Football in the snow

 "We love you Arsenal, we do! 

 We love you Arsenal, we do!

  We love you Arsenal, we DO!

     Oh! Arsenal we love you!" 

Those were the words that could be heard being sung loud and proud at the Arsenal Vs. Wigan Athletic match on November 30th.
Alice, Alix and I started our journey to Emirates stadium by shoving ourselves onto the always packed Piccadilly line and taking the tube to the appropriately named "Arsenal" stop. Once outside it was easy to make our way to the stadium just by following the large crowd of excited football fans. There was so much energy and excitement as people bought red and white gear and climbed the steps to enter the stadium. As for us it was up, up, up the stairs as far as you can go and then a little further and we found our seats. For as many steps as we had gone up the view was surprisingly good, you could even make our the players faces if you really tried.

 This was my first football match in the UK and I was interested to see that the fans here are more active in their dislike of the opposing team than I had encountered in the States. When Wigan was announced and the players came onto the field they were met with the collective booing of an entire stadium of people and when Arsenal came out that booing was traded for cheers and celebration, people screaming, clapping and waving scarves. As the match began more chants and cheers went through the crowd and with every shot on goal that Arsenal made, Wigan didn't make very many, you could hear a single intake of breath from the crowd followed by a sigh of defeat when it missed and wild cheers and applause both times that Arsenal scored. As would be expected all the players fought hard for possession of the ball, some going far enough to earn themselves a yellow card. About halfway through the match one of the Wigan players was injured and had to be carried off the field and a replacement sent in but luckily that was the only injury that couldn't be walked off. The snow began to fall harder and you could see that the players were cold, moving around a little extra to stay loose and warm. But they played on and the crowd cheered even more. There were some great saves by the Arsenal goalie and when time ran out and four more minutes were added it seemed sure that Wigan didn't have a chance at making a goal and in the end thats how it turned out with the final score being Arsenal 2, Wigan 0. We moved along with the crowd and exited the stadium, still listening to the chants some fans were singing. 


Kate Hilliard
UCSC