The first professional soccer match I attended was at Highbury when I was on a junior semester abroad. The fans and the atmosphere were amazing, even in a 0-0 draw with 'Pool. I was hooked from then on.
There was a thread about this not too long ago: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8764 What made me a Gunner was a combination of these things, in no particular order or weight: -Dennis Bergkamp -Fever Pitch (the book) -A trip to France -Digital cable, and the arrival of Fox Sports World
My friend and the great fans of Arsenal The fact that I equate ManU to the NY Yankees and Arsenal to Chicago teams...especially the Cubs. Gunners have been soooo awesome and inviting. Their style of play over the last 2 yrs. I love their history, kits, crest, and also I love London. Great city. Looking forward to watching matches with fellow Gunners. Later, Patrick
I think the Arsenal - Chicago link is a bit inaccurate. The Cubs have won *************** all and the Gunners have won the double three times. The Cubs are rich losers, a more accurate analogy therefore would be Chelsea or Spurs. Perhaps you can equate Cubs & Arsenal from a historical/stadium perspective.
There are only two stadium in the world I want to visit.....Highbury and Wrigley. I believe you are correct in your case for equation. For how I became Gunner see the above mentioned thread.
Made it to Highbury once...been to Wrigley too many times to count. A very similar feel at both. Amazing the neighborhoods right around these stadium. While there are plenty of Arsenal fans who see the virtue in upgrading to Ashburton Grove (or whatever name they end up picking from the hat), I have yet to find a Cubs fan who would sacrifice Wrigley to a higher good. These are just growing pains that Arsenal are willing to accept and Cubs aren't.
Somehow the Cubs survive on 38k a game. Maybe its the fact that there are 81 home games a season, but Arsenal need to upgrade to the 60k+ stadia in order to pay the bills. Though they seem to do that quite well now.
parents went to london in 97, brought me back an arsenal jersey started watching em on tv was hooked ever since
Re: My friend and the great fans of Arsenal As a Yanks fan, I take some offence to that. Like Arsenal, the Yankee team plays with class and tradition. However many of the Yankee fans, like United(both team and fans) have none*. Revenue in baseball is different from football. Most big market baseball teams get enough money from TV and radio that they are turning a profit before they sell one ticket. On the other hand, the number 1 revenue streem in football is ticket sales, and I belive that is even true for United.
I was living in London for a year to study abroad. Some friends of mine and I decided to pick random football clubs to follow throughout the season. So i picked arsenal and found myself at the pub at every game with other real English supporters and fell for it immediately. I managed to scrounge up enough money to buy a ticket to Highbury to see Arsenal play Middlesbrough. Adams scored an own goal and arsenal lost 0-3. Still the best sporting experience of my life so far though.
Its the name of the Stadium where the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball play. Wrigley Field is named after the man who built it and the founder of Wrigley gum. Am I right on that Chicagoians?
Aye aye. Wrigley Field (in Chicago) was bought by William Wrigley, who made a fortune after he gave everyone in the phone book two sticks of gum for free. True story, the fad caught on and then he was able to sell the stuff like crazy. He thought people would be more likely to attend a ballgame if the stadium had an appeal of its own, the team be damned. So he had ivy planted on the outfield wall, which has become the trademark of gorgeous Wrigley Field. The team's trademark is that they are still damned.
That's it! I knew I heard of the word Wringley but can't remember where. I've only heard of that name from his chewing gum, since they sell it over here.
I became a gooner because............... I had a soccer coach in Vancouver from 1960-62 from Highbury. His name was John Addy and he'd supported Arsenal from birth. He tried to teach a bunch of 9 and 10 year old Canadians the offside trap. For Christmas in 1960 all 16 of us got a red and white stipe scarf. My father was a nut for anything English. That's why I got to hear the Goon Show on records from an early age andhe used to pick up the Times of London from the newsstand in the Hotel Vancouver (it was probably 3 or 4 days old)once a week. He would get his world news and entertainment stuff and I would search for the word Arsenal, most often to no avail. In 1961 I found out that a week after the game the Canadian Legion in our nieghbourhood would show the FA Cup on 16mm film. Dad got no rest until he agreed to take me to that, even though it wasn't Arsenal, even worse it was Spurs and they won! The Double!! I've cheered and cussed the Gunners ever since. Sorry for rambling on. Bob
Why support Arsenal? I was raised properly. I guess the real reason I support Arsenal is that I'm darn lucky! I was fortunate to have had a youth coach that was an Arsenal fan. Our team wore red, played well and called ourselves the Arsenal! Sort of set the path out for me...
I became a gooner because............... I had a soccer coach in Vancouver from 1960-62 from Highbury. His name was John Addy and he'd supported Arsenal from birth. He tried to teach a bunch of 9 and 10 year old Canadians the offside trap. For Christmas in 1960 all 16 of us got a red and white stipe scarf. My father was a nut for anything English. That's why I got to hear the Goon Show on records from an early age andhe used to pick up the Times of London from the newsstand in the Hotel Vancouver (it was probably 3 or 4 days old)once a week. He would get his world news and entertainment stuff and I would search for the word Arsenal, most often to no avail. In 1961 I found out that a week after the game the Canadian Legion in our nieghbourhood would show the FA Cup on 16mm film. Dad got no rest until he agreed to take me to that, even though it wasn't Arsenal, even worse it was Spurs and they won! The Double!! I've cheered and cussed the Gunners ever since. Sorry for rambling on. Bob
Their Dreamcast jerseys. I know, stupid reason. But hey, I love my Dreamcast, and now, I like Arsenal.
How I became an Arsenal fan I was in South Africa in 2001 on a mission trip and one of the fellows I worked with in the sports ministry had a Liverpool jersey on. I didn't care too much until I saw the worst logo on them all. A Rebook one and Pool was playing Arsenal. Needless to say I jumped onto the Arsenal bandwagan. Helped when I went to France a few months later. Should have ditches the PSG jersey and gotten an Arsenal one. Oh well. Christmas is just around the corner.
I'n not quite sure how I became an Arsenal supporter. I do remember selling about $7,000 worth of computer equipment to this guys with a thick accent in late 1998. One of them had the old JVC home jersey on and we started talking about British football and how it was growing out of its sanction induced awfulness. The next year Manure won the treble, and although I was happy about it (I'll root for anyone against B. München), I was sad that Arsenal didn't win that year. I had flirted with Chelsea (Ruud Gullit) and Newcastle (Ruud again, Tino Asprilla), but eventually they just didn't play well, even if they played beautiful. Arsenal not only played beautiful, but played well as well. By 2000 I was absolutely hooked. The fact that Arsenal was the alternative to Manure at the time was probably the factor that tipped the scale. For the most part I can't seem to root for the biggest side around. That's why I like Inter, Atlético Madrid and the New York Mets. But it's sure sweet to support the best side around. And I won't have any qualms about it when Arsenal moves to a bigger ground and becomes an even bigger club. Maybe they'll have ivy on the Grove.