I’m starting a trend with my articles now… they all seem to start with “Last year I wrote article XYZ”, well this one is no different!
So last year I wrote an article about the state of the ticket system for Arsenal Fans. And I hate to announce over the last year things have got worse, I lost my wallet with my precious membership cards in. Without them I could not attend a game and the helpline insisted I gave them £60 to replace them… as well as the £30 each renewal… Well screw that!
It seems being a Gooner has never been harder, Firstly you have to get tickets for games (see article above), then if you are lucky enough to get tickets, you have to watch players underperform like Eboue, Gallas, Adebayor and my personal nemesis… Nicolas Bendtner. Then comes the atmosphere… or lack of but I’ve already been over this, and finally… have you seen the new away and 3rd kit?
I went to only a handful of games last season, and the one that really made me sick was Plymouth at home in the FA cup, I would like to add that the price of the ticket was £55. It was honestly the most disappointing football game I have ever attended, Arsenals first 45 minutes only involved Eboue and Bendtner constantly making mistakes… there was no atmosphere, the crowd struggled to even get to half time. Even when we scored… silence, a few cheers here and there. Again the 55,000 strong spectators were out sung by the 5,000 fans from Plymouth, again… an embarrassment!
I vowed after the final whistle that I would not attend another Arsenal game until things changed! Until the system changed! Until the real fans could access the tickets once more!
So the next week I went to Underhill, home of the mighty Barnet! The Stadium looked like a shed, hell even the pitch slopes and I had to stand in the terraces, I bought my ticket for £12, a drink for less than a quid and a pie, and low and behold for the first time in 10 football games, I was happy! There was a fat kid behind me with a drum, he kept the crowd going all game, the football was terrible but Barnet won 1-0 with a goal from 40 year old ex QPR and Chavski forward Paul Furlong!
Everything about those 2 hours at Underhill was special, the muddy pitch, the pie which was cold, the can of coke which was from some Arabian country, the poor football, my bleeding ears from the fat kids drum, 2 hours of standing in the cold huddled around old men with cloth caps… the crowd reacting to every kick, the fans really willing their team on, every mistake was encouraged, every good play cheered, every man on the other team insulted, this is what Arsenal lack… Atmosphere, Excitement. I knew this was what I was looking for… This was Football!
This week I am proud to announce I bought my first ever Season ticket, not for my true love but for a little team from North London, which has 3,000 fans who meet every other week and participate all together in cheering on their team no matter what the situation.
I still love Arsenal, and I will until I die, through thick and thin, I always have and always will. But for now they are going to take a back seat, they are being put on hold, punished for the way the real fans are treated. For now I am apart of the Bee Army of Barnet, Marching up and down the country to all the bottomless pits of League 2.
All I can say now is… COME ON YOU BEE’S!
