Arsenal Worldwide is up, running and growing « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does
By Walter Broeckx from Arsenal Worldwide
The Arsenal Worldwide project off and running.
I mentioned last week the Arsenal Worldwide project has started, and now we really are moving.
It took us some time to get started, and like all new starting things it takes some time before you really get an audience. If people don’t know you exist, they cannot find you between those zillions sites in the world. But even the Arsenal didn’t start playing for a 60.000 capacity crowd in their first games so we all had to start small.
So let me give you an update on what happened so far with this project. Our first article was from my partner in crime Armin Medic from the Bosnian supporters club, or should I say Bosnia and Herzegovina? Anyway if it would have been a darts contest I would say it was in the bulls eye. In Snooker it would been called a 147 break. It was a piece that went right to the heart and was exactly the kind of article you would dream to have as an opener. If you haven’t read it you can find it here.
And then we got the Cape Town Supporters Club from South Africa who came to tell their story. And I must say it was amazing to find out that only a few years ago they started with some 5 persons and now have some 300 members to watch the games together. I must thank them again for their enthusiasm for our project as from the first moment on they gave their support.
We then got an article of a person who most of us already know. Tony Attwood wrote a piece about his own time when he was in fact a member of what Arsenal Worldwide is. As he has spent a year in foreign parts in the world he knows exactly what it’s like to be an Arsenal supporter from afar.
But this is not a site where Armin and I will be writing things and give our thoughts. NO this is a site where everyone of us can have his story told.
And so we published our first story from an Arsenal fan from Senegal who is living in Dakar. And I must say it is quite a story he had to tell. Ibrahima Fode NDIAYE is the name of this fan and even when he is still young, to be honest most people look rather young to me at my age, he has had a well filled life so far. He has had to made a very big decision in his life and he did what Arsenal does: take the right but difficult way. A way that can only be admired. You got to read it, it even has some pictures in it. I really hope he can find many other Gooners in Senegal
The only regret about this article which was written in excellent English is the fact that Senegal is a French speaking country and maybe a lot of Gooners in Senegal cannot understand it. At one moment in time before launching the website we talked about this problem but we didn’t find a solution so far. But I really think the impact of his article would be much bigger in Senegal if it also would have been published in French. Well this gives us something to think about.
Next up will be a story from the supporters club from India, 11 Gunners. And then we will have some other fans who will give their message to the world and I will just name a few countries that you can find in the next days like Malaysia, France, Nigeria, Indonesia,…. . And then to think even I haven’t written an article yet about our supporters club in Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxemburg. And Armin also has to write about his experiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
And on top if this now Armin and I are thinking of doing a little bit more. We could be doing a match report. Not the usual match report you can find on many blogs but a match report on how it is when you are following the game on your pc or on TV and with all the problems this sometimes can bring. This is something new and have to be looked upon but I think it could be very recognisable for many fans out there in the world.
So after a first week of running the Arsenal Worldwide site it has been fun and I hope that most people will have enjoyed the articles that have appeared so far.
And again I would call upon you, our readers from all over the world, to send in your articles. (walterbroeckx@hotmail.com) You don’t have to be a Nobel prize winning writer to send in an article. If you think your English is not good enough: don’t let it hold you back. Write it in some kind of English and if you give us permission we will try to correct it for you. If you speak French, German or Dutch you can sent it to me in those languages and I can translate it for you.
The only thing we ask you is to write it from the heart, we Gooners will exactly know what you mean when we read it.
Some other strange stuff that you don’t really want to be bothered with.