As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
Ive noticed on here sometimes posters making comments about going to matches/buying season tickets and then being accused of being superfans or the other side of the coin then tht you cant be a proper arsenal fan cos you dont go to matches which ill be honest fucking drives me mad.In my case its purely economics tht prevents me from going to more games,im lucky enough i manage to make it over at least once a season.What do other guys think ,whether you are an overseas supporter or somebody who lives in the UK and attends games regularly.Would i be classed as a tourist,taking into account im 34 years following arsenal and used to regularly go to games at highbury when i worked/lived in london in the late 80s/early 90s.
PS was going to start a new thread on this topic but you know me i dont like vanity threads
I don't think their passion (in their own way) is any less or their love for the club, but there cannot be any reasonable comparison between the ST/Regular attendee's and those - who live abroad - and attend when feasible.
My older brother and I used to attend every (home) game at Highbury and we would attend away when feasible - work committments etc through the 80' & 90's...I then got work/job abroad and could only 'listen' (& watch MOTD) from the other side of the world, but my love, passion, joy when we won - hurt when we lost - was undiminished. And I would phone home every week for news etc...this was before the availability & ease of www.
If someone is a Gooner regardles sof where they live - Then they're a Gooner - as long as they don't just watch from their sofa and never go etc...
Ive noticed on here sometimes posters making comments about going to matches/buying season tickets and then being accused of being superfans or the other side of the coin then tht you cant be a proper arsenal fan cos you dont go to matches which ill be honest fucking drives me mad.In my case its purely economics tht prevents me from going to more games,im lucky enough i manage to make it over at least once a season.What do other guys think ,whether you are an overseas supporter or somebody who lives in the UK and attends games regularly.Would i be classed as a tourist,taking into account im 34 years following arsenal and used to regularly go to games at highbury when i worked/lived in london in the late 80s/early 90s.
PS was going to start a new thread on this topic but you know me i dont like vanity threads
PPS probably should have started a new thread
Click on the article and about half way down is a lovely picture of one of our "foreign" mods. Laugh, I nearly shat!
The concept of the 'overseas fan' varies really. Imo when most people slate 'overseas fans', they're talking primarily about the Asian fans who just want to buy the merchandise and hence are pandered to by Arsene and the club, which is completely fair enough in my view. I don't think many people mean it to apply to people from Ireland or elsewhere in Europe or the world who care about the club and do what they can in terms of getting to games. At the end of the day even ignoring travelling costs your bank account is as much (if not more) of a factor than love of Arsenal.
With very few exceptions I don't accept that a person living in East Asia who likes to wear the kit and has the lampshade and the mousemat but doesn't really care is as big a fan as somebody who lives, sleeps and breathes AFC. If somebody doesn't have a deep down burning hatred for Spurs or identify with the traditional values of the club then I wouldn't acknowledge them as a true fan.
I realise that that definition might apply to people living in North London, or that a very tiny minority of Asians are genuine Gooners. But it's a fair generalisation in my view.
This overseas fan is going to the airport right now, NLD, here I come.
I totally get the argument that our experience is not to be related to the regular goers, and it is, tbh, i think very few foregin supporters actually give a genunine fuck about their "team", running Arsenal brasil's contacts for the past 12 monts has shown that.
Most of the lads don't even know when the club is playing FFS!
RioGooner wrote:This overseas fan is going to the airport right now, NLD, here I come.
I totally get the argument that our experience is not to be related to the regular goers, and it is, tbh, i think very few foregin supporters actually give a genunine fuck about their "team", running Arsenal brasil's contacts for the past 12 monts has shown that.
Most of the lads don't even know when the club is playing FFS!
Good luck Rio but you must look at the photo of the Brazilian fans in that article.
RioGooner wrote:This overseas fan is going to the airport right now, NLD, here I come.
I totally get the argument that our experience is not to be related to the regular goers, and it is, tbh, i think very few foregin supporters actually give a genunine fuck about their "team", running Arsenal brasil's contacts for the past 12 monts has shown that.
Most of the lads don't even know when the club is playing FFS!
Good luck Rio but you must look at the photo of the Brazilian fans in that article.
I saw it, rolled on the floor with laughter and passed it to everyone he knows, too.
Chippy wrote:I have a feeling it's the work of another midget on here, but I doubt the bloke who wrote the article realised he was copying a photoshopped pic.
Got to be one of the funniest things ever that they think the photo was genuine. The fact that no-one questioned it's authenticity just goes to show how much being a midget really suits BG.
Oh and well done DB10 - I think you might be due copyright royalties!!
if only db10 had corrected the white balance so that my face didn't look so blueish it would look just perfect i'm not much taller than that to be honest but still
Ive noticed on here sometimes posters making comments about going to matches/buying season tickets and then being accused of being superfans or the other side of the coin then tht you cant be a proper arsenal fan cos you dont go to matches which ill be honest fucking drives me mad.In my case its purely economics tht prevents me from going to more games,im lucky enough i manage to make it over at least once a season.What do other guys think ,whether you are an overseas supporter or somebody who lives in the UK and attends games regularly.Would i be classed as a tourist,taking into account im 34 years following arsenal and used to regularly go to games at highbury when i worked/lived in london in the late 80s/early 90s.
PS was going to start a new thread on this topic but you know me i dont like vanity threads
PPS probably should have started a new thread
Don't know what he's on about when he says "there are only 58,000 season ticket holders at Arsenal and if they alone were considered as Arsenal’s fan base then Arsenal would have the fan base of a conference team at best" (can't say I know of any conference teams with a 58,000 fan base!). Anyway, I think that some international supporters can be very passionate and committed to their team (a small %) but they will never have the natural feeling that comes from supporting a team that represents your home or that of your family, for foreign fans it is pretty much about the football whereas for those with the area in their blood it is about more than that. Also, much though its unfair to tar all foreign fans with the same brush because some would be loyal, if you look at the % of foreign fans who change allegiance (in the last few years from being "committed" Arsenal to Chelsea or Man City) compared to the % of born and bred gooners who have done it (virtually nil) its easy to see why, in general, it is assumed that foreign fans are less passionate and less committed than those who go regularly
Equally you'll get a lot of foreign gooners who say they "hate" spurs but it feels a bit forced, if you go to matches and have that feeling that the fuckers are going to try and attack you you'd get to hate them, if you work with the bastards and have them taking the piss after they win a derby you'd hate them, if the father in law is a spurs fan you'd probably hate them and be glad that you're fucking his daughter just so you can always have a good comeback. If you're from Japan and never go to any games you can't really, genuinely hate Spurs as much as a gooner from North London does
Ive noticed on here sometimes posters making comments about going to matches/buying season tickets and then being accused of being superfans or the other side of the coin then tht you cant be a proper arsenal fan cos you dont go to matches which ill be honest fucking drives me mad.In my case its purely economics tht prevents me from going to more games,im lucky enough i manage to make it over at least once a season.What do other guys think ,whether you are an overseas supporter or somebody who lives in the UK and attends games regularly.Would i be classed as a tourist,taking into account im 34 years following arsenal and used to regularly go to games at highbury when i worked/lived in london in the late 80s/early 90s.
PS was going to start a new thread on this topic but you know me i dont like vanity threads
PPS probably should have started a new thread
Click on the article and about half way down is a lovely picture of one of our "foreign" mods. Laugh, I nearly shat!
Ive noticed on here sometimes posters making comments about going to matches/buying season tickets and then being accused of being superfans or the other side of the coin then tht you cant be a proper arsenal fan cos you dont go to matches which ill be honest fucking drives me mad.In my case its purely economics tht prevents me from going to more games,im lucky enough i manage to make it over at least once a season.What do other guys think ,whether you are an overseas supporter or somebody who lives in the UK and attends games regularly.Would i be classed as a tourist,taking into account im 34 years following arsenal and used to regularly go to games at highbury when i worked/lived in london in the late 80s/early 90s.
PS was going to start a new thread on this topic but you know me i dont like vanity threads
PPS probably should have started a new thread
Click on the article and about half way down is a lovely picture of one of our "foreign" mods. Laugh, I nearly shat!
Brilliant
And the first word below the picture? Proportionately
