Tag: Arsenal

Arsenal Fans on the Road to League Title

Planning for this five-week adventure paid no heed to the English Premier League nor the Champions League schedules, both of which concluded while we have been out of the country. However, Marilynn graciously indulged my Arsenal passion as they lifted the PL trophy and came ever-so-close to winning the Champions League, comprised of the best football teams in Europe.

Arsenal 1, Burnley 0 (River Bar, Dublin)

Arsenal played the day we arrived, taking on already-relegated Burnley. If Arsenal won its last two games, it would top the league, simple as that. If the second-place team, Manchester City, faltered in any way, the title could be wrapped up sooner.

After we settled into our hotel, had a quick nap and ate in the hotel restaurant, Marilynn and I donned our Arsenal jerseys and braved the rain to walk to the River Bar, the official Gooner pub in Dublin. Don’t ask me what the bar is like, because I have no idea. I spotted an Arsenal fan taking a smoke break outside, pointed to my jersey and made the universal shrug that means “where’s the match?” He pointed downstairs, an area just inside the front door.

We quickly made our way downstairs to see about 150 Arsenal fans in an expansive basement area with two large televisions and several smaller ones showing the match. Even though we arrived before game time, every seat was already taken, with fans chanting and ready for a good time.

We erupted into deafening cheers when Kai Havertz headed home the winner from a Bukayo Saka corner late in the first half.

Given our degree of jet lag, we walked home during the half, and I watched the second half from the hotel. I’m sure the crowd groaned when Havertz received a yellow card for a high boot challenge on a Burnley player, an offense the replay official watched endlessly before determining that was sufficient punishment. A red car would have meant the team would have to play the remainder of the match without Havertz.

Bournemouth 1, Man City 1 (The Old Stand, Dublin)

Arsenal fans celebrate at The Old Stand

The following evening, Manchester City took on Bournemouth, a mid-table team vying to play European football next season (in other words, no pushover). The study abroad group was enjoying the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl. I was, too, but I’ll admit to wearing my Arsenal jersey for a second day and checking my phone every five minutes. A Man City tie or loss would mean that Arsenal had won the title.

I cheered quietly when Bournemouth scored, then held my breath as the game ticked into second-half stoppage time. Man City tied the match during extra time, which ratcheted up my emotions. My phone indicated time left when I stepped into The Old Stand, which has been open in the same location for 350 years. Cheers erupted — not for me entering the pub, but from a group of Arsenal fans who were in the pub. The pub was airing another football match, but coverage was interrupted to show fans outside the Arsenal stadium in London cheering wildly, as Man City’s tie meant that Arsenal had won the Premier League!

An Púcán in Galway features a huge outdoor viewing area.

Crystal Palace 1, Arsenal 2 (An Púcán, Galway)

By the final day of the Premier League season, Marilynn and I had relocated to Galway, where she would spend a week in the University of Galway library doing research. We checked into our accommodation, student housing (i.e., a really, really tiny dorm room designed for one), and made a beeline for the city center, where we watched the match at An Púcán, a local sports bar with a huge outdoor patio where the match was being shown.

Although Arsenal had already won the league, the final day is a chance to see the team lift the trophy and generally celebrate. And since it’d been 22 years between titles, there was a lot to celebrate.

Unfortunately, there were no tables available on the patio, but we did manage to snag a two-top inside thanks to Steve, the guy who had reserved the table starting at 6 p.m. No one was sitting there because of the reserved sign, but the match would be over by the time Steve needed his table. Sweet!

The mussels we shared were superb, and the mains we had later were equally fine. The only disappointment was the men’s toilets, which I described in my Google review as “wild animals fornicating in a dung heap on top of a landfill.” I used the disabled toilet or the patio toilets from that point on. I should also note that the pub responded promptly to my review, and the second time we visited during our trip (the food was that good), the men’s room was MUCH improved — so thanks, guys.

We moved to the outdoor area for the trophy lift. Someone had been to the London Arsenal store and bought champions jerseys that several friends were wearing. It took seemingly forever before the ceremony, all the better to cheer and chat with fellow fans. I somehow got in the middle of the celebrations, which weren’t quite to my comfort level, but a terrific time was had by all.

Subdued crowd at the Irish Arms, but at least the food was good!

Champions League Final: PSG 1, Arsenal 1 (4–3 penalties)

The following Saturday found us in Lisdoonvarna, in the west of Ireland. We were spending the weekend with friends from Atlanta who happened to overlap with us. Marilynn and I took a bus from Galway to Lisdoonvarna, settling into our accommodation at the Rathbaun Hotel just before lunch.

I was looking for someplace to watch the match, but the options appeared limited. Yes, it was slightly before peak tourism season, but Lisdoonvarna seemed like a town that progress forgot. Many rooming houses were closed or didn’t serve people not staying there.

Locally processed cold salmon was especially tasty.

Fortunately, we had a great lunch at the Irish Arms, a short walk from our hotel. The cold, locally smoked salmon I had was delicious, and Marilynn liked her soup. I was wearing my jersey, of course, and the barman offered to reserve us a table for the match a few hours later.

Not surprisingly, the crowd was small — us and three ladies vacationing from London at another table and a handful of local blokes who huddled around the bar to watch the match. We did our best to urge the team on, but a second-half penalty and many missed chances led to extra time and then a penalty shoot-out that Arsenal lost. It was a disappointing end to the Champions League campaign, but a successful season overall.

‘Brilliant’ Afternoon at Emirates Stadium

Declan in the club level lounge.
Header goes past the goalkeeper to tie the score in the second half.
Final score.
Not all fans are happy with coach Arsene Wenger, who hasn’t brought home a major trophy in 12 years.

How do you describe a perfect afternoon? “Brilliant,” was all Declan said when asked to describe our experience Sunday at the Emirates Stadium watching The Arsenal take on Manchester City. Billed as one of the top matches of the year, Manchester City continues to play good football, while our beloved Arsenal has stumbled of late, dropping four of their last five matches and dropping out of the top four in the English Premier League.

We got there nearly two hours before kickoff, to take in the atmosphere both inside and outside the stadium. The stadium is in a residential neighborhood you walk through from the Arsenal tube stop. Vendors of all sorts lined the street selling merchandise, sweets and street food such as hot dogs, hamburgers and BBQ. It looked tasty, although we’d already eaten. Declan bought a scarf commemorating the match that was half blue and half red.

Friends in the right places

We had club level tickets, thanks to my Arsenal friend Jan, who I met in San Antonio in the fall. She was with a group of UK and Irish people on a week-long tour of Texas. We kept in touch, and she offered us her tickets for this match because she was spending the Easter holiday in the States.

That’s the beauty of football. Even with people who support teams other than ours, a team jersey can create a common bond and spark a lively discussion. The cabbie who brought us home last night was a Liverpool man and repeatedly tried to get Declan to convert during the trip. There’s no chance of that, however.

Our tickets were fantastic, just beyond one of the goals. The grass glowed in the afternoon sunshine, razor sharp criss-crosses where the grass was mowed in different directions. We watched officials check the goal line technology of the balls before retreating to the club lounge to watch TV and watch the fans make their way toward the stadium.

We returned for warmups, with Arsenal right below us and Man City in the distance. The practiced fans know when to show up, because half empty turned into nearly full during the last 10 minutes before kickoff.

Header past the goalkeeper

Although the Gunners fell behind a goal early, they clawed an equalizer as halftime neared, only to concede a second goal right before the interval. Fortunately, the home team scored the tying goal in the 53rd minute, a smart header by Mustafi that snuck past the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper. That moment, and the ensuing celebration, was Declan’s favorite part of the match, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The entire match was intense, with the head official waving five yellow cards (and he could have waved more). In person, you can much better see the flow of the game as momentum shifts from one side to another. From our vantage point at one end, you could see plays develop much better than you can see on TV, the ball quickly moving from player to player.

Following the match, it was back to the club lounge to watch the crush of fans flow over the bridge back to the tube station and watch pundits discuss the match on TV. Although we waited 30 minutes after the match ended to start home, there remained a decent crowd at the tube station, but we were quickly on our way.

Our thanks again to Jan for the great tickets and to the stewards and club staff who made our visit so enjoyable. It was a perfect afternoon, indeed.

Conferences, Book Launches and Pilgrimages, Oh My

Marilynn left for the states this morning, Kansas City to be precise, for the American Conference for Irish Studies. Which leaves Declan and me on our own until Monday. Heh, heh, heh.

She is a plenary speaker for the conference, which is academic-speak for Really Big Deal. Business folks would be more familiar with the term keynote speaker, and the rest of us would have no clue.

Academic conferences are full of panel discussions and similar papers on a theme because institutions are more likely to reimburse a professor attending the conference if she is giving a paper. That means there are usually several tracks running at the same time, cutting the audience size for each panel. So a plenary is a single-track talk, with an undivided audience in attendance.

Despite being an excellent speaker, Marilynn was nervous about this, which underscores the Really Big Deal aspect. But I know she will knock it out of the park, like she always does.

Book launch events coming up

Marilynn edited an uncompleted but still powerful novel that her playwright Stewart Parker wrote about the amputation of his left leg when he was a 19-year-old student at Queen’s University Belfast. He sketched out the story a few years later, in a style reminiscent of James Joyce (but the readable James Joyce).

Stewart would pull out “Hopdance” during times of personal turmoil, tweaking the dialog, reordering scenes and writing new ones. He returned to it a final time in the months preceding his death from cancer in 1988 but never completed it. Marilynn took his original manuscript, much of it hand-written, typed it up and then went through it with a graduate assistant word-for-word at least twice, standardizing the spelling and punctuation while retaining Stewart’s writing quirks whenever possible.

It’s a labor of love and a great read. I’ve read it twice and look forward to hearing what the critics and the reading public think.

But it also means book launches in Belfast and Derry, either in late April or early May. Details aren’t final, but Marilynn, her agent and publisher hope to attract some high-powered help in launching the book in both cities. Fingers crossed that they succeed, but it’ll be a blast in any event.

Worshipping at the Emirates

So what will the boys be up to while Marilynn’s at her conference? By a happy coincidence, we’ll be in London this weekend, seeing our first competitive English Premier League match, our beloved Arsenal vs. Manchester City (boo hiss!).

Declan became an Arsenal fan in 2013 for reasons he still can’t articulate. But I got dragged into it, too, and became a fan of “real” football. This is one of the top matches of the year, and we were very lucky to score tickets from an Arsenal season ticket holder I met in the strangest of places.

But that’s a story for another day, which will be next week.

About the photo: We toured the “glorious” Emirates Stadium in 2014 while Marilynn was giving a talk in London. The certificates we received after the tour touted the stadium as “glorious,” and it stuck.