It All Worked Out
In 2017, I made my very first trip to London to visit family.
Before this trip, I never had a real interest in soccer. I would follow the World Cup like any casual fan and would check in on the team my family always rooted for in Italy, Internazionale Milano, but I was never truly gripped by one team in particular.
My cousin lived right by the Emeriates, and on a whim, I decided to take a tour. It was a couple weeks before what would be Arsene Wegner’s final season. We walked through the locker room, the press room, the archives, and eventually onto the pitch. You look up to the stands and see the banners of countless supporters groups across the world that are a part of the Arsenal. It was stunning to look at then, and stunning to look back on now.
Right then and there, I was smittened.
Years after that trip, following the team through a low period in their history, I was entering into my master’s program at Northwestern University. The initial idea of this project was starting to form, but I needed to find a fanbase to conduct my research with. I thought about soccer clubs of varying sizes to do a comparison with, but I always kept coming back to Arsenal. I reached out to Arsenal America, the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association, and other major organizing bodies in the red and white community. Every one welcomed me with open arms and offered support that extended far beyond my time at Northwestern.
Simply put, Heart of a Fan as a project would not exist without the support of Arsenal fans.
Which is why this journal is particularly special to me. This is the largest journal I’ve done yet, not just in entries, but in the amount of countries that people contributed from.
It can be easy as an “american sports fan” to think our countries have the biggest fanbases in the world, but seeing the celebrations from all of those chapters I mentioned before shows how massive a community of fans can be.
These are the stories from those members of the Arsenal about what their community has meant to them, what we can learn from them to build deeper fan communities in our own lives, and unbottling 22 years of pent up jubilation: