Łukasz Fabiański has seen a lot in his storied career in football, but even the experienced goalkeeper was staggered by the sheer number of West Ham United fans in Australia.
As the Irons have continued pre-season preparations Down Under, supporters from across the nation and from a host of other countries have descended on Perth just for the chance to glimpse, meet or chat with members of David Moyes’ squad.
Hundreds of fans were on hand to welcome West Ham to the city on their arrival to the Crown Towers hotel on Wednesday evening before 2,600 supporters were invited to an open training session on Thursday, where Fabiański and his teammates spent over an hour signing autographs, taking photos and handing out goodie bags.
While the shot-stopper is not surprised to see the passion of the Claret and Blue Army in Perth, the scale of the support has been a humbling experience.
“I’ve been a little surprised actually,” Fabiański said. “Not with the love we’ve been shown, because you can feel that everywhere we go from the West Ham fans, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of fans we’ve seen out here. I didn’t realise that the Club had such a huge fanbase out here, but it’s been great to see.
“West Ham is a family Club. We, as players, have such a good connection with the fans and that is so important. The fans are so real. They are connected to the Club in a way that is so different to any other club I’ve been at.
“For me, when we won the UEFA Europa Conference League and then we had the parade the day after, the emotions and love I felt from the fans that day shows the purity of feeling these fans have for this Club.”
Fabiański is one of a 20-man squad in Australia for West Ham’s tour, which will include two ‘Unmissable Football’ pre-season matches, and at 38-years-old he is comfortably the oldest in a group containing a significant number of development talent and young Hammers.
Despite his age, experience and many years in the game, the No1’s love for playing and training only continues to grow.
“I love every single day, being out there on the pitch,” he continued. “I still feel like I can push myself and I believe I’m at a good level in terms of coping physically and mentally, from a goalkeeping point of view. I still feel good, and I love being around the Club and the boys, and I love the atmosphere of playing football.
“Sometimes there are days, and moments, when you look back and reflect on things, but I think football is that type of sport where you have a lot of games always coming up and each one is a new, different challenge. The time to really reflect on it all will be when I retire.
“I don’t think there is a set age. There is a common opinion that once you reach a certain age then everyone expects you to be thinking about retirement. I don’t approach that in that way. I am just enjoying my football. I’m not setting an age. I believe I’ve still got a few good years in me and I’m physically in a good state.”
The first of West Ham’s two pre-season matches comes on Saturday when the Irons face A-League side Perth Glory (6pm AWST) at Perth’s 60,000-capacity Optus Stadium, before a London derby against Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday 18 July (6pm AWST).
Around 75,000 fans from around Australia and neighbouring countries are anticipated to be in attendance across the two games, with 50,000 of those expected for the game with Spurs.
The north London side recently confirmed the appointment of Australian coach Ange Postecoglou as their new manager and Fabiański has been impressed by the former Celtic manager’s work.
“When he went to Celtic and started doing well, that’s when people started to pay more attention to him and looked at his history as a manager and check out what his former players were saying about him,” he added. “
“When you take all those things and put them together, it paints an impressive picture of him. It’s no surprise that he’s gone to Tottenham for that challenge. But for both teams, it’s such an early part of pre-season, so I don’t think you can look at either team and see a final product. But it should be a good game.”
