Across the Pond: A faraway fan

By Jason Patrick

World Cup 1998 is where it all began. My dad, a huge World Cup and football fan himself, introduced me to the game. He was a big supporter of the Brazilian national team that featured the likes of Ronaldo and Cafu, and my mum supported Brazil with my dad too. I could have chosen to be on my family's side of supporting Brazil but instead I remained quiet and watched France play instead... 

Since this World Cup was in France, they were clearly the team to watch. And the mesmerizing performances by the deadly duo of Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit was something no human being in the world would want to miss, whether they were a football lover or not.

And that World Cup led me straight to the glory days at Highbury – Henry's success and ‘Arsène's Arsenal’ as they used to call it.

I followed most of the games, but I was afraid that would change when I first moved to boarding school in Tamil Nadu. Because of the school’s strict military rules and implementation, I thought I would miss out. But my mates and I used to stay up late wait for the dorm warden to sleep and used to enjoy the late night Champions League matches on the old television set in the common room. We kept the volume on mute so that nobody in our dorm would be disturbed at 2 o’clock in the morning -- especially not our warden! We did get caught a couple of times, but to see Arsenal play so well throughout the 2005/06 Champions League... I can tell you that it was well worth the punishment.

My mates at school were so much more into the game than my friends back home because we played football every single day. I got into the school team, and I although didn’t start very often, being a part of a football team and having a team like Arsenal as your inspiration is perfect! We all looked up to the Premier League superstars as our heroes and role models.

But when I first moved to New York, I found supporting Arsenal in the USA was more difficult. Adjusting from my life in India to my life here in the USA was one thing, but then to find out that my first love – football – was called soccer in this new land… It was like this: Imagine that you have a wife called ‘Colleen’ and you move with her to another country. But in that country her name is not used for some reason so they call her ‘Bertha’ instead. Make sense now?

But despite the difficulties, football was my life and I swore that I would still follow it in the USA. Even if everybody laughed at me saying, "Sorry son. Only NFL and NASCAR are followed here. Not soccer!" Being a former athlete, I obviously respect all sports, but like they say "you can take a lion out of the jungle but you can never take the jungle out of the lion."

I began following Arsenal the first week I landed in New York. I subscribed to Fox Soccer Channel and started a new routine of waking up an hour before an Arsenal game. Be it 7 or 8 in the morning, I wanted to see my club win! The beauty and complexity of Emirates Stadium before kickoff would make me bite my lips and twitch my toes as the adrenaline pumped straight to my head. And when Arsenal would score my entire apartment would know about it!

I made a few friends here in the USA who are Arsenal supporters. Some have been fans longer than others, but we all make sure we watch the games as one big Arsenal family.

I see Arsenal as a unique club. Our values and principles bypass Manchester United and Liverpool. Our supporters are smart and intelligent with their thoughts about the Club. Nothing at Arsenal is superficial. When fans support this club, they support it because they love the club and its football, not because of trophies and the kind of commercial factors that allow other clubs to gain a lot of popularity.

Last season Arsenal learned a lot from their mistakes, and losses to teams such as Blackburn and Wigan rubbed salt into the wounds. And yet we secured third in the table which ensured us straight entry to the group stages in the Champions League! Thank Heavens Spurs did not over take us! In the end that's what matters.

I feel this season we have a chance and I strongly believe we can win our 14th League title. I don't care about the Carling Cup, Champions League or even FA Cup because ever since Arsenal won their 13th league title back in 2004 we have been having nothing but bad luck. We came so close to winning the Champions League and the Carling Cup in 2006 and 2007 – 13 is clearly an unlucky number and we need to break the jinx!

Come on you Gunners, this season can be ours! We took time to build this squad and good things come for those who wait...

I can almost picture the gold-crested English Premier League logo on the Arsenal kit next season and the trophy in the 2011/12 Arsenal squad photo.

Gunner till I die!!


Although he grew up in India, Jason Patrick has European football in his blood – courtesy of his English father and Portuguese mother. His was finally able to see Arsenal in person at this summer’s Emirates Cup against Celtic. He can’t wait to return to London for another match and to make sure he gets his name inscribed at Armoury Square before it’s too late!

[Thursday, October 28, 2010]

• Match Schedule
• Listen LIVE!

• 
• 
• 

• Malaysia XI v Arsenal

• Pre-season Friendly, Bukit Jalil Stadium

• Tuesday, July 24, 2012 4:45 PM (ET)

• Watch on: