If you've read previous blog posts you know how and why the love affair with football came about; and if you were one of the few who read carefully enough to figure out I had said nothing about why I picked Arsenal over all the others, this one's for you!
So well, football happened. And I could give you a great story about how I went all crazy, watched reruns of football games day in and day out, read about the clubs and their achievements, compared players' records, and came to a logical conclusion that Arsenal was the best team to support. But I will spare you all that ball talk; I mean why talk when you can play with it, no?! ;)
Truth of the matter is that I did none of the above. In fact, even after I declared undying support for Arsenal (yes...undying...because contrary to what one might expect from a non-serious fan...I never even considered the option of changing the club I support); I didn't know who the players were or what their achievements were. All I knew was the 8-year spell of no titles.
Two main reasons I ended up supporting Arsenal. One being the sly comment about no Arsenal fan tweeting about winning a trophy and the other being the fact that some of my best guy friends were Arsenal supporters!
Both so random, that they could have almost not even happened! And my life would have been very very different! I could have very easily not been around to hear that comment. I could very well have been absent the day my b-school friends won a bet against Arsenal fans. My best guy friends could have been Chelsea or Manchester City or Manchester United supporters; and maybe I would have ended up disinterested in football or a supporter of some other club. Becoming a Goonerette was more a matter of chance than anything else!
And I was quite happy taking it. Never gave it too much thought. Until life gave me a dose of poetic justice! And proved to me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond doubt that The Universe does have a plan...always. And it ensures that it brings you to the right decision at the right time!
Was 4th of October 2013. Like any other day, my friend and I went for a walk after lunch. But unlike other days, today he decided to stop by and ask the price of an Arsenal jersey. And at that very instant I decided I wanted one! We did ask in a couple of shops, found a not-so-same looking jersey with Walcott on its back. Having had seen just 2-3 games and having known just Ramsey, Giroud, and Ozil; I wasn't too enthused about the Walcott jersey (things have changed now though). Never ended up buying that, but couldn't stay without buying a perfect replica of the original home jersey of the latest season (no away jersey because I'm not a big fan of Yellow and no original because my relationship with Arsenal was too new). One phone call to my sweetheart of a brother was all it took for the jersey to be waiting for me when I got home from office that day!
Now trust me...wearing the jersey for the first time is an EPICALLY MOMENTOUS occasion! To you for sure, and in varying degrees to others depending on the number of f***ks they give to you and your love for football (this is usually negligible).
So well, bad-hair notwithstanding, jersey was bought, picture duly taken and shared, and it was some happy gloating in the attention! Big shout out to Rishi, Nishanth, Hector, Naasir, Sheldon, Melroy, and Karishma! :)
But this was not it. My moment of truth came three days later.
7th October 2013, my Ajoba's birthday, and just a day after I watched Rahul Dravid play his last ever cricket match (was against Mumbai Indians and they won).
It was one of those moments that matter a lot because they define the end of something hugely important. Rahul Dravid has been everything right from my first innocent crush in standard seven to my reason for watching cricket, to my inspiration forever considering the human being par excellence that he is. And his last game got me in the emo/philosophical mode; owing to which I put up this Facebook status:
One of the response comments to that status was this:
That was it! The ecstasy I felt just CANNOT be put into words! My friend thought I had lost my mind. Even I think I really had, for the next 10 minutes. To find out that my most favourite sportsperson ever was a Gooner for reasons vaguely similar to my own, on a day when I was all emo about his last cricket match, which also happened to be the first day I wore my Arsenal jersey was just too WOW! And it was in that moment that I knew; no matter what, I'll be a Goonerette forever!
Even if I am not able to actively follow the season, even if I have lost interest in football, even if my favourite players move to other clubs (hopefully they won't), even if Arsenal sees tough times, I don't think I'll ever support another club!
Well, quite a memorable day that was! My friend and I went to KFC for a brownie sundae that day; him in Arsenal's original away jersey and me in my brand new not-so-original home jersey! And we both spilled chocolate on our jerseys. So the people at KFC must've got something to talk about! Two crazy people in animated conversation, both wearing Arsenal jerseys, both eating brownie and ice-cream, and both wiping chocolate stains off their jerseys while walking away!
Here's to Senior Gooner and Junior Goonerette!
Adios...till I return with the must-have friend types for a newbie football fan-girl, insights on the species called Manchester United fans, and reasons why newbies are best equipped to deal with team losses! :)
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