing the Viking row in Miami Beach.) Both country’s supporters brought life to a lightly attended 3–2 Guardians win. The official attendance was 15,605.
While some England fans said they had been to a handful of baseball games before, many said they didn’t know the rules, asking for clarification at the start of the game for which team was the Marlins. When the Guardians hit a home run in the fourth inning, the crowd began cheering. Then, realizing it was the wrong team, the England fans course-corrected with loud boos.
