There’s a famous saying that goes
along the lines of “the grass is always greener on the other side.”
In recent times the Arsenal fan base has found itself divided along
many lines, from who we should sign to whether we should hand Arsène
his P45. One thing that regularly invites discussion (or argument,
depending on who you are speaking to) is whether you are a more loyal
and committed fan if you live overseas or within a stone’s throw of
the Emirates. Or indeed, who suffers more to follow their team.
For some perspective from the outset, I
should probably establish that I live in England, just north of
London, with a match day journey time of around 45 minutes. I am
about to begin my third year as a season ticket holder. And I live
with a Sp*rs fan.
Many of my online acquaintances follow
Arsenal from thousands of miles and many time zones away, and this
brings with it challenges. Matches may not be televised, they may
kick-off at 2am, and for every day, minute and hour committed to
watching the boys in red-and-white on screens of varying sizes, these
dedicated fans may never see them in the flesh. A lucky few can
afford to fly in for one, two, three games a season, at a cost
equivalent to that which I pay for a full 26 games a season. More
likely, the only opportunity to watch this Arsenal team is a
pre-season tour in a mock-competitive environment or a showpiece
friendly. For some perspective, the last time Arsenal visited our
many millions of fans in the US was for a solitary game in 1972.
However, the main focus of this article
is to look at the perils of living in close proximity to so many
Tottnumb supporters.
I am the first to admit that I am
extraordinarily fortunate to have a season ticket (borrowed, since I
am around 25,000th on the waiting list) which allows me a guaranteed
seat at every home game, and priority for various away fixtures. I’m
still new enough to the match day experience that every time I cross
the Ken Friar bridge, every time I step out into the stand before a
game, and every time the boys come out of the tunnel after a fanfare
of dramatic music, I still get an adrenaline rush as if it were that
first game. (Highbury, 15 February 2004, FA Cup 5th Round, Arsenal
2-1 Chelsea, Mutu (39), Reyes (56), Reyes (61) if you were
wondering.)
And then there are the community
moments – the child on the tube who exclaims, “Look daddy, that
lady is going to see Arsenal too” [as an aside, when did I stop
being a girl?!], the hug-a-stranger games when sheer delight
permeates the whole stadium, and the journey home, where a look at
your shirt and your face prompts random travellers to ask the final
result or who scored.
However, there is a price I pay just
like many other London-local fans, in a more extreme form than you
will find anywhere else on the planet. In the street, at work, and
(worst of all) at home, I am surrounded by people who proclaim ardent
support for the little club up the road. Of course, over the year,
this works out generally in our favour, with more gleeful moments
than humiliating ones. But, when you consider that the last year
without a St. Totteringham’s Day was the 94/95 season, the
goalposts are rather different for each team – simply finishing
above is no longer a measure of success – annihilation has to be
the aim.
While debate will rage as to what
league position this Arsenal team has aspired to for the last few
years, there is little doubt that each season for Tottnumb begins
with a big red laser sight on our backs – their number one target.
The media get suckered in by articles such as this
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/oct/31/rafael-van-der-vaart-arsenal-spurs,
this
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/9098731/Tottenham-striker-Jermain-Defoe-says-Sundays-north-London-derby-is-more-important-for-Arsenal.html
and this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2283567/Gareth-Bale-says-Tottenham-better-Arsenal.html,
and we end up facing another season of vicious penmanship. No one
likes a bully, after all. With Tottenham cast as the plucky David,
let Arsenal ever be considered as Goliath, for it will mean that they
remain in our shadow. Goody-two-shoes Arsenal, with the
self-sufficient business plan and international footprint are an easy
target for the press, and means that allegations of media bias are
not entirely unfounded.
For those abroad, there are a minority
of Sp*rs fans who invade the peace, but given the following they have
globally, they are a small nuisance compared to the carnage in the
UK. Consider the irritation faced daily by those living within the
M25: every dropped Arsenal point is a cause for a victory parade or a
DVD, and every Tottnumb victory is heralded by a flurry of texts and
Facebook messages to all known Arsenal fans along the lines of
“COYS”. This is a club with such low expectations that
overwhelming joy follows wins in the Carling Cup or draws against
top-10 teams. Add in the Monday morning chirpiness following a
successful weekend and you have a recipe for stressed Gooners. The
best word to describe the attitude of Sp*rs fans is “desperate."
Slightly more unusual is the situation
I find myself in, cohabiting with “one of them." This has
logistical challenges, such as always being out on opposing weekends,
due to the fixture fiddling which means our teams alternate home
games. More challenging, though, is the fact that a good result for
one is generally a bad result for the other, leading to mismatched
happiness or desolation – for example, returning home after the 5-2
or the final game of the season and having to contain my glee, or
alternatively following the reverse North London Derby, having to
face his delight in the midst of my despondency. Luckily, my moods
are far more dictated by the Arsenal than his are by Sp*rs, but even
so, I’ve resorted to moderating my emotions by putting Gareth Bale
in my fantasy team to ensure that if Sp*rs do have a good result, at
least there will be a silver lining, however thin. Arsenal’s motto
may be “Victory through Harmony," but in my household there is
very little Harmony through Victory.
The here and now is just about
bearable, since the rest of my family are fervent Arsenal fans, but
it’s the future that concerns me. I’ve already had a word with my
dad to ensure that the next generation of prospective Arsenal fans
will be gifted mini-kits and indoctrinated before they are old enough
to walk, and more importantly, before anything can go wrong. After
all, I wouldn’t wish Tottenham support on anyone.
So while we should remember that our
overseas fans give so much time, money and dedication to the Arsenal
cause, we also have to remember that in fact the grass is not always
greener on the other side. In my own way I, like so many Arsenal fans
local to N5, go through hell and back for my club to ensure that the
strong roots of Arsenal support are cultivated to pull through the
wilderness of Sp*rs fandom. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
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