The moment I fell in love with football
We all remember it, don’t we? That split second in time when watching a match and something just clicks inside you, I thought I’d give a recollection of the moment I started my longest standing love affair with football.
I don’t know if I’m the only one who can remember the exact point they became a football fan, I don’t mean a die hard who knows every single stat about their current squad and all previous squads as well.
I mean the moment as a kid when you choose your team, either off your own back or due to influences from your family, the moment you decide what football shirt you want at Christmas with your favourite players name and number at the time on the back, cor, nostalgia! I don’t think i got a printed name on the back of my shirt until Arsenal signed Reyes, in which all the letters fell off within about 6 months.
To really give a summation of my entire life at this point, I must have been about 5 or 6, the youngest of 4 brothers, all Tottenham fans and obviously they were pining for me to become a fellow Spurs fan and if I remember rightly, I was open to the idea of becoming a Tottenham fan and guess I was kind of indoctrinated into being one alongside my brothers. I can’t exactly remember the date exactly but I’m guessing it was at the start of the season of the 1999/2000 campaign, Arsenal were in a Dreamcast kit with a red and blue collar and a blue pinstripe running down both arms.
I remember just standing right up close to watch the telly like kids normally do and I saw one of the most poignant memories in my life, I saw a young Thierry Henry pull of a wonderfully crafted Cruyff turn against Southampton (i think) and absolutely skin their left-back and it was kind of love at first sight, I remember my jaw just dropping and being stunned at how good Thierry was, his turn of pace, his touch and his raw power, which was the beginning of my long standing infatuation with Arsenal FC, a turbulent relationship, but that’s for another article. I didn’t want to go too in depth about my entire footballing upbringing to that point, it’s an incredibly long standing rivalry between me & my siblings due to supporting local rivals.
I do enjoy the ability to whip out the “At least Arsenal got Champions League” card at any given point, it’s like football top trumps.
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