Alone with the Emirati

Being a Gillingham fan isn’t glamorous. We don’t play beautiful, flowing, intricate football. Nor do we play football in an arena fit for gladiators, surrounded by stands that rise up to the God’s in homage to the heroes what ply their trade on that stretch of finally manicured turf. Which is why, when the chance comes along to see a different side to the game, I try and take it when I can.

On Monday, I paid my second visit to the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal as they met Newcastle United in the Premier League, live on Sky. Arsenal have been in great form of late, chasing down third place Tottenham Hotspur, their fierce local rivals in battle for the automatic entry into the prestigious Champions league.

My friend Will is a season ticket holder at the Emirates and due to work commitments was unable to attend the game. My email response to his invite was “I’ll go, but if nobody more deserving wants to”. As it was, there were no other, so it was I who made a lonely pilgrimage to North London from the office to take Will’s place watching the team he loves.

Now I must confess, I’m not much of an Arsenal fan. In fact if I was to write a list of my top 92 football clubs, Arsenal would be flirting with relegation to the Blue Square Premier - but it’s not everyday you get the chance to watch top flight football in such spectacular surroundings and the Emirates Stadium truly is that - if nothing else.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience, but watching football, for me is a team game. You go to a ground with a couple of mates, maybe have a beer, maybe not. But those you go with have a shared interest - the team you are going to watch. I’ve been to several Gills games on my own and have enjoyed them hugely, but I didn’t quite have the same experience watching Arsenal. When Newcastle scored I wanted to jump up and go wild, but I had to make do with a quiet “whoop” which I shouted at the top of the voice inside my head. Not that I had much time to revel in my own private joy as Arsenal equalised just moments later!

The game itself was enjoyable, Arsenal deserved to win the game with Newcastle happy to escape with a draw. It was a pleasure watching Robin Van Persie continue his rich vein of form and Theo Walcott running full pelt down the wing, even if he is a little bit one dimensional. I was also impressed by a couple of Newcastle players. Ben Arfa looked a real player and he will go onto much bigger and better things, whilst Cheick Tiote is another to keep an eye on.

Unfortunately I missed all the excitement at the end with Arsenal scoring a 95th minute winner! I was meeting Reaso, my Gillingham supporting season ticket buddy who ironically was also at the game. We had decided before hand to leave before the rush, which many people around me had also decided to do. In fact, there were people leaving long before me which I’m sure felt more aggrieved when Vermaelen scored the winner than I did.

My biggest complaint, and I mentioned it before after my first visit - was the real lack of atmosphere. I don’t know why, but I have this constant dream of sitting at a football match and having the hairs stand up on the back of my neck in awe at the shear volume of noise coming from the stands. During the game, there were sporadic chants of “Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal” and when Robin Van Persie lined up for free kicks there was an unimaginative ditty about how he scores when he wants, but overall, the majority of the game was played against a fairly quiet backdrop of people mesmerised by the pretty triangles played out around the pitch. I don’t think I’m looking for something that doesn’t exist as I know that it does. I’ve been to Wolves when they’ve chorused out “Hey Ho Wolverhampton” and Stoke when “Delialah” has been sung at full voice and it is a truly staggering, but with twice as many people in the ground on Monday night, the volume levels were really quite poor. Even Newcastle and the famed Toon Army were not in particular fine voice, I was hoping for a stirring rendition of the Blayden Races, but their wasn’t really a high enough number of supporters to get their voices heard, even if they certainly did when they scored! But having said all of that, I did leave early and I’m sure that there was an almighty roar when the winner hit the back of the net!

Having a love for football, whoever it is, I could sit and watch a game and enjoy it. But I’ve learnt that it is far better inside a stadium then watching on television. I’ve learnt that it’s also better with friends, but sitting alone amidst the Emirati regulars, I realised you don’t need big, plush leather seats and synthetic pitches. You don’t need Jumbotron television screens and a PA system that blasts out Elvis and the Wonder of You at volumes that makes you wish you really were deaf. You don’t even need mulit-million pound players or foreign mercenaries. You don’t need history, or statues of the greats outside your ground. You just need to feel a sense of belonging, a place to call home - even if it is a shit ground with no fans.

For the record

Arsenal
Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, Rosicky (Ramsey - 76' ), Arteta, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Gervinho - 68' ), Song, Van Persie,
Substitutes:
Fabianski, Santos, Djourou, Ramsey, Benayoun, Gervinho, Chamakh,

Newcastle United
Krul, Coloccini, Santon (Perch - 46' ), Simpson, Williamson, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez, Tiote (Guthrie - 81' ), Obertan (Sh Ameobi - 61' ), Ba
Substitutes:
Elliot, Perch, Guthrie, Gosling, Vuckic, Cisse, Sh Ameobi

Attendance: 60,095