I started supporting Arsenal in around 1987. Most people inherit a team from their Dad, Mum, Uncle, Brother and I am lucky to still have all of those people in my life and had them in 1987 as well when I was a wee nipper.
My Mum had no interest in football and my uncles were more into the GAA than football. My brothers however did have a favourite English team, so you would think I'd have inherited their team which was Liverpool FC. My brothers were not avid fans though and not as stone mad about the sport and sport in general as me. They would have watched the likes of the FA cup final and with Liverpool contesting three finals between 1985 and 1988, I have vivid memories of watching these with my brothers and their friends in our sitting room. Liverpool won two and lost one to the Crazy gang of Wimbledon which was a shock. So it would have been easy for me to end up supporting the same team as them, Liverpool.
Trying to commentate my way to greatness!
However my brothers were much older and didn't play football. I on the other hand had a football or a hurl with me morning, noon and night and my next door neighbour and I used to play out in his back garden. We would have countless hours of fun, with one of us in goals and the other taking shots and laying shots on for ourselves, all the while commentating the play. The outfield player always commentated. It would go a little something like this:
"Oh what a remarkable save by Grobbelaar! How on earth did he keep that out. The faintest of touches enough to deny Thomas the opening goal. Grobbelaar launches it long. Three players contest for it in the middle of the park, but it's David Rocastle who wins it and cushions a header down to Merson. Merson takes off on a mazy run ducking left and right before playing the ball to the feet of Thomas. Hansen tries to get a foot on the ball but Thomas turns and finds space on the flank where Merson is free, he takes two quick touches and rolls into Smith on the edge of the box who unleashes a right footed thunder bolt. Top corner! What an absolute beauty! Arsenal go 1-0 up at Anfield and the away crowd goes wild!"
Off I'd run with my hands held aloft fully believing for a fraction of a second that I'd put Arsenal 1-0 up away to Liverpool. I'd be screaming my little head off with excitement. We'd continue on like this for ages until eventually he'd want a go outfield and he'd be the commentator. He loved being in goals though and always had an Arsenal goalkeeper jersey or an Ireland goalkeeper jersey with the padding and I loved being outfield and I'd be kitted out in Arsenal clobber too, so it worked out well for us both. He got loads of goalkeeping practice and I got loads of shooting practice, a win-win.
Nostalgia
Even just talking about it now brings back wonderful memories of my youth, playing soccer for hours on end. This older neighbour of mine was the one who got me into supporting Arsenal. I really looked up to him as a child and always loved playing at his house. That love of Arsenal has endured until today and there have been many good days along the way, with Fa cups, league cups, Premiership wins, a famous final day 1st division win away to Liverpool and even a run all the way to the Champions league final which we narrowly lost to Barcelona in 2006 - having Lehman sent off after 18 minutes didn't help, but we won't get into that here.
Life is made up of memories and us humans love a bit of Nostalgia and looking back on the good old days. Our brains are quite clever though and can filter lots of the more negative stuff and retain and even enlarge the good stuff. I suppose that's what keeps us sane and happy too.
Jerseys for Life
Becoming a Gunner was easy for me, but staying the course was very important, as we had friends who went through teams has quick as they went through shoes, flitting and changing to the team that was dominating at the time, as such Ireland ended up with legions of Liverpool and Manchester United fans. For me, I was a gunner for life though and wore my jersey with pride and most birthdays that's what I asked for, the latest Arsenal jersey and usually an away one. I always loved the away jerseys, as they were often a bit quirky. Unfortunately my Mum gave away my childhood jerseys to my younger cousins but I still have some from adult years! Here are a few of them.
Battle of the badges
Like most teams Arsenal had an old badge and new badge. For me, I'll always like the old badge more, as it was the one I first loved as a young kid.
Name on the back
The only thing better than a jersey back in the day was a jersey with your favourite player's name on the back!
All Time Favourite Arsenal jersey
It's a tough question to answer, but if I was pushed, I'd go with this masterpiece of a jersey, this one from my collection is not an original, but a replica I got online a few years ago. It's a good one to break out when I play 5 a sides with the lads.
Are you a football fanatic? Maybe it's rugby or American football or some other sport. How did you end up supporting your club team? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.