She Wore a Yellow Ribbon online

These days I can’t imagine my life without The Arsenal.

I have to thank my brother for getting me into football. When I was around 10 or 11 I would always see him watching the EPL highlights show on TV which got me interested.

At the start of 2004 I felt like I needed to choose a team and since I didn’t know much about football, I chose the team at the top of the ladder (and what a season to pick from).

The first time I got to watch a full Arsenal game was the 2005 FA Cup final versus Manchester United. I was so excited I even recorded the game on VHS. My understanding of football wasn’t great back then but I was just happy Arsenal won that day.

The next few years involved checking the scores, reading the match reports and watching the occasional Champions League or FA Cup game (which was the only games you could watch on free to air TV in Australia).

In 2009 I finally got pay TV and I was able to watch my first EPL game. I was so excited. I’m pretty sure it was when Arsenal beat Blackburn 4-0. And ever since then my love for Arsenal grew stronger.

The first jersey I bought was from the Sunday market. It was a cheap imitation of the 2007/08 one with Fabregas on the back which didn’t even fit me. I didn’t even care that it didn’t fit me I was just excited that I was able to buy my first jersey. However when I was old enough to finally buy Arsenal merchandise online it has been a constant purchases ever since including mugs, stationary, key rings and of course jerseys.

Being an Arsenal fan in Australia has been difficult with the ridiculous time differences. Staying up late to watch EPL games at 2am or getting up early to watch the Champions League at 6:45am sometimes does suck when you have work or uni but you eventually get used to it.

The question that I have gotten the most from friends who don’t like football is:

“I don’t know how you can wake up at 3 or 4am in the morning just to watch a football game”.