The benefit of community

Hello everyone.

I’m back in Dublin after a very nice trip to Lisbon. Obviously I was very pleased with the result, it puts us in a good position for the second leg, and hopefully provides a timely boost ahead of tomorrow’s early game against Bournemouth.

It was also beneficial to be reminded of how spending actual time with your Arsenal community is so important. I’ve said more than once that I have found this season hard going at times. I don’t think I need to get into the nuts and bolts of that again, but it has felt like a bit of a struggle, and it’s not just about how Arsenal play. If you want more on that, by the way, Tim’s column this week is essential reading.

The weight of expectation; the external noise which I can dismiss as just that for the most part but which still is hard to block out entirely; the desire I have to see this team and manager succeed because I can see how hard they’ve worked and how much they want it; knowing what it would mean to every Arsenal fan; it all adds up to a kind of relentless pressure and there are times you wonder ‘Why am I putting myself through this?!’, even though you understand it’s actually something of a privilege to even be in a position where it matters this much.

Then you go to a game, spend time with your friends, and you see that dynamic replicated all around you, in the stadium of course, but throughout the city in distinct pockets of congregation. Other groups of friends, mums and dads and sons and daughters, families that span generations, young and old, able and infirm, and they’re all just there to watch eleven men kick a ball about and hopefully score a goal or two. Or just one because sometimes just one is enough.

It resets something in you. In some ways, and this isn’t to be critical because it’s just a fact of life, I think following a team online can become a bit insular. Even if you’re part of a community like Arseblog, or anywhere else, the laser-focus of the discussion being about the team, the players, the performances etc, tend to shine a very bright spotlight on our fears and concerns. Things which do matter can resonate in ways which over-extend their importance so they feel critical. Life and death. It is human nature, this happens in other aspects of life too, where the online discourse becomes particularly heightened and doesn’t necessarily reflect ‘real world’ opinion.

Which isn’t to say those fears or worries are invalid, at least in terms of Arsenal. It’s just a kind of re-calibration. I hope we win the Premier League this season, and if there was a Champions League on top of that, it will be one of this club’s all-time greatest ever seasons. If it doesn’t happen though, those same people will share that experience, however it plays out, and be there in London and Lisbon and all the places that Arsenal will go next season, hoping that the eleven men can play well and kick the ball in the back of the net.

I don’t know if I’m explaining this particularly well. I could be quite tired, but it’s just to say that I feel very lucky to do what I do here, and even more lucky that a few times a year I get a chance to do it with people I care a lot about it in real life too. Regardless of what happens between now and May, that can’t and won’t ever change. I also understand that location and geography and people’s circumstances mean it’s not something everyone can experience in the same way, but if there’s a way to go through this run-in with those people in your life, whether it’s at the pub for a game or something else, I’d recommend it if possible.

If we all sat in individual rooms and watched on separately from each other, we’d be as happy as happy can be if Arsenal win the league, but being able to share that joy amplifies that feeling in ways I’m struggling to put into words. There is power in community, online or offline, and this week has reminded me how important both of those are.

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Speaking of which, you will know that in the month of April we’ve joined forces with our friends at the ArsenalVision Podcast to help raise funds for the Arsenal Foundation, and the incredible work they do at the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. The club’s Coaching for Life programme is one of the only projects that remains there after a man who is nearly a trillionaire decimated the funding provided by USAID, and without the fundraising efforts of the Arsenal community, it would have been shut down.

These are children and parents displaced by war and conflict. What the Arsenal Foundation does is remarkable and the way the Arsenal fan community has helped support this down the years has been incredible. So far, over the years of the fundraiser, over £1.3m has been raised. Arseblog has, since 2023, donated €90,000 to this cause, including a €25,000 donation this year.

The current total raised stands at over £130,000, and if you can help, any donation is hugely appreciated – https://www.justgiving.com/page/avp2026

With everything that’s going on in the world right now, we’re trying to put some good out there. Everyone who donates is eligible to win stuff like match tickets, signed shirts etc, but I’m sure the incentive to help is first and foremost among good folks like yourselves.

A reminder too that in the month of April, on top of what we’ve already given to the fundraiser, Arseblog will donate every single penny of our Patreon revenue to good causes. I’ll give you some more details of who those beneficiaries are as the month goes on, but last year we were able to help the Islington Foodbank, a kid’s cancer charity in Ireland, UNICEF and others, and more than ever that kind of support is vital for people just like you and I but who find themselves in a position, through no fault of their own, where they need help.

We’ll have a Bournemouth preview podcast later on, looking ahead to what is a massive fixture in this title race, and if you’re not already a member, you can join us at patreon.com/arseblog. You don’t have to commit to anything more than a month, you get instant access to everything, and you can cancel in May if you like! Even so, that will ensure our donation at the end of April goes as far as it can.

Love you all, look after yourselves out there.

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