Matheus Vianna from Arsenal Brasil blogs on the Chelsea game, organising a supporters club in such a vast country and why it’s good to talk… about the Gunners
"Every year on the weekend of the first game of the season we organise a national meeting in Sao Paulo"
Our supporters club has grown immensely in the last year or so. We were already the first English supporters club in Latin America and we believe we are still far ahead of many others. We managed to also form smaller, decentralised groups in several Brazilian cities, Arsenal America style, to engage a bigger fanbase into meeting for games.
We have more than 10,000 followers on Twitter and just over 8,000 on Facebook. It's not a whole lot comparing to a few other clubs but our fanbase is very active and almost every post or tweet is widely debated. We have a very engaged group and we think that's way more important than a hoard of fans that couldn't care less about the club they claim to support.
Every year on the weekend of the first game of the season we organise a national meeting in Sao Paulo with a football tournament on one day and watching the Arsenal match on the other. Puma gave us a hand last time around and that really gave it extra flair. When we get together for the big games we adapt some famous Brazilian chants - such as one about Sanogo being better then Eto'o - but in general we just sing the same ones that are sung by the supporters at the games.
To meet for certain games, such as the Chelsea one, is a given. We will pack our pub in Sao Paulo and will also meet in Rio, Brasilia and wherever else we have willing volunteers to organise the whole event. Brazil is huge and decentralising is the best way to make sure people can get together for games. It's hard to tell how many we will gather nationwide, I’d guess about 400 people.
Sadly it seems the Premier League is beyond us now and this London derby has much more of a symbolic than a practical importance for us. Of course we want to secure second place but beating Chelsea would mean much more than that. It would mean that next season we'll be fighting for the top from the get-go. Seeing how badly Chelsea have played recently makes me wonder how would they cope under pressure. Beating them is just another step in the right direction.
Arsenal Brasil contact details
Facebook - ArsenalBrasil
Twitter - @Arsenal_Brasil
Website - www.arsenalbrasil.com.br
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