Even among fans who didn’t want Arsenal to win the Champions League Final there was unity across club colours, cultural lines and class divides, says Darren Lewis. And he can't wait to see the World Cup do the same
Arsenal fans assemble along Holloway Road before a victory parade
Fans gathering on Holloway Road to cheer on the Arsenal victory parade(Image: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)
View 2 Images
One of my favourite skits on social media shows a bandwagon chaser – clearly clueless about football – heading to Sunday’s Arsenal parade because “they’ve just won a league or something”. It came repeatedly to mind as politicians and celebrities fell over each other to join the stampede to get a piece of the Premier League football club with one of the world’s biggest digital footprints.
The explosion of emotion and sense of community in London, replicated as far away as Africa, America, and all over social media, has been a sight to behold. Because it is true, following Arsenal’s first title win in 22 years, that you are never more than six feet away from a fake Arsenal fan.
There are lots of real ones, of course. Those who held down the fort across the lean years when the club were the butt of jokes before – and even during – the reign of head coach Mikel Arteta. But I make no comment on the actress Anne Hathaway whose Arsenal allegiance I’d been unaware of until they started challenging for the title over the past couple of seasons.
To be fair to Sir Keir Starmer, he has immunity on any charges. The Prime Minister’s Gunners allegiance is well documented. Starmer’s opponents tried to nail him over his corporate hospitality seats at the Emirates Stadium two years ago. Arsenal’s fan TV channel, AFTV, also clinched a Sports Journalism Association award 14 months ago for an interview he’d given them, long before their title win. He’s a real one.
Less so, Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry. With fans of all ages, races and cultures across genders partying in the London streets over the past 72 hours, Emily’s X account posted a photo of the least diverse group of Arsenal supporters you could find. Not only that, the accompanying words read: “Notting Hill Carnival with less cannabis...” Oh Emily! Yours is supposed to be the party that doesn’t stereotype. I’ve been to the Notting Hill Carnival on many occasions and that kind of activity has never been on mine or any of my circle’s agenda. But I digress.
Witnessing the sea of joy must have represented a nightmare for all those critics suggesting London Mayor Sadiq Khan has destroyed the capital. “London has fallen” is a familiar refrain among the extreme right-wingers and critics incapable of coping with the fact the Mayor has brown skin. They’ll clutch their pearls at that charge, yet they seldom have anything with which to rebut the statistical fact that crime is actually falling in London. The murder rate is the lowest in more than a decade.
William Saliba and Declan Rice of Arsenal pose for a photo with the Premier League trophy
William Saliba and Declan Rice of Arsenal pose for a photo with the Premier League trophy
View 2 Images
The carnival-sized crowd enjoying a carnival-sized celebration with, comparatively speaking, minimal disrupters, could not have been further from the hellish landscape of a lawless city that extremists feed, like red meat, to the baying mob on social media. Even among fans who didn’t want Arsenal to win the Champions League Final there was unity across club colours, cultural lines and class divides. That’s not to minimise the trauma of the families impacted by the six stabbings. Arrests have been made and it’s a reminder of the element any large gathering will always attract, regardless of country or location.
The nonsense of football brings us all together like no MP or party can or ever will. The sport is a welcome relief to a country and a world melting at the hands of tech billionaires, insincere domestic politicians and loose cannon presidents. During the World Cup we will hug strangers, commiserate with colleagues, chew the fat with foreign friends and learn new elements of other cultures.
Just as Arsenal’s worldwide lap of honour is shattering the myth of disunity put forward by those who wish to divide us, so the World Cup will demonstrate football’s ability to cut through the chaos. It could not have come at a better time.