Arsenal America

Profile written by Mark Barbeau

 The plight of the American Arsenal supporter is not always an easy one. Despite the advent of the Internet and satellite television, it’s not uncommon, when one pontificates about this passion, to be greeted by a quizzical look, or “So they’re a soccer team, right?” Even English Gooners occasionally treat their American counterparts as ugly bastard stepchildren trying to steal their inheritance.

Being an Arsenal supporter is its own reward. Meeting other football fans reminds us that we are part of a global community, while Arsenal America is a lifeline for American Gooners. As the San Francisco Branch Manager, I’ve met (online and off) Arsenal supporters from all walks of life and always been the richer for the experience. One such Gooner I’ve been corresponding with, is Staff Sergeant Jared C. Dugger of the United States Marine Corps, currently serving in Iraq.

Jared began folloing Arsenal while stationed in Okinawa during the 1997/1998 season, saying, I was lucky enough to see Adams, Dixon, Bould, Winterburn, Overmars, Bergkamp, Platt, Wrighty, et al win the “double”. Talk about timing!

Jared’s first deployment in Iraq was in 2005 an he remained there for most of the year. Eventually he was given two weeks of R&R. He knew Highbury was coming down in less than a year, so his decision to go see Arsenal, was as he put it, totally a no-brainer! With his leave approved, he booked a room and arranged tickets for Sunderland and a Sparta Prague Champions League match.

Despite being an Arsenal America member, Jared was unaware that a contingent of AA members would be in London to see Arsenal at the very same time. He managed to meet up with them, tour the stadium, join them for matches and the all-important pints at the pub! He remembers fondly, that it was an incredible trip!

As if the trip wasn’t memorable enough, Jared found himself featured in a match programme article. He has this framed alongside ticket stubs and programmes from the matches he attended, along with a match day scarf. Despite the ribbing from long-time Arsenal supporters about getting in the programme after his first match, he considers it the coolest souvenir ever.

Fast forward to 2007 and Jared is still in Iraq. Initially stationed at Al Asad, which he describes, as a gigantic very safe airbase, he was then ordered to Hadittha, a much smaller base in the heart of the city, and finally to the K-3 oil refinery in August. Jared says, he prefers working daily with the Iraqis, going on convoys and patrols, and going “outside the wire”, instead of sitting around the big safe base, albeit with satellite TV.

He follows Arsenal through the Arsenal America site, BigSoccer, Soccernet, and others, and has been able to stay pretty current on the team’s progress. He occasionally meets other footie fans, including a Brit who grew up on the same block as Ian Wright. Says Jared, For some reason known but to God, he supports Hammers, but he was thoroughly amazed to find not only a US Marine who was a soccer fan, but someone who could rattle off lineups and score lines from five, ten years ago and has Wrighty as a MySpace friend.

As to Arsenal’s league rivals, Jared says, there’s a Company Commander here who’s a raging footy fanatic, and although he’s very loyal to ManUshited, we swap friendly emails and news about the Premiership every now and again, and of course, talk smack to each other, especially the way this season’s shaping up.

When he’s out and about, Jared often will see men and boys of all ages wearing shirts from some club or other - Barca, ManUre, Chelski, Real, and Arsenal. He says, Very few are knowledgeable and loyal supporters, but I take time (and an interpreter) to chat with them for a while any time we meet. It cheers me up some and actually helps our mission here and builds a relationship with the people.

Jared doesn’t get many opportunities to watch Arsenal matches. The Armed Forces Network channels are great for NBA, MLB, NFL, and college football, but not so much for the Premiership or other footie. The interpreters and Iraqi Police he works with, have different sports channels, mostly covering the Asian League and internationals. Still, he’s been in the right place at the right time twice this season, and watched Arsenal play Fulham and Sunderland.

Like the majority of Iraq’s population, Jared followed the Iraqi team’s progress in the Asian Cup, and the Final was the only other match he’s been able to watch live. He was crowded into a small room with a dozen native Iraqi interpreters, men and women, aged 20 to 50.

Remembering that joyous day, he says, When Younes scored the goal, I damn near went deaf from all the screaming – and I was doing quite a lot myself. When the fulltime whistle blew, we all cheered again, and there were some grown men crying. For a few weeks it definitely created a sense of unity among the people here, and I was really glad to have witnessed it. As an aside, all our superiors had been briefed the day before about the Cup Final, and to expect random celebratory fire into the air from AK-47s during the hours the match would be played. After it was over, there was plenty - but our patrols all knew what was happening and joined in the celebrations (and asked folks to put away the guns). It was a brilliant day, and I’ll never forget it.

I wondered if being a football fan had given him a better understanding of their joy. Hell yes. I wasn’t crying with them at the end, but I could certainly understand how they felt. They went through enough trouble just fielding a team and keeping a decent manager, not to mention the initial infighting among teammates based on politics and religion. For them to even make the Final, much less win the thing - it was truly miraculous. I knew it would be a big lift to the people of Haditha and Iraq as a whole. After hearing the questions from people in the streets here about the progress we’re trying to make, it was SO GREAT to see the people point at their soccer team and say “Look, that worked for our country! Why can’t our government start doing that?” Aside from the pride and happiness it brought, it also got people fired up about national unity again, and that’s something we (the military) were VERY pleased to see.

Jared has four more months in Iraq, after which he’s looking forward to getting reacquainted with Guinness and watching as many matches as possible live. When I last heard from him, he’d just returned from leave, and I asked him for parting words to his fellow Gooners who might be reading this, and he says, With apologies to Joliet Jake, it’s November, we’re top of the table with a game in hand. I just drank beer for two weeks, there’s four months left until I’m home, and I’m wearing sunglasses. Silverware in May? Hit it.

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Author’s note: Mention Iraq and you’ll get a lot of varied opinions. My intent was not to convey a particular political view or commentary on the war, but simply to relate the experiences of an Arsenal supporter that were unlike my own. After all, despite our differences, we’re all Gooners at heart! So let’s raise a pint to “by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen!” Thanks again Jared!