The Arsenal way: Fair play, patience and glory

I have to credit the arrival of cable television in India for my enduring love and passion for Arsenal Football Club, or ‘The Arsenal’, as some might choose to call it. And the joy that has erupted across the world at this storied football club winning their first English Premier League title in 22 years has been unprecedented.

And it is the sheer spread of the support, from the rich boroughs of London to the slums of Kampala, Uganda, from extreme left-wing politicians like Jeremy Corbyn to right-wing economists like Niall Ferguson, from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Barron Trump. Few national football titles have ever brought so much happiness to so many disparate people.

Even in India, the small cohort of Arsenal fans I associate with share extremely different opinions on politics and economics. Some work in government, some are top corporate leaders, but we were all sending each other ‘Congratulations’ messages after the club won its title. I feel some of it was a release, after two decades of sometimes being in the doldrums and sometimes pretending before imploding, or what commentators called ‘bottling it’. This one felt deserved.

And why deserved? Not just because, under their manager Mikel Arteta, they have become an extremely strong team, a physical side that plays well off the ball and is deadly at set-pieces, but because of something else, I feel. Arsenal did not manipulate the books, despite being owned by one of the richest sports empires in the world under Stan and Josh Kroenke. This is unlike the massaging of the Financial Fair Play rules by teams like Chelsea and especially the Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City, although these charges are yet to be resolved. Arsenal played fair, and that will show, as the team will likely close this year with over a billion pounds in revenue, making them one of the most valuable and profitable sports teams in the world.

And that is why fans across the world love Arsenal, because they have played fair. They could have also thrown money at the problem and washed off the sins of an oligarch or oil tycoon. They did not; they played within the rules, they funded their stadium with their own money, and they sold their best players to stay afloat. Many of their current stars, particularly England striker Bukayo Saka, as well as Brazilian striker Gabriel Martinelli, are home-grown talents who rose through the ranks. In fact, the youngest ever EPL winner is 16-year-old schoolboy Max Dowman, a rising star of the Arsenal academy, brought into the first team. They revived the faltering careers of some, like team captain and Norway midfielder Martin Ødegaard. They spent judiciously; yes, they did spend a lot on England midfielder Declan Rice, a record sum. But this is an organic team like no other in global football. Many other teams, and indeed even columnists on cultural issues, are just shocked at the level of joy and happiness Arsenal have brought. It certainly made me a very happy person.

The writer is Director and the Printer & Publisher of The Pioneer; Views presented are personal.