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Why Support Arsenal? Back to Arsenal in OZ page | E-mail me if you want to tell your story T.K.Topz Hello! I'm Top. I'm Thai.
Todd Dixon I have followed the boys in red and white since I was 6. They first came to my attention when I was living in Penrith NSW. My elder brothers played for a soccer team called Glenquarie. The club wanted a nickname and organised a letter to go the Arsenal for permission to use the gunners as a nickname. They were given permission and also sent a few patches of a cannon stating 50 games. I thought this was excellent and have followed since. My biggest highlight was in 1998 standing in the goal at Highbury. My two young daughters both have strips and so will my 2 week old boy when I find one.
Paul McDonnell I grew up in north London, and was actually taken first to Spurs as an eight year old, early in 1971. They had a good a side, and it was a good game against Everton, but somehow nothing I saw there really excited me. A few months later I was taken to Highbury, to see the double holders play Forest. As soon as I set eyes on the inside of the ground, that was it. Charlie George played, and scored, in bright red boots, and I was totally gone. If I had known then that I would have to wait eighteen years to see my team win the league I would have laughed, but as we know the mid seventies and then mid eighties were grim days. I stood on the north bank all those years, and regularly travelled away on the old football special trains. Memorable moments from those dark days were being right behind the goal at Spurs when Liam Brady bent his wonder shot in, and being at Wembley for the three successive cup finals 78, 79, and 80. When the club started to turn around under George Graham I was at a great age to really follow them seriously (pre wife and kids), and several years of 35-40 game seasons culminated in my being in row 6 behind the goal on May 26th 1989 when Thomas lifted the ball over Grobelaar. After the birth of my kids, it remains the greatest moment of my life. After the north bank shut in 1992 I got season tickets with mates in the lower east stand and of course was there for all the various cup wins of 93 and 94, as well unfortunately as being in the Parc des Princes when Nayim lobbed Seaman in 95. My last hurrah before moving to Sydney in 1999 was to see the whole of the 98 double season, and of course the parade through Islington afterwards. Arsenal's been a huge part of my life. I still have the two season tickets in my name, and my brother in law uses (and pays) for them, but I get to go whenever I'm in London. A few pints in the Bank Of Friendship on Blackstock Road and then slowly enjoy the walk up to the magnificent old East Stand before the game. It doesn't get any better.
Andrew Ladd
It was late 1971, and I was 6. My family were
living, as they still do,
in Gosport on the south coast of England. During
one school lunch break
I was sat innocently picking my nose and watching
the 'big kids' kicking
a balloon-like Woolworth's football about. An
older and somewhat larger
individual than I approached and demanded to know
what team I supported.
'Pompey' I replied, coming from a fairly
uncommitted but locally loyal
family (Gosport being near Portsmouth for those of
you not in the know).
'They're Wankers', replied my new friend helpfully
- 'you want to
support Arsenal, they're the best'. Having no
interest in football
whatsoever and being considerably smaller than my
menacing pal, I
agreed. and was invited (told) to go in goal for
his team of hackers in
the game I had been watching. It was surprisingly
fun and I committed
myself honourably even if I do say so myself. That
enjoyment, combined
with the jealous looks I received from my
contemporaries for playing
with the big kids, converted me. After school I
returned home and
informed my parents of my new-found interest and
loyalty. Within a
couple of days I had been fitted out with the
Arsenal kit, pencil,
lampshade and my own Woolworth's football for my
birthday. The rest, as
they say, is history.
As a footnote, the disciple responsible for my
conversion threw a Sad
and shifted his devotion to Leeds United after the
1972 FA Cup final!
I moved to NZ late last year with my wife and kids
having spent ten
years in London sporadically attending games at
Highbury and, for some
years, being on the waiting list for a season
ticket. As Sods law
dictates, I received the letter informing me
that I could have one at
the beginning of this season. I don't suppose
there are plans to extend
the Piccadilly line to Wellington are there?
Great site.
Regards
Andy
PS - can any other Gooners claim to have nutmegged
their wives into
naming their kids after our heroes - my son '
Michael Thomas Ladd'
Mark Anderson
I guess it is because of three things.
Firstly, my paternal grandfather came from nth Ireland and there were a lot of
players of that ilk in the team when I first noticed them in the 70's.
Secondly, Highbury was the first place where I ever saw a first division
match. It got me straight away! I can still remember the turmoil going on in
the clock end between afc and leeds fans bickering. The noise and excitement
were really overpowering, and, it was just so tense! Yeah, it was great and I
can still remember the score, 1-1. This is nearly a quarter of a century
ago I am talking about. I am now 38. I went to many more games after this
because I could not get enough. Oh yeah, the other reason I support Afc ,
my maternal grandmother came from Deptford and grew up in Woolwich! I was even
getting sentimental about them moving back there at one point. Well, they have
remained my team, despite me living all over the world and I will never forget
all the lads and the memories. I am now living in the mid west of the USA, in
a small town. It is a god send to have the Afc websites I can tell you.
Incidentally, I resided in victoria for several years and was a member of the
Australian Arsenal supporter's club at one point. I even played in one of
those inter-supporter's club tournaments in Melbourne. Feel free to e-mail me.
Best wishes ta!-ta!
Darren Bowser
Coming from Cornwall that's a good question, why
Arsenal? It was the 1989 season that got me hooked and the famous Anfield game
that Thomas won in injury time. That was magic and it's that kind of magic
that has left me hooked for 13 years since. At the time I was only 9 and knew
little of locations and where Arsenal actually played but with no big sides in
Cornwall or anywhere near it was Arsenal who won my support and I have backed
them ever since through thick and thin, particularly the 1995 season.
George Charlesworth I was born in 1937, about a mile from Highbury, so I grew up with the Gunners. I used to watch the reserves one saturday and the next Saturday, the first team. The games against the Spurs were always a highlight, in our street everyone hated the Spurs... So we were always delighted to give them a wacking!!!!! Although I've lived in Germany for many years, I never stopped being an Arsenal fanatic..... Being a coach myself, I visited the Arsenal training camp and studied their training for a week.... it was fantastic, Alan Bull was a player at that time. I still have an old program from the 1940's... if anyone's interested in having a look...... Richard Chipunza I was always slightly interested in English football, and by 1999, while living in Zambia watched THAT FA cup semi-final against Manure. I remember sitting in a pub in Livingstone and being the only viewer not interested in either team, nearly all the people in the pub were rooting for ManU). As the match progressed, was fascinated by the quality of football by both teams and for the first time I watched an English side TRY to play football. The Arse were playing some of the most attractive footie I had ever seen and by extra time I was screaming my voice hoarse. When bergkamp missed that penalty I and then Giggs did that fluke running, I was inconsolable. I remember afterwards that each time I went to a pub to watch a match, folks would look at me and say, “oh, there’s that Arsenal supporter”. Which was strange as the only English team I had some interest in was Liverpool until back in the late 80’s. So I was baptised a goner by pub mates and have never regretted it. I now live in Norway where, when I came in 2000, gooners were as rare as Arsenal headed goals. But now in the small town I live we can boast at least 100 strong. About 50 of us managed to get tickets to watch the Arse’s first game on Norwegian soil under AW when they visited Rosenborg. We are now planning a final visit to Highbury. Dave Hobden Simple.....mum and dad were born and raised in the Angel Islington so it was in my blood. Used to stand on milk crates in the north bank watching Jennings, Rice, Nelson, Brady and Stapleton. Then as I got older used to have a season ticket for west upper, a beer in The Silver Bullet before kick off. What memories!!!! Anyhow, now living in NZ where the main sport is played by men with sticky tape round their ears and odd shape balls!!! Mark Hunter
Anthony Kerr Why, because my grandfather played for Woolwich Arsenal early this century, I'm not sure if he ever made the first side, but I know he was in the youth team. This is all very hazy as I am relating this from memories of stories my father has told me. Apparently he once had a few framed team photos, probably collectors items by now, but these went missing during a domestic argument way back when and have never been found. Would anyone know if, or how I could find, or if any indeed exist, copies of team photos from Woolwich Arsenal?. By the way, my grandfathers name was William Hunter, and played in the first or second decade of this century. Any help would be much obliged. Thank you. It was my brothers fault. In 1978 or thereabouts, he gave me his long sleeved and slightly worn arsenal top and encouraged me to support with full voice. I was 8 at the time and easily distracted but then one day he plonked me down in front of the box and turned on the 1979 F.A.Cup Final. I kept on wanting to switch over to "Ben Hur" on the other channel but a bollocking from my bro about priorities and watchign the entire second half of that amazing game clarified the situation. First home game was Arsenal v Man utd in the 82-83 season and from then on I was hooked, became a Junior gunner but snuck into the North bank for the atmosphere. I now live in Sydney, OZ and miss that Saturday vibe although coverage is good and nobody disturbs you at 1am on a Sunday morning when the matches are usually shown. I have since bought a replica 1971 top and wear it with pride. Not many of those shirts about here so come and say G'day if you see me in Bondi. Van Persie is going to be the Dogs Bollox. Anthony.Kerr@randwick.nsw.gov.au
Rory Gordon
Back in the dim, dark, distant days of my pre-puberty youth, I went to a boarding school. One year, 1969, the school had an outdoor all-weather (ie. tarmac) pitch built. Given the English weather, we needed it! Fairly soon, it became "trendy" to sport the colours of your favourite club. I wasn't particularly attached to any club and soon saw that about the only Division 1 club not represented was Arsenal - besides which, with red and white shirt, white shorts and blue hooped socks, there was plenty of colour! So, my Dad duly forked out his hard-earned money and I duly turned out one day in my new regalia. However, my debut was also the day that Arsenal went down to Swindon in the League Cup Final. That evening, as the other boys went past me on their way into evening chapel, they gloated that Arsenal had lost. At first I tried to tell them that I wasn't really an Arsenal supporter. By the time the last boy came past, I was an Arsenal supporter ... and have been ever since. My favourite players over the years? George Armstrong & Jon Sammels would be the runners-up. But David O'Leary would have to be my fav of them all - a solid, steady, reliable, club player. Simon Mitchell
Mines a simple story, so here goes. My dad was born in Aldershot and consequently went to school there. He used to play for the school team and one of his team pals was a boy called Peter Storey. Peter was signed by Arsenal so my dad took an interest in Arsenal because of Peter ( My dad was a Chelsea fan at the time). I have always supported Arsenal because my dad did and because of this story. There you go.
Paul Bulle
My story is simple. In 1981 I was transferred with my job to London. I was, 20 no mates, no money and nothing to do. I went to see The Arsenal one Saturday and was hooked. Mainly due to the fact that I had a good laugh with the other folk on the terracing. 17 years on and I'm still supporting them. Funny thing is, I married an English girl and her father is an Arsenal supporter. Mind you, after 29 years in the Army as a Sergeant Major (Artillery), it's not surprising!! I'm looking for any Scottish supporters club, can anybody help. Broughty Ferry. DUNDEE. 01382 730171
Geir Ertzgaard Well, it has to be Brady. I still dream about his goal against Everton at THOF in 78 or 79 when he put us up 2 - 1 or got one back or whatever (it's hard to remember, but I can still see the goal). The commentator said it was the best game he had seen, and Brady was the apple pie.
Michael Flynn Well why Irish people support English clubs is easy. We get all your papers and TV stations and or own league while entertaining, is not up to the same standard. Why Arsenal is also easy to answer. I started to get serious about football in the late seventies, and with three Cup Finals in a row Arsenal were high profile at that time. But what really caught my eye is the Irish backbone. O'Leary, Brady and Stapleton were the best Irish players around and I couldn't believe they all played for the same team week in, week out. Add to this the Northern Ireland players of Jennings, Nelson and Rice over half the team was Irish. How could anybody here not support Arsenal?
Bent Olderskog
Why an English team, that's the simple question, here in Norway we have had English football on our TV-screens for about 30 years I think. Almost everybody who cares about football cares about English football. And 60% of the youths in Norway has their own favourite English football team. Actually, the supporter clubs of Liverdribble and Moan Utd has got about 20000 members, that's more than some of our bigger political parties. So the interest of English football is natural. Why arsenal is the worst question. I remember my first TV-match, it was Liverpool and QPR and Liverpool was really good, so it's perhaps a bit strange that I didn't end up as a Liverpool supporter. (Thank God I didn't) I guess I was too young then. When I was about 11-13 years old I used to play Handball. We were on a tournament in a city far away from here and when we got bored we discussed football. In that bus, on our way home, there was 30-40 persons, one of them was an Arsenal fan, the rest supported Liverpool, moaners and Scum. (Scum has got a lot of supporters in Norway). This poor Arsenal supporter was really slagged off and he was told that he supported the most boring, lucky team in the world containing a bunch of drunk losers. (It was probably back in Adams' prison time.) I have always been a kind boy and I felt sorry for this bloke, so from that day I supported Arsenal. I don't know if I knew the name of more than three players, but in my opinion Dixon, Adams and Smith were the greatest players on earth. I filled the walls with posters and I started writing down their results, scorers and things like that on my computer, and I became a real Arsenal fan. In 1992 I had the pleasure of watching my first Arsenal match here in Norway. They played against a team containing players from a part of Norway called Troendelag (Where Jon Branaes lives). We lost that match and I was not very proud of wearing my Arsenal cap. Thinking of this match I have to laugh a bit, There were about 15-20 Arsenal players in their squad that day, every player gave as much time as they could to write autographs and being photographed with kids and other Arsenal supporters, except one. The biggest star of them all, John Jensen, after playing a few decent matches in euro 92, he was too good to take care of the fans. From that day I have hated him, and he is the only Arsenal player ever to be hated by me. From these days there has been good days and bad days, but I always support Arsenal, and even if they end up on the middle of the table they are the best team in England. I hope I haven't bored you with my story. It was nice for me to start thinking back to those happy days. (Not that these days aren't happy days)! I hate Man Utd Bent Olderskog Norwegian gooner
JK
In 1989, when I was in 7th grade (about age 13) my father took our soccer team to England for a week. We stayed in Maidstone, and on one of the days the entire team went down to London and saw Arsenal beat Newcastle 1-0. I have followed them ever since thanks to limited TV coverage and this list. Last year I was lucky enough to spend the second semester at King's College in London and was able to see six games. It was a great change to be able to attend the games. JK
Lars Eskildsen
Well my story is a bit different. I have only followed Arsenal for some years now. It all started some years ago when some friends and me were playing KICK OFF 2 on our Amiga back in the old days. We had to choose a team each. Since the other chose their favourite teams which were - Aston Villa, Liverpool, Man United, I was looking at the players of the other teams, and Arsenal was one of the teams with the best forwards in the game - and they had a Danish player. I really beat the crap out of the others, and since then I have supported them. I also like AC Milan, and Real Madrid, but not as much as Arsenal! Lars Eskildsen http://home6.inet.tele.dk/larsmail
Mike The Man Clements My story is a cool one, in 1989 I was at home with sisters, (I was only 7 at the time), and it was the Liverpool - Arsenal game for the championship. Everybody I knew was supporting Liverpool, and being a 7-year-old, you have to be awkward, so I supported Arsenal, just to be different. I had a hell of a time tormenting my family when Arsenal won. And ever since I have supported them. I suppose you could call me a glory hunter, but I'm still supporting them today, so I am loyal.
Mike
B Fleming
I come from the west of Ireland originally and got interested in "soccer" because like most of my classmates in school, I just was not good enough for the hurling team. So we formed our own footie league with those who had already discovered the joy of beating an offside trap (hurling for those of you who don't know is a terrific Irish game not unlike ice hockey in appearance, but played with a ball, which can be lifted from the ground and struck). Unlike Hockey there is very little protective gear worn, and this results in frequent frightening injuries to those involved, which only adds to the attraction). Quite a few of my classmates knew about English footie teams from seeing matches on Irish TV It became vital to pick a team so as to join one of the gangs in school. The wearing of club colours or badges was important because your taste in clubs said so much about you personally, after all we had no ties to a particular area since we were not even in the same country as the teams we now became devoted to. My big problem was who to support? I could not decide .Of course it was easy to see who I could not possibly have anything to do with, and for some reason Spurs and West Ham lead the list .I reckoned I should narrow it down by looking at teams where there was an Irish involvement. This is about 1977/78 and at the time there was 8 or 9 first team regulars at Highbury from either Northern or Southern Ireland, and so I took an interest in the gunners. When we reached the Cup final in `78 I was swept up in the whole excitement of the occasion and was inconsolable when we lost. The day afterwards I knew I had found my team. When I came out at school as an Arsenal fan, I was immediately thrown into the river (as I knew I would be), but I did not care. I was like a missionary trying to free my fellows from the slavery that following Man Utd must surely bring (I was ahead of my time). I was vindicated when we won the greatest Cup final of all time in `79. From then on I have cheered and cried with every other Arsenal fan no matter where they come from. On those occasions when we are able to travel to England and Highbury for a match; those days take on an almost religious feel to them .I know I will be a gunner until I die. There are football clubs, and there is ARSENAL. Regards to all, Allan O'Neill, the green gunner.
Liz Ireland
Well, why not? Might seem a bit flippant, that, but it's actually where my connection with the Arsenal more or less begins. The story behind it goes roughly like this: My dad was English, so there was a "footy gene" in me to begin with. Kick onward a few years to my first acquaintance with "team sports" at school. I was hopeless at all of them, except "soccer" which I surprised myself by being not completely chronic at. But of course opportunities for girls to play soccer in those days were severely limited and once you had made a vague acquaintance w/ the game in grade school PE, there was no place else to go with it really. So my interest waned until a few years later when I was stuck at home for a couple of months with some silly youthful ailment. At this time, for some strange and inexplicable reason, PBS (the highbrow "educational" telly network in the USA) took it into their heads to show a bunch of matches from the Bundesliga on weekdays. (*Very* weird - but I now know I didn't hallucinate this, as I recently met a Texan on IRC who got into footy for exactly the same reasons!) Anyway, at my (then) age, this beat the heck out of watching the boring soap operas, and rekindled my interest in the Beautiful Game to such an extent that I actually (blush) started my football-supporting life as, errrrrrrrrrr, a, errrrrrrrrr, Bayern Munich fan. Sorry... Step forward into the time machine and set the controls to the late 1970s. I am now in college and working in the music business in Boston, Massachusetts. There are a lot of English bands coming through and it seems to me like it might be interesting to find an English team to support, so that I can take part in the numerous football conversations I am privy to. Someone tells me in passing that John Lydon AKA Rotten (he of the Sex Pistols, for those of you who don't follow these things) is an Arsenal fan. I think to myself, "Well, why not? That's good enough for me - I'll start with Arsenal, and if I don't like it I'll bugger off someplace else, Man City maybe". (Hey, they were having their 15 minutes of fame at the time, OK?). Well, needless to say, there was never any real contest between Arsenal and Man City, now was there? ;-) Hence, a proud Gooner since 1976! And it's all Johnny Rotten's fault really... Cheers Liz Ireland
Bjarne Berre
The importance of the "betting mania of football" in the Scandinavian Countries has been mentioned before. This actually have a history back to the 1950's. When I was in my teens NRK (the Norwegian counterpart to BBC) started showing English 1st division matches on Saturday afternoons. We (the guys) gathered round the TV screen with our coupons and a few bottles of beer (odd enough - Norwegian matches were not sent at all!!!) - everybody sooner or later had to pick a team. I have always loved good attacking football. And here's the simple reason why I picked Arsenal - and of course everybody else had picked the "scum" teams (which I approve today). Arsenal played some lovely football in the late sixties and the first years of the seventies, Charlie George scored a lot of lovely goals. 1971 with the double was a glorious moment. In fact my interest in Arsenal dragged a bit for quite a long time - this was in the "boring Arsenal" times with GG, but grew to a great extend when AW entered the scene. I think he will bring Arsenal back to great fame, with good, attacking football! Other teams - of course - Rosenborg, when they meet the Gunners in the Champions League next year - I think my loyalty will be with one of the best attacking teams in Europe - RBK!
Roy Pilott Flashback - c1966, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Roy: um, dad, what football team do we support? Stan: (who was born in Woolwich) Arsenal, son.
Yep, none of yer namby pamby I'll-pick-this-team cos they're top of the league/dominated by Irish/have Alex James playing for them stuff. Arsenal's in my blood. Just as well I didn't ask mum. She's from Wandsworth. I do, however, confess to running a three tier support system when I finally started following the game in 1970. There were walls for each team and Goal and Shoot pictures of the players. I won't name the other two teams because Mike will remove me from the list for using language unbecoming to this list. But I will fess up to a liking for Abingdon Town, since I was born there. Roy
Stephen James Reels
My own path to enlightenment was perhaps a little unusual. My parents were not interested in football, and having spent my early childhood in such esoteric (but footy-less) places as Nepal, I found myself at the age of nine in Dhekalia, Cyprus. This was the late sixties. Suddenly I had kids my age to deal with, and a burgeoning football culture among the squaddy spawn, still riding the euphoria of 1966. I had to get myself a team quick. I went for the names: Spurs, Wolves and Gunners (I could imagine them as hoodlum strikers or desperado defenders in some HORNET or EAGLE serial). I was fairly indiscriminate in the allotment of support between these three, until Arsenal came for a tour. This would have been '67 or '68. One of their games was against the local team. The plot was hatched: I feigned stomach ache the night before the game, intending to skive off school the next day and - somehow - get to the game. The next thing I knew I was in the British Military Hospital, Dhekalia, having my appendix out. Disaster! But good for a week off school. However all was not lost. Arsenal visited the hospital, and of course when they got to the children's ward, and heard there was a young fan who'd missed their tour because of appendicitis, it was a PR opportunity too good to miss. The upshot - autographs, photographs, a gobsmacked little boy grinning inanely. The core of the double team was there - McLintock, Armstrong, Wilson, Graham, as well as such other leading lights as Neill, Howe, Coakley....the local rag "The Lion" carried a feature, as well as "Soldier" magazine and "The Chepstow Argus"....all a bit overwhelming, and I've never been the same since. COME ON YOU REDS!
Ode to '89
We cavorted on the sofas When Michael Thomas scored. The taipans tapped their chauffeurs And asked them why they roared. "Twas 5 a.m. in Hong Kong And Wanchai was on fire As Liverpool's sad swansong Came plainly down the wire....
Steve Reels
Paul
Not my Why Arsenal story but a friends - February 14 1989, nine years ago this Saturday. Arsenal were playing France at Highbury for some reason or another. I talked a mate at School who was a S###s fan, (although had managed to avoid ever going to Shite Hart Lane) to come an spend an evening on the North Bank. Arsenal won 2-0, I think Martin Hayes and Niall Quinn scored, and guess what - he saw the light, bought himself a red and white scarf and has been a true 'scum hating' Gooner ever since, and has missed only a handful of games. He was 15 at the time. I still think there was some hint of glory hunting at the time - we were top of the league, god only knows where Spurs were, but who cares, I can claim to have converted someone from the dark side. Do I win a prize????? I`ve still never managed to get him to get the first round in though. There some things you just can`t change!!!
Cheers Paul.
Rune Johansen
I was just a kid at the time and loved soccer more than anything else. We played everywhere, in the living room, in my neighbours backyard and in the corridors at school. In the latter part of the seventies there were many great English football players (and in Norway not even a half-decent one). The most popular one was Keegan, and everyone wanted to be Keegan. Until we discovered Brady. In the '79 final I became a die-hard Arsenal fan. I totally freaked out and scared my parents when Sunderland made the decisive goal. So did most of my friends too. Every Thursday we would run to the newsagent after school to get hold of the coupons to see if Arsenal were match number 1. They usually were and we felt even prouder to support Arsenal. Even today, if Arsenal were to play my hometown heroes Rosenborg in the Champions League Final 1999 (not very likely Rosenborg will ever make it) I would jump up and down for Arsenal. Arsenal really makes me proud. Cheers, Rune
Jeff Bernstein
I grew up as a soccer fan (probably partly to be different, partly because it was really a team game and I couldn't excel at any sport alone, and partly because my grandfather, who came to the US from Poland in 1920, always liked it), and then in the mid 70s I got interested in shortwave and started to listen to the BBC World Service (before the net I used a SW radio, a tape recorder, and a timer to tape Sports Roundup every day), and then when I got married for the first time in the late 70s, my wife's favorite cousin (my MIL was the youngest of 10 and the only one to come to the US) was an Arsenal season ticket holder since the 50s, so that became the team for me. I was also always partial to red. Thankfully I didn't choose one of the other possibilities! And thankfully my wife was closest to this cousin. Although there are other Arsenal supporters in the family, there are also Spurs, Brentford, Brighton, Orient, Man United (of course - they live in London <g>) and others. I attended my first professional soccer game was back in the 60s at Yankee Stadium, when there was a league that brought over European teams in their off-season. I became a Cosmos fan in the 70s. One of my fondest memories is sitting in the last row of Giants Stadium with 70,000+ others in the pouring rain for a playoff match. I attended all of the WC '94 matches at Giants Stadium. I saw England v Switzerland at Wembley in 1977 and saw Arsenal v Brighton at THOF in 1982(?). Unfortunately, I haven't been across the pond since then, so I'm stuck following through the net, the shortwave radio, and most recently, thanks to my cable company, TV. The other team I live and die for are the New York Islanders (ice hockey). I've been a season ticket holder for over 20 years.
Regards, Jeff
Huxmate
I wish I could give an unusual reason for supporting Arsenal but mine is no more interesting than having lived in Queen's Drive (a road no doubt frequented by David Pleat) & Brownswood Road and my dad having supported Arsenal since the 1940s.
Huxmate
Bryan The Donkey
My story is simple, my old man was a rabid Spurs fan but his mistake was that for my first game (1969) he took me to see us play them at Highbury. We lost 3-2 (3-0 down at half time). We fought like crazy (especially over the two Wembley semis) until he died two years ago. He had the last laugh as the next day they beat us 1-0 at Shite Hart. By the way I am also an Aries.
Bryan The Donkey
Steve Wood
Snap ! Well almost. My old man, me mum and all family on both sides in living history are scum fans. The geezer even had trials for them and played a couple of games for the combos in the late fifties. He took me to the Norf Bank in early '67 and I stood on a veg box (apparently, I was only six). All I know about the game is that afterwards I asked me nan to knit a red and white scarf and she did it whilst muttering black sheep etc.
Forever red (and black and baaing according to the family)
Steve Wood, Copenhagen
Trish McGarry
The reason that I follow Arsenal is a rather different one than the norm. When I was about 13 or so I used to go to watch a local football team ( Belvedere in Fairview, for any Irish Gooners). One of the guys playing at the time was a certain Kwamai Ampadu. He happened to get a trial with Arsenal and of course I started to keep an eye out on the TV for him, but actually (surprise surprise) got really into Arsenal and as they say "The rest is History".
All the best, Trish
Ejber Ozkan
Weeeeeellll... My old man was a Gooner.... The main reason was that we lived less than 5 minutes by tube from the ground near Turnpike Lane. We used to come Home and the Vidi printer would still be going on TV that was cool. I've since moved to Greenwich (boohoo) Arsenals original starting area, but here lies the ghost of Arsenal's past rather the splendor of the current setup. My first ever match was when I was around 5 and all I remember was that Arsenal were losing and the longer the game went on the harder I 'bit' yes bit into my programme until I cut my top lip from the sheer pressure of it all. I kept biting and biting and then Arsenal scored and I roared with delight with the programme now glued to my top lip with blood , I wish my father had kept the programme now ,I think he said he used it to blow my nose , ahhhh the days... I'm now 25 and feel that I have split blood for the Cause of Arsenal FC A true Gooner....
Ejber Cheers 'n' Beers
Andy Hart
My name is Andy Hart, I'm age 41 and have been a life long supporter from the
age of going to my first match age 5. I was born in Islington and my family
lived in Gillepsie Road, my dad used to jump over the garden wall at the back
of the house and be in the ground. I have a younger son Nick, age 18 who is also
a devout gooner and we used to go to most games and drink in the gunners pub
before the match, most of the time we sit in the west lower, but when I was
15-16 I would always make my way for the north bank. This was in the days
before opposing fans were segregated and it used to get a bit hairy sometimes
especially when West Ham or teams like Millwall visited, but it was always a
battle to keep possession of the north bank when the Yids from down the road
visited. I do not condone football violence and do not want to give the wrong
impression but that is what it was like back in the 70's.
Football crowds have now mostly been cleaned up and you can now take the
family which is great. Now I have moved with my family to the Gold Coast,
Australia and me and my boy are desperately missing Highbury and not going to
the matches, and we've only been here a month, so I would like to hear from any
gooners in Oz or from anywhere else to cheer us up, one good piece of news is
I have to go back to England to do some business for 2 weeks. I can fit in 1
or 2 matches, so life's not too bad.
So to all you gooners out there thanks for listening to my ramblings and good
luck to the ARSENAL and to you all.
Terry Davis
I have supported AFC since I was 7 years old. The first game I ever saw at Highbury was AFC v Luton. I remember we won and Vic Groves went off injured. Little did I know that I would follow them through two doubles and a whole heap of other finals and European honours.
I was a season holder for many years, and when I came to
Australia I continued to follow the triumphs and the odd disaster. AFC
in a final always means getting up at about 4.00am to watch on the box.
When we won the Cup Winners Cup my young kids thought I was mad when I took
them to school with the car draped in red and white, and my younger daughter
will never forget Dad running through the house screaming about Thomas'
classic title winning goal at Liverpool.
I call AFC my second religion, and it is always exciting to
meet other gooners in Sydney.
There are a million reasons why I follow Arsenal in a country
where they have only just discovered that the proper shape of a football is
round! The main reason I follow them, however, is that they aren't
spurs!
Back to Arsenal in OZ page | E-mail me if you want to tell your story
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