Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tottenham 5 Arsenal 1: January 22nd, 2008
This was a long time coming. It had been 9 years since my beloved Tottenham Hotspur beat their North London rivals Arsenal. Even when we have played them off the field, they always find a way of scoring an equaliser or a winner. It felt like a curse had struck again 2 weeks ago, in the first leg of this League Cup semi-final, at Arsenal’s ground, when they scored their equaliser after having been outplayed for most of the match.
The build up to the home leg was long. It was really long! Americans will have no concept of what this rivalry is really like. Compared to this, the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry is like a junior school spat. Grown men hug strangers; fall down stairs and over seats when goals are scored. Some refuse to wear red (Arsenal’s colours) or have anything red in their home.
So today, with me not working, today seemed to take forever. I woke up at 8am and had 7 hours to get through before kick off. We are ever hopeful, but after so many disappointments, also fearful of another letdown. Going into the lead after 3 minutes didn’t allow anyone to feel good. We had been there before. 2-0 at half time? That happened last year, but they scored 2 in the second. But as the second half progressed, 3-0, 4-0, it started feeling like a day all Spurs fans will remember forever.
Even an Arsenal goal couldn’t dampen my happiness. Even an Arsenal player being spoken to by the ref for an offence that would have seen a Spurs player sent off – there is huge bias among referees towards the ‘Big 4’ teams, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool – couldn’t anger me. OK, the one sided commentary of Sky Sports did annoy me, and I wanted former Gunner, Alan Smith to just shut the fuck up with his stupid, biased comments. It took him 84 minutes of the 90 minute match before he could admit that Spurs were worthy of the win.
The fans were amazing! The singing made the hearts of all Spurs fans swell with pride. A wonderful, wonderful day to be a Spurs fan.
The build up to the home leg was long. It was really long! Americans will have no concept of what this rivalry is really like. Compared to this, the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry is like a junior school spat. Grown men hug strangers; fall down stairs and over seats when goals are scored. Some refuse to wear red (Arsenal’s colours) or have anything red in their home.
So today, with me not working, today seemed to take forever. I woke up at 8am and had 7 hours to get through before kick off. We are ever hopeful, but after so many disappointments, also fearful of another letdown. Going into the lead after 3 minutes didn’t allow anyone to feel good. We had been there before. 2-0 at half time? That happened last year, but they scored 2 in the second. But as the second half progressed, 3-0, 4-0, it started feeling like a day all Spurs fans will remember forever.
Even an Arsenal goal couldn’t dampen my happiness. Even an Arsenal player being spoken to by the ref for an offence that would have seen a Spurs player sent off – there is huge bias among referees towards the ‘Big 4’ teams, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool – couldn’t anger me. OK, the one sided commentary of Sky Sports did annoy me, and I wanted former Gunner, Alan Smith to just shut the fuck up with his stupid, biased comments. It took him 84 minutes of the 90 minute match before he could admit that Spurs were worthy of the win.
The fans were amazing! The singing made the hearts of all Spurs fans swell with pride. A wonderful, wonderful day to be a Spurs fan.
This is a video of the last minute or so of the match, plus a little of the post-match celebratory singing, as taken by a fan. Listen to the sound! And remember that the goal scored was only the icing on the cake, as the tie was already won. Just imagine the cheers for the first 4 goals!
