What it’s like following Arsenal from abroad. Arsenal Worldwide, finally online « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Walter Broeckx

A few months ago we mentioned on Untold Arsenal that I was working on a project called Arsenal Worldwide and which was a site set up by Arsenal fans from outside  the UK. What started as an idea brought to me by Armin Medic of the Arsenal Bosnian supporters club has finally come alive.

The idea from Armin was great and so we started working on it and then we found out that things are not always as easy as they look at first sight. The first ideas changed a bit. We had the usual setbacks when you start something new. We had Armin who became ill for a while and we couldn’t go further. So it was not all rosy and shining all along the road.

BUT finally, we can let you know that we will start with the site today.

One of our main ideas was to give Arsenal fans from all over the world an idea of what it is like following The Arsenal from abroad. And this abroad can be close, as in my case, but it can be very far. It can be in Asia, in Africa, in Europe, somewhere down under and wherever you can imagine.

From my own experiences I know what it’s like to support The Arsenal from outside the UK, and to think that you are the only one out there. For years I had been following the Arsenal on my own and then suddenly thanks to someone who mentioned the fact that we had a supporters club in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, I realised I was not alone.

And as a result I could join them and become a member of the supporters club. And I think they also have liked the fact that I became a member and since then started writing the Arsenal Benelux magazine for them.

So maybe this is also happening to you. Maybe you also think you are the only Arsenal supporter in your country and maybe you discover some day that just around the corner there are other Arsenal fans who have organised themselves.

On this site I would like to bring stories of individuals in different countries. Stories of official supporters clubs but also of supporters clubs who have not yet been recognised in an official way by The Arsenal. Maybe you could make friends here or you could see that your supporters club has send in an article to this site to become better known in their country so other Gooners may join them.

The ultimate goal is to make the bond between Arsenal supporters all over the world more tight. Maybe as a result new supporters clubs can  be founded. Maybe as a result the clubs that are out there get new members. Maybe as a result The Arsenal will get more supporters all over the world.

We will be publishing articles from fans and supporters clubs. So apart from the occasional article from Armin Medic and myself and off course we are hoping for a great article from the Grand Master of the Arsenal Blogosphere in person, Mr. Tony Attwood, (ok Walter you can an increase in your expense account, now just get on with the article – Ed) this will be a totally different set up from the Untold Arsenal blog we all like so much.

It will be written by people who usually don’t write articles to fill their spare time, but who are fans who love the Arsenal with all their heart and want the world to know that they are out there and are waiting for you to contact them.

And this will also be part of the site is that with most articles we can have a person who can be contacted afterwards and maybe you could learn to know better and become two fans supporting together. As it is always nicer to support together than to be sitting alone.

And just before you might click on the link below I would like to thank all the people who have made this finally come together. And my big thanks go out to:

Armin Medic for his great idea and the working together and hope you keep healthy. And may I say that the contribution Armin made is a really  great article to start with.

Michiel Broeckx my son who has helped my through all the traps that the computer world has set up for ignorant people like me who don’t know a thing about all those difficult words in computer land.

I also wish to thank Arsenal for the support they gave this idea when I contacted them.

And finally a very big thank to our own Tony Attwood ( and if he dares to leave this part out of my article I will not write another article for the Untold in the next week). He has given me a lot of good advice, and pushed me a bit in the back when things were not going so well with the project. He has given me support with the site, the hosting of the site. Well to be honest if he hadn’t been around here somewhere it never would have come this far.

So if you like the idea and you want to read something, our first article should be on the site now, you can follow this link http://www.arsenalworldwide.co.uk/

Hope you like this first article and hope you like the next that will be coming soon. We will keep you informed about new articles that come out in the next weeks through this channel of information (Untold Arsenal)  and it also should be found somewhere on Just Arsenal Blogs.

Walter Broeckx

Arsenal Worldwide