What went down at the (virtual) SEASON quiz
Last Friday night, May 1, the SEASON zine team decided to host another pub quiz – our third in total but our first virtual one on Zoom. After all, quarantine has forced us to spend our weekends indoors, crying about how much we miss matchday, chugging a pint, and slouching on our IKEA couches. Rather than spilling it over the hefty, polished tables of a bar reeking of sour sweat from your local lads.
Flo, SEASON’s Football Associate, produced the quiz, with questions fed in from other team members. She pimped up the digital room with a virtual football pub background and set the tone with tunes from the QUARANTEAM Spotify playlist, which Sian, our Partnerships Director, carefully curated to fill our monotonous days with dancey vibes.
All our participants on the virtual quiz room on Zoom
At 8pm BST, our contestants started logging in and our experienced quizmaster Ayoade, who hosted SEASON’s last in-real-life quiz at Prince of Peckham, appeared on the screen. Holding a delicious homemade strawberry margarita, she was ready to crack jokes and challenge the participants with questions able to unsettle even the most die-hard football aficionados.
A few minutes later, with a full house of 15, the game started. Ayoade introduced the night with her soothing, warm voice, lashing out witty comments that allowed her tequila-fuelled sass to filter through. We had an introductory round, glitchy ‘hellos’ echoed from the speakers. Some waved their drinks at the screen, some snacked on chips like Georgina, our incredible Fashion Director, who went on to become the star of the night alongside her cinematic flatmates. They came dressed to kill. Unfortunately, not to win, as her team scored in the low numbers. The outfits and on-screen presence, though, made up for the lack of football gossip knowledge.
Try and guess the footballer haircuts
As rounds went on, typical pub banter broke through the screens as we beamed in from separate rooms and different countries. We got to see the horrific tattoos and the greasy/dry hairstyles adorning some of the most famous footballers, and we saw Flo mimic the infamous Carol Baskin Savage Remix Tik Tok dance while clearly scanning the lyrics: ‘Killed her husband, whacked him!’
Finally, after two hours of pop culture gossip and celebrity couple chit-chat, we announced Theo as the winner of a coveted SEASON zine 2020 subscription. Just as Say So by Doja Cat slowly got louder, becoming the soundtrack to what seemed to be a scene out of a contemporary rom-com show. We danced the night away!
The wonders of Zoom brought the international SEASON community together at a time when lots of us feel very alone. We also raised some money for Refuge, a London-based charity helping vulnerable families.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on Friday night and congratulations to our quiz winner Theo.
Words: Naomi Accardi and Flo Lloyd-Hughes
Images: Naomi Accardi