THE Arsenal

THE Arsenal.  As in THE Ohio State University.

Last night I attended my ever English Premier League Football (Soccer) Match at Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal took on Newcastle… and was completely blown away.

Before my trip, I tried to purchase a ticket to this game via the internet… but it was completely Sold Out.  However, the positologist in me told me to just GO FOR IT… so I jumped on the “Tube” – London’s underground subway system – and headed to the Arsenal area, which is about 15 minutes northeast of downtown.  The trains were absolutely packed with fans, all wearing the traditional red in jerseys, scarfs, hats, and jackets.  I think every fan had a least 3 pieces of “Arsenal flair” and were already beginning the team chants.

Caught up in the mob exiting the station, you could just feel the energy of the fans.  We were soon weaving through the streets of a lower-middle class neighborhood, with makeshift Arsenal merchandising stands set up in front of the rows of flats along with a number of food vendors.  After 3 blocks, I caught the glowing red words, “Emirates Stadium” above the houses, and suddenly got goose-bumps.

The first glimpse of the stadium blew me away.  It is perhaps one of the best-designed, most high-tech stadiums I have ever seen – and it is dropped neatly in a normal London neighborhood.  The stadium honestly looks like an alien spaceship was hovering over the London superb and just decided to land. 

I went to the ticket office, but again was told the game was sold out.  Not discouraged, I began looking for scalpers.  Little did I know that in England, scalping is illegal (I think?) and you definitely do not see people out in the open just hawking tickets.  After 20 minutes, I still hadn’t found anyone, until a little Asian lady caught my eye.

“Are you looking for tickets?” she asked.  “Yes, just one,” I replied.

5 minutes later, I found myself sitting in the SECOND ROW of the Stadium for less than face value of a regular ticket!  Positology in ACTION!

The game itself was an amazing experience.  Arsenal won 3-0 (or 3 nil as they say)… and the atmosphere was unlike anything I had ever experienced at a sporting event before.  The seats are all so CLOSE to the action, and the stadium echoes with chants of fans and encouragement for their team.  The grass was immaculate - looked like a putting green - and as I mentioned this in the last post, any resemblance of Hooligans was not seen by me.

The songs were the best part.  English soccer fans can take any popular song or folk melody, and replace the words to sing about their team or their players.

“ARSENAL, ARSENAL, ARSENAL” to the tune of “Be kind to your web footed Friends”… or using the Latin tune Guantanemera to say, “There’s only one A-De-Bay-Or”… or just the silly chant:

“We are top-the-league, say we are top-the-league.”

The other cool thing is that they have a BETTING window at the game, where you can actually place wagers on who you think will score, when they will do it, and final match outcomes.  Ironically, the “Manager’s Bet” – a 3 to 0 Arsenal Victory with Adebayor (their best player) scoring first would pay out 105 pounds on a 5 pound bet.  And YES, that’s exactly what happened.

All in all - It was a great time… and I can’t wait to go tonight to see Chelsea!

 

~ J. Twice