The Queue, and notice its spelled with a capital letter. This is not just a word meaning lining up for tickets at Wimbledon. In SW19, the Queue is a tradition as integral to the Championships as strawberries and cream, or predominately white clothing.
Some have said that it adds to the excitement and mystique. Well, I don’t know about the mystique part, but for the campers, it does hold a certain excitement or at least a nice break in their daily routine. For the kids, it’s excuse to sleep in a tent, eat junk food, and get out of taking a bath before bedtime. For adults, a chance to act like kids.
For many years, the queue ran up the hill along Church Road from the Southfields tube station. It was a casual impromptu affair with people setting up tents or sleeping bags on the sidewalks lining the road. Fans would hang out playing frisbee in the street, cooking on portable barbeques and generally having a fun party.
However, in the last few years they have moved the queue to Wimbledon Park, which runs alongside Church Road. It’s lost a lot of its fun atmosphere and become a very organized affair. When you arrive with your camping gear and Honorary Steward hands you a numbered card (this custom was started in 2003 after having huge problems with queue jumping in the previous year) and a 40-page booklet called A Guide to Queueing for the Championships. No, I’m not kidding! A FORTY page guide. Only at Wimbledon.
Among the do’s and don’ts are excessive drinking, loud music, oversized bags and flip-flops. Flip-flops. What in the world could they have against flip-flops? However the CARDINAL NO! NO! and the one that is spelled out in capital letters is,” QUEUE JUMPING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE AND WILL NOT BE TOLERATED”.
The stewards are also there to make sure that people actually stay in the line, rather than set up a tent, then in the darkness of night, sneak off to a B&B. But I’d be willing to bet that if someone disappears for hours the people in adjacent tents are going to blow the whistle on them.
I heard that the reason the campers were moved into the park was because the homeowners on Church Road started complaining about noise and cooking on the street, but from what I have seen over the years, it was quite tame. Just people having a few laughs, and a bit of fun. I’m sure it started quite innocently when someone got the bright idea of camping on the street to be first in line for the next days tickets, and grew from there.
The atmosphere is somewhat that of a huge family reunion. People who have been coming for years and only re-connect for this one special event, embrace and share food, drinks and stories. Young people are strumming guitars, limbo dancing, and I saw one family who actually put up a make shift net with clothesline and were playing tennis!
Approximately 2,000 fans line the park every night. Some are obviously seasoned campers with good tents, folding chairs, blow up pillows, games, books portable radios, and I saw one with a small TV! Can’t miss you fav tele programs even if you are sleeping in the park.
There is, of course, a lot of conversation about the matches. Fans show loyalty to their favorite players adorning their tents with flags and banners.
If you didn’t bring a picnic, there is a grill truck, and an ice cream stand. There are also temporary toilets set up with decent facilities. No worry about over sleeping, the stewards will wake everyone at 6:30 AM and the line will start moving at 7.
I came across the park at 10AM this morning and campers were already setting up for tomorrow! It seems to me that the camping is a much of the experience as actually going to the matches. I heard one of the stewards telling people at the end of the queue, that they may not get tickets until 5PM today. That was at 10 in the morning and God only knows what time they arrived yesterday. The fans smiled and replied, “Oh that’s alright, it’s a nice day to spend in the park anyway”.
I actually toyed with the idea of doing this one night, thought it might be fun and a good thing to have the experience before writing this blog, but my comfy bed with a warm down comforter and a hot shower was sounding awfully good, and anyway, I forgot to bring my tent.
Cynthia
[nggallery id=16]
Cynthia Lum is one of the world’s most celebrated sports photographers and has traveled the world covering all the major tennis events for 18 years. In addition to tennis she is currently shooting horse racing, golf, surfing, and beach volleyball. Visit her on-line photo archive at www.cynthialum.com where her photos are for sale for professional and personal use. She is available for hire for corporate and editorial clients. She is based in Hermosa Beach, Calif.