Arsenal America

Its been a few months since the November invasion of Emirates stadium by many of us here, and while we debate the pointlessness of posts about winning the title (I’m sure Wenger is telling his coming into form and maturing young team to start living in the “real world”) and look forward with excitement or dread depending on which side of the grass you live to the ManUre game on Sunday, I though it was high time to write a little something about our visit. In doing so, hopefully some of you will gather enough insight to make the next trip, and maybe others will simply enjoy the replay. But I’m doing it to pay tribute to the club’s transition, in the spirit of belief that we’ve already come a long way in a short time and we will continue to do so despite the doubters, the doomers and those who prefer to concentrate on the past.

London is beginning to feel like my second home, now. I always stay in the same hotel (in Kensington, proudly displaying my Arsenal scarf to an unsurprising avalanche of shrugs) and have my intinerary down to the club grounds so ingrained as to be able to do it in my sleep (which is sometimes the case). But arriving this time for a meet up with Rick ? who loves my jokes, it has to be said ? and the gang saw me first take a quick right out of the Arsenal tube stop, and around the bend on Gillespie Road. The weather was only slightly overcast, the temperatures rather mild and I had to see the new stadium prior to the droves descending upon it.

As I approached the stairs that lead to the bridge and that shelter the club shop, I was a little underwhelmed. The corrugated siding looked like my old middle school cafeteria and there was still a lot of debris and construction spilling into the street. Undaunted, I kept walking, and once I hit an open area I looked to my right…

…Gooners, I can remember seeing Highbury for the first time and literally gasping. Sure the old Home of Football was singular in its design, but the way it just appeared among the many flats that surrounded it felt like an art deco UFO had landed looking for directions. I now realize it was laying the groundwork for the mothership, both literally and figuratively, for the first sight of Emirates Stadium is indeed like seeing something from another world.

And I had to laugh. How did this little North London club find themselves in a structure this size and with these many modern amenities (it boasts a dog toilet station just outside the stadium!)? I don’t know if the effect was heightened by the knowledge of how young a side we are, but the enormity of the task of ushering in this new era really hit me. I thought, “Wenger, have you gone mad?” How are you going to pay for this? In America we have places this big, but they often host a number of different events. And they’re located off of highways and in large industrial settings suited to accommodate massive parking lots and the like. Is 19 year-old Cesc Fabregas going to be able to live up to this…impressive monstrosity?

So I headed back down Gillespie to meet up with Rick and the other Yanks at The Arsenal Tavern, where we would get our tickets and have our pictures taken with the ArseAm flag. Little by little the cast of characters came in and we introduced ourselves and talked Arsenal. A few pints and laughs later and we were ready to make the walk to the ground. So out the door we went, and we took our places in the sea of the faithful. I’d taken the walk to Highbury a few times before and remembered what it was like to share the streets with so many people, but when you nearly double the capacity of the ground, you really feel it. Nearly 70,000 people were now walking through the quaint North London neighborhood, up the steps, and over one of the two bridges (which feels like you’re entering Arsenal’s very own city) that lead to the entrances. It was a genuine feeling that you were part of something massive. And as we crossed the bridge and the stadium began to loom overhead, there was no doubt.

Wow. The Crest, approximately 12 meters high by 9 meters wide shown like a shield of the footballing gods. Okay, it won’t win any character and club history awards, but it works quite well in gigantic proportions. And filing into the ground is rather simple and flows nicely. There’s tons of room to move around, and plenty of places to fetch a pint or some food. This is the second time I’ve been to a stadium this new, and while the experience can come off a little sterile, it didn’t affect the excitement of the moment. I don’t know about anyone else, but I collect myself a little in preparation for my first big gulp of the pitch and interior of a new ground, and I have to say it was needed. As big and scary as the place looked at first, it all melted away into a place of comfort and alarming intimacy that was very easy on the eyes. And my concerns about being able to do it justice were quickly assuaged. It filled up effortlessly, from rafter to rafter, and when the players finally took the pitch, I had to secretly applaud all that had planned for this moment: the moment when the ref blew the whistle, and everything around you was no longer the star but merely a vehicle for you to enjoy the magic of Arsenal.

Well, almost. We all know how it went, and I saw my first conceded goal since coming over. But there was an equalizer to come, my first Titi goal in fact, and I felt the new grounds had offered me a fitting welcome. A draw was disappointing, but I was still grateful as I left with the rest of our group after the 90+ minutes of football. I was also still excited, as I knew a tour of the stadium and museum was only a couple of days away. And then, I would witness my first European contest that would prove to be one of the most exciting games I have ever attended.

Of course, there would also be fish and chips. More on that, the tours and the game against Hamburg to come…