GoonerGirl (BB)
When I last wrote for The Gooner, my dad was very ill in hospital. My article, ‘When the going gets tough’, was published on 11 April, and sadly, by the end of April, the going got even tougher as my father passed away. Writing my tribute for his funeral, I only managed to pen three paragraphs before Dad’s love of Arsenal made an appearance, and, on reading it to the assembled congregation, it was a passage that made me smile through my immense sadness.
Dad’s love affair with Arsenal was everywhere in my childhood, and will remain with me forever, through the good and the bad (not too much bad, please!). From mimicking Morecambe and Wise’s Aaaaaarsenal catchphrase, to having Sports Report blaring from the radio every Saturday afternoon and Match of the Day being essential TV viewing, whatever Arsenal were doing, Dad knew about it, and so did the rest of our family as a result.
Given that my father was a Norfolk man born and bred, people naturally assumed that he was always a Canaries fan, but Dad’s heart belonged to Arsenal. Born in 1927, he would have been heavily influenced by the success Arsenal enjoyed in the 1930s (five league titles and two FA Cups), and I suspect that is where his passion for The Arsenal began.
Dad frequently told us about how he had been a pretty decent footballer as a youngster (well all the best dads are, aren’t they?) and how he had wanted to pursue it professionally. Norwich apparently offered him a trial, but he only had eyes for Arsenal. He tried and failed to get a foot in the door at Highbury, but his love for the Gunners never deserted him, and given that he was lucky enough to grow up during Arsenal’s most trophy-laden decade, watching greats like Cliff Bastin and Alex James plying their trade in the red and white, it is no surprise that he stuck with the Gunners.
Dad would talk wistfully of the '70-'71 League and Cup double and the classic 1979 FA Cup win, back in the days when men were men and footballers were tough, uncompromising and far more honest than their modern day equivalents, but some things remain as true today as they were then. Dad spoke glowingly about players like Liam Brady and Charlie George, the stars of their time, and, for myself, I have been equally in awe of Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.
When I was growing up, Arsenal were very much George Graham’s team, and it was our famous back-four and ‘One nil to the Arsenal’ that dominated the Gooner landscape. Dad had huge respect for Graham’s reputation as a disciplinarian, perhaps echoing his own methods of parenting, and watching football in those formative years gave me the impression that it was actually very difficult to score against Arsenal – oh what we would all give for those days to return! I was texting fellow Gooners on the final Sunday of the Premier League season, and pleading that we wouldn’t concede any more goals after West Brom had gone 2-1 up. How times change eh?
1989 and THAT game against Liverpool was the moment when I realised just how much Arsenal meant to my dad. The agony and ecstasy of that famous night at Anfield had him in raptures long after the final whistle. It was quite possibly the highlight of his life as an Arsenal supporter, and, to be honest, if you never experienced another night quite like that, you could die happy knowing that you had been part of such an incredible experience.
Sadly Dad never took me to Highbury; when I was a child, he didn’t think it was really the right environment for his youngest daughter, and so that job eventually fell to my mum, after profuse nagging, as Dad’s dementia kicked in some 19+ years ago, and he began living in a bygone era (albeit one where Arsenal were probably winning everything). Prior to that, Dad had taken me and my brother to watch the Gunners play a pre-season friendly against Aylesbury United, and his sheer delight at meeting George ‘Geordie’ Armstrong was palpable. It was at that moment that I realised just what a historically special club Arsenal are, and how the old guard have shaped the club over the years, a feeling that continues to this day with Pat Rice’s retirement being marked with such affection recently.
Dad’s lengthy illness meant I never really knew his views on Wenger, the French revolution, the two doubles, the Invincibles, moving to the new stadium, the superstars who have worn our shirt, and all the players we would rather had not signed on the dotted line during Arsène’s tenure. I think Dad would have been very sceptical, and arguably vehemently against the huge foreign invasion into English football (he never went abroad his whole life), and, although we wouldn’t necessarily have agreed on that, I know he would have been in total agreement with me that money really has become the root of all evil in modern football.
As witnessed at Eastlands on May 13th, it seems that the mighty dollar can buy more in football than just players, stadiums and merchandise, but what you will never be able to purchase is history and class, two things Arsenal have always had in abundance. Dad, like most fans of his generation, was a bit of a traditionalist, and in many ways that is perhaps why Arsenal were such a big draw for him. Our club has a reputation for doing things ‘properly’, the Arsenal way, and from the old Marble Halls and the late, great Herbert Chapman through to the Invincibles, there is and will always be something very special about Arsenal.
Your parents influence so many things about you as a person, and I am sure many fellow Gooners reading this will have joined the Arsenal family after being indoctrinated by their blood family from a young age. My dad leaves a wonderful legacy, not least that he passed his love of Arsenal onto his family. Some might argue that this is a double-edged sword; certainly the life of a Gooner is one of copious ups and downs and much malaise in-between, but my silver membership will always be a badge of honour for me.
There are many things in life you can choose, but for me my football team wasn’t one of them. With Dad gone, supporting Arsenal actually makes me feel closer to him, and since he is now in a place where he has a bit of influence, I have already been requesting that the Gods smile kindly on N5 - well it worked against West Brom (sort of!). Now we just need a decade of titles, triumphs, amazing football and clean sheets – I wish!
Follow me on Twitter@bethyb1886.
