COYG. by RH
I don’t know when exactly it happened… I just know it happened, and the same can be said about why it happened but again it did, truth be told it does not keep me up at night I’m just glad I am part of the Arsenal family that screams COYG!
I didn’t know anything about team tactics or player values or even team weaknesses… I just saw people having fun on a pitch, dribbling, passing, running, scoring, saving and smiling.
A goal keeper with a pony tail and a big black bold defender, a soldier with his general in midfield, a striker more at home in front of goal than most goalkeepers and a winger that excited with every touch. A funny looking coach with a funny accent who said things I didn’t understand at the time but what I did understand was the love his team had for him and for each other… what I saw was a family!
Arsenal played for each other and had fun together… there was no difference between being the match-winner or a screaming spectator because you knew or better said I felt the spirit of Highbury the spirit of Arsenal Football Club. I watched every game I could living in a house where my mother, father and little brother were Manchester United fans and my big brothers were Liverpool fans. I walked to my uncles house an hour and a half away every weekend to watch my team play and win or lose it was worth it because for 90mins I screamed my little heart out for my team as if somehow they could hear me through the television set all the way from a little African country called Namibia that I know they would never have heard off but that didn’t matter to me… not one bit!
And the next day at school I didn’t talk about the league table and who was on top or whether we had a top scorer. I talked about the touches, dribbles, passes and the celebrations, I talked about how we almost won and how we will win next time or how “cool” we are because we won.
Against all the odds the red team from London is the only team I’ve ever supported and the only team I ever will… I love my team so much I might as well be a Londoner.
I love my team not for what it has won or what it will win but for what it is… A CLUB WITH VALUES THAT HAS SUPPORTERS THAT WILL NOT WAIVER AND A GROUND WITH A LOVE FOR THE GAME.
Rodney