Singapore Fan Gets Free Look Round Highbury

Today of course there is nothing strange in seeing visitors from South East Asia at the Arsenal; it's a massive market football clubs are looking to bleed dry in the same way they have bled the fans on their own doorstep.

This letter comes from Gunners Magazine Volume 1, Number 12 which dates it at the begininng of 1995/1996 season.

It's a sign of the times of course but no shop staff would allow any fan to have a peek round the ground these days. Nope, pay your money like the rest of us!

I wonder if the writer, Lau Kok Gim from Singapore, is still a fan?

The magazine, by the way, boasted 52 pages and cost 2 GBP, unlike today when it costs 3.50 GBP and has 100 pages.

Oh Rocky Rocky, Rocastle

I missed Rocastle's Arsenal debut. I had gone inter railing round Europe as one did in them days but I saw most of his games that season. And the next. And the title winning season. And his last game for the Arsenal.

Don Howe was the manager who gave Rocastle his debut and in the following programme against Aston Villa he said 'I was very pleased with David Rocastle's first team debut last Saturday. David gives 100%, has lots of skill and he's a good tackler.'

Americans like to say they remember where they were when JFK was shot. I remember where I was when I heard Rocky had been sold to Leeds United. I was in England and had a job driving a seven and a half ton truck which got a flat tyre outside the Clock End!

I got talking to a security guy there, top fella, who helped me get it fixed and of course inbetween him turning nuts and bolts I pummelled him with questions. I asked if any players were leaving. 'Rocastle' he said. I was gutted and stopped helping him. Why? Why were we letting one of our best players leave?

I was at Elland Road a couple of years later and we gave him a massive reception. He then moved to Manchester City and we again travelled in numbers to support an average team and Rocastle got another impressive reception from us.

None of this stuff like Robin Van Persie etc get today. We felt Rocky never wanted to leave.

Rocky was one of us but he had gone. Left the Arsenal.

Unfortunately I never got to see him when he was playing in Malaysia and I have now forgotten when it was I heard he had died.

Players die all the time. From my era the likes of Paul Vaeseen and Tommy Caton have moved on but with no disrespect to those two Rocky is still remembered. Against Reading recently the 12th anniversary of his passing was marked by the loudest cheers of the day.

None of the current crop will be remembered in such a way as Rocastle. He left the Arsenal 20 years ago, many of our current support will never have seen him play. I did and I felt a shiver down my spine as the Rocky Rocastle chants echoed round the bowl with that simple image, the thumbs up, on the large video screens.

My 3 year old son has a Rocastle t shirt and he wears it proudly. Often it is his first choice to wear. Rocky was my era. He was there when George Graham turned an average team into a great team and he was a huge part of that metamorphosis. It was clear he loved the Arsenal and in return we loved him. He seemed genuine, unaffected. He had come through the ranks and during 1991/92 when we played some explosive stuff he was at the heart of it with fellow South London boys Michael Thomas and Ian Wright.

Some Familiar Names

If a football programme could be described as epoch making it is surely this one. The issue for the first game of the 1983/84 season against Luton Town perhaps marked Arsenal's arrival as a club with an eye on the bottom line for one.

It was our first real decent programme and the season marked the first time we changed the front cover picture every game. There was a new editor in place and a whole range of new features prompting Miller and Lerman in their excellent book Arsenal FC The First XI Official Programme Guide 1946 - 1993 to describe it as 'an instant hit with the fans'.

There had been nothing wrong with the more traditional approach but the previous seasons had certainly seen the quality of the programme fall behind clubs like Leicester City and Aston Villa whose colour packed issues were well received by fans and collectors alike.

Some familiar names get name checks in the programme. Jerome Anderson was introduced as resident disc jockey; he went on to become a high profile agent and his involvement with Blackburn Rovers is well documented. He got his break spinning tunes at Highbury!

On the reserves and youth page there is a picture of Terry Burton while the final paragraph says 'Youth players to watch are imposing centre half pair Martin Keown and Tony Adams'...prophetic words indeed. Adams was to make his debut later that season at home to Sunderland and had a reasonable career I think!

A very young looking Paul Johnson gets mentioned on the Fanfare looking forward to a busy season with the Travel Club which he ran so efficiently. Today he arranges the travel stuff of the first team, not the fans and also has the subs stretching after games. I was jealous of him then when I travelled to away games and I am jealous of him now!

The Junior Gunners was entering its first season and the mascot was a seven year old lad named Daniel Quy and it looks like he is still involved with the club on the travel side! Eee, last time I saw him lad, he were wearing short trousers etc!

Then there is the front cover of Tony Woodcock. Wearing a red shirt with blue sleeves. Were we worried? Remember, this came the season after our away shirt was green with blue sleeves! So, were we worried this was to be our new shirt? Damned right we were. At least until we read it was a one off for the Boys Brigade Jubilee against Aberdeen. Boys Brigade eh?

My Home Debut

This was the first time I made my way to the Marble Halls. I went with my old man who I am sure did not enjoy the experience one little bit and from my point of view I can't remember too much either!

I know we stood on the North Bank. I know West Ham wore white and I saw Clyde Best play keepy upy. And the highlights were shown the next day on The Big Match.. And the game ended 0-0.

Beyond that I remember zilch.

The win at West Bromwich Albion last Saturday marked my 39th anniversary...

Indonesian Arsenal Fans Look Forward To Visit

The Arsenal Indonesian Supporters Club celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year in the best way imaginable. They will welcome Arsenal as they come to the country for the first time since 1983 when they played games in Medan, Jakarta and Surabaya.

This year Arsenal will play just the one friendly as part of an Asian jaunt that is also reported to take in Japan and Vietnam so there time in country will be limited and strictly controlled; fans hoping to bump into players like Theo Walcott and Per Mertesacker in Plasa Senayan are likely to be disappointed.

But that is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the passionate Arsenal fans desperate for a chance to see their heroes in the flesh.

Rawindraditya is the head of the Indonesian Supporters Club and like the other fans he is excited about July’s visit. As we sat in a bar in CITOS he proudly boasted of the Supporters Club, their numbers and their achievements.

‘We had about 200 go to Malaysia in 2011,’ he said, ‘for Arsenal’s first friendly there. We had the largest banner and there were many more fans that travelled over from Indonesia.’

That number of 200 was just those that travelled on the official tour. Many, many more made their own way, not just from Jakarta but Bandung, Semarang, Medan, Pekanbaru and other points of the Indonesian compass.

The support that night from the Indonesian Arsenal fans was perhaps the first indication the country was an untapped gold mine. In recent years Manchester United and Everton have pulled out of high profile friendlies in the country, the first because of a bombing directed at the team’s hotel, but while the likes of LA Galaxy, Bayern Munchen and Inter have visited no English club has bothered.

This July potentially sees three with Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea looking at games in Jakarta.

Out of a national membership of 6,000 Rawaindraditya anticipates about 1,500 will come to Jakarta for the weekend from around the country, staying in a hall specially booked for the visit and the club leader has been racking his brain as to how to keep the visitors busy during their short stay in the capital.

‘We are waiting for details from Arsenal what events they will hold,’ he explains. Typically the club would have a meet and greet session where fans could line up for an opportunity to have their photograph taken with a player and perhaps have their replica shirt autographed while a training session open to the public is also a common event but nothing has been confirmed by the club.

In the vacuum Rawindraditya is thinking about hiring 30 buses to take the supporters on a city tour round Jakarta! The normal options, a futsal competition for example, would be difficult to organize as Arsenal’s visit coincides with the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Given the holy month the supporters club are also asking members to bring books which will then be distributed to local orphanages.

It’s not just Indonesians looking forward to the game. Rawindraditya has been in contact with supporters from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Australia who are looking forward to enjoying the spectacle of a near full house at the cavernous Bung Karno Stadium.

After me asking several questions Rawindraditya decided to turn the tables and ask me one. He leaned forward, eyes burning, ‘why is our membership increasing? We have eight years without a trophy yet still more people want to join. We have problems keeping up with membership packs, so many want to join us.’

It’s obvious he is strung by criticisms from football fans in England who blame Asian fans for the direction the game is taken. They are, it is perceived, the ones who willingly pay the prices for replica shirts and other merchandise and are happy to pay the high ticket prices the club demands and receive.

‘If we are glory hunters why don’t we stop supporting Arsenal and all support MU (the Indonesian way of saying Manchester United)? Why do our numbers go up every year?’

‘We have more members than Liverpool and Chelsea. Only MU have more than us.’ He laughed when I asked about Manchester City. ‘Forget them’.

Answering his own question he feels people are attracted to the Arsenal by the football philosophy of Arsene Wenger. They are happy to see the beautiful football even if the team doesn’t win. Something that is certainly at odds with an older generation of fan who recall the success of the George Graham years built on a solid defence. He, like many others, doesn’t understand the debate among Arsenal fans in England whether Wenger should stay or go. ‘Look what he’s done’ is his reply to that.

Indonesia is a long way from London N5 and it is fair to say despite the dreams the vast majority of the Supporters Club will never get to see a game in England. For them the Arsenal coming to Indonesia is a dream come true, a tale they will never tire of repeating to their mates and family for years to come. For them an Arsenal without Wenger is unthinkable. They are just looking forward to a memorable visit.

SOURCE - an edited version of this appeared in Jakarta Globe 22/3/13

Steaming In

I always used to read the letters page in the programme back in my day. Not because there was anything interesting in them, there usually wasn't, but because you soon got to recognise the names of frequent contributers and one day when I have a whole day free I will track down the thoughts of Max Kester, an absolute legend who kept his local post office busy for many a year.

For now though I will use a letter from a gentleman named Colin Ward. No idea who he was, never knowingly met or saw him though undoubtedly we were at the same games for several years.

Thug lit is quite the thing these days with one time hooligans hanging up their sneakers and tapping out their life story with tales of 'never run, never done' monotony. Fair play to them, if there is a market there then why not? I'm only jealous I have done nothing in my miserable existance to write about.

Back to Mr Ward. He wrote one of the earliest thug lit books, called Steaming In, which I read many years back. From what I recall he seemed to spend more time writing about Chelsea than the Arsenal which would have been quite appropriate given my limited understanding of that era and culture when we had no firm anyway.

The book came out in 1989 and according to this blurb is to be reissued later this year.

His letter was very well received by the programme editor obviously as can be seen by his reply. I wonder how much this letter influenced him to take up writing full time?!

Arsenal Celebrate Contract Extensions

There was cause for much merriment, so the club had us believe at least, last December when it was announced Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshire, Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Ramsey were reported to have signed extended contracts to keep them at the Arsenal for the foreseeable future.

Given that players like Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas had moved on as well others whose contracts had been inexplicably allowed to run down this multi extension signing was supposed to show the future of the club was in good hands.

Add Theo Walcott into the mix and there was a core of six British players who, it is hoped, would be at the heart of the Arsenal for years to come.

For a saddo like me the date of the announcement was interesting. OK young men signing a bit of paper before Christmas is unlikely to have me racing to the advent calender in glee at my age but the announcement on 19 December mirrored a similar event back in 1987. Which was announced in the programme for the Everton game of that season on the same date.

George Graham was manager back then and he was proper chuffed 'absolutely delighted' in fact to announce a similar contract signing bonanza.

To put in context memories are long among football fans and we at the Arsenal are no different. We still recalled how Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton were allowed to leave years earlier and were never adequately replaced.

Italian football then was the place to be. It was the biggest and most glamourous league in the world with the most cash and players like Brady, Trevor Francis, Mark Hateley and Ian Rush were among those tempted by the bucket fulls of lira on offer.

Hence the thrill when Tony Adams, David Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Paul Merson and Perry Groves signed new, improved contracts while Paul Davis signed an extension.

And it's fair to say that lot turned out alright in the main. I say in the main. You could argue Rocastle and Thomas were sold when they still had much to offer but certainly Adams went on for another 15 years while Merson had the best part of a decade before moving on and Davis, after a shaky start in the first team developed into a very tidy player indeed who should have won caps for England and would have if he hadn't decked Glenn Cockerill a year later.

Of half dozen who signed contracts recently it remains to be seen who of them goes on to have an Adams type impact on the club. It could be argued the likes of Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain have regressed this season through being played out of position or not getting enough games. And Theo Walcott surely has to be on Crimestoppers some time soon as a missing person; he has done nothing since signing.

Only time will tell if the current crop of young, promising types have the same impact as the earlier vintage.