If you live in London, you’d be forgiven for thinking everyone you know has suddenly become a Gunner. Over the past two days alone it’s been Arsenal madness. London was awash with red jerseys on Sunday as fans celebrated winning the Emirates cup against Lyon. Then Instagram feeds were taken over by a video of The Bear’s Will Poulter announcing Arsenal’s third kit on Monday, leaving little time for the non-Arsenal-affiliated to breathe.
It’s been like this for the best part of two years. Sure, this summer’s been all about England, but during the Premier League season, it feels as though every weekend involves bypassing a parade of red and white scarves, yellow vintage tees and trendy Tube station patterned merch.
Truthfully, this is more likely if you live in north London, but London is a city with seven Premier League sides, and Arsenal’s not the only one north of the river.
And the club is strengthening its star power, too. Within the past three years, Bella Hadid, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Little Simz, Idris Elba and Daniel Kaluuya have all been spotted watching Arsenal from the stands. Sure, Harry Styles might have turned up at Luton’s Kenilworth Road last season, but A-listers are basically guaranteed at the Emirates.
So why does Gooner territory seem to have expanded so much, so quickly? “It certainly helps that Arsenal have got better over the last few years under [Mikel] Arteta,” says Reuben Pinder, a football journalist at The Athletic. “Whereas in the early 2010s they were a bit of a laughing stock as perennial underachievers, they’re now a serious powerhouse in the Premier League.
@arsenal Eddie welcomes @KimKardashian to Emirates Stadium 👋 #Arsenal #Football #Kardashian #KimKardashian
♬ original sound - arsenal
“With Chelsea in this bizarre period of turmoil, Tottenham trying to rebuild an identity - and suffering from the trophyless tag that plagued Arsenal between 2005-2014 - and Palace and West Ham not quite in the same realm of fame or quality, Arsenal have positioned themselves as a cool club to support.”
But this alone, Pinder reckons, “isn’t enough to attract so many casual fans,” he says, “who are more interested in vibes than tactics.”
Pinder highlights Arsenal’s collaborations with Adidas, their chief kit supplier since 2019, as another reason. “[These collabs] manage to avoid being cringeworthy, which is much harder than it sounds in football.” There are other stylish collaborations too, such as Arsenal’s most recent away kit, designed in partnership with up-and-coming menswear brand Labrum.
Then there’s the location of the Emirates, making it one of the most central and accessible London stadiums, which Pinder notes “attracts the young renters of Hackney and Stoke Newington” to watch games.
But the main reason, it appears, has nothing to do with the Premier League at all. It’s down to the women. Those throngs of people covered in red and white that you see snaking across London on the weekends aren’t just fair weather men’s fans or people using Arsenal kits to hop on the blokecore train.
Chances are a lot of them are heading to a women’s match. Last season, Arsenal Women sold out the Emirates Stadium for back-to-back Women's Super League fixtures. That’s over 60,000 tickets sold for each match.
In fact, this upcoming Women’s Super League season marks the first time that the Emirates will be the women’s team’s main home, and Arsenal are the only top WSL team to have that level of parity. Plus, unlike the men’s game, tickets to the women’s matches aren’t prohibitively pricey. So as well as providing for fans of the women’s game, it also allows more casual fans of the men’s team to visit the Emirates and cheer on the women.
“Of all the big clubs in England, Arsenal has the longest history of investing in the women’s team,” says Pinder, “with players like Rachel Yankey when I was growing up, and now the likes of Leah Williamson, Alessia Russo and Beth Mead.
“Having the Lionesses captain in their ranks makes the two teams closely associated in a lot of people’s minds, and following the success of Euro 2021 that’s only boosted the reputation of the club and crucially, the profiles of those individual players, which is how most people, young or old, actually get into the sport.”
Most importantly, Pinder notes that Arsenal's support of their women’s team is authentic. “They’re giving women’s football the platform it deserves,” he says, “rather than treating it as an afterthought.”
So before you get a little grouchy about all the Gooners around London right now, take a moment to wonder how they got into the club. Chances are they’re no glory hunter, just someone who’s grateful to finally be involved.
