Would you wear a pink Arsenal shirt?

[reggiepaul]

This is interesting.

I just want to check what means most to a person and how much wearing a shirt means to them. For instance - what comes first to mind when you buy the shirt, the feeling it is part of the club or would it match whatever else you're wearing?

I have seen some people wear some vile shirts from other clubs, but they still wear them. I didn't like the yellow shirt but I still wanted it because it was an arsenal shirt. There have been some awful shirts, I didn't like the blue away one we recently had - but I still bought it because the shirt represents a lot about the team and club. The team wear it for instance and it outlines exactly what we stand for in terms of football because it goes wherever Arsenal go. It is a clear reminder of what we are. Like a uniform of sorts. Yes, now we enter territory of some sort of tribal feel but in football there is one thing that is clear - the shirt you wear highlights the team you support.

If pink was our colour, it would be all over the stadium, the colour of the seats and the colour of our merchandise. It will represent the club as the major colour - so all the shirts will be that colour.

So basically this thread outlines whether you are involved in Arsenal on an individual level or on a social level to show off to people. This shirt is never ever a fashion statement. It is basically the biggest symbol of a fans support. You wear it with pride and all the trappings that supporting a football club brings. If your first feelings in terms of a shirt appear to involve how other people would react to you, your love for the club is a somewhat tainted in terms of the worlds image of you, rather than your personal feelings to the club.

It's basically "I must wear the shirt because it's Arsenal" or "I will only wear the shirt if it looks nice" - meaning you're only wearing it and supporting the club to look good.

I'm going to have to say this is rubbish...
a shirt does represent support for the club... but loyalty runs much deeper than that... you want to know a true supporter, listen to him/her talk.... i have a friend Kabo from Botswana... I'm sure he couldn't always afford the shirts of Milan, now he can buy ****loads if he wants... you want to know how I know no team anywhere has a bigger fan, than Milan has in Kabo... how he talks about them.... PASSION... the man oozes passion for this team.... he's married, never heard him talk about his wife with passion he expresses when discussing Milan.... Milan has a gold and black jersey from a couple years back... he'd never wear it... but show me a fan who loves his team more... and i'll give up my left nut

I would have to disagree with that.

I think the biggest fans I have met say very little and there is a reason for that. They attend games, they watch them - they live and breathe it but as the thread goes - they wear the shirt.

They don't think it, they just wear it. Simple as that.

There is the difference, they don't see the colour, they don't see a shirt, they just wear it.

It's simple really. When you have to draw the line of wearing the shirt because it's a colour you don't agree with. Your passion dies and your personal priorities take over. I reckon talk is cheap - wearing a pink shirt takes balls and passion.

 

[reggiepaul]

How can 3 billion people be wrong?

The whole damn world used to think that the earth was flat ... and at the center of the universe...

weak arguments dude

No it's not a weak argument it's the strongest argument.

What you're saying is something that comes naturally to a fan i.e. You can wear the shirt, is innacurate and a weak argument. What utter rubbish. For people around the world, wearing the shirt of the club they love is the biggest feeling they can ever get, that is if it is pink as well.

You're wrong as well, the whole world didn't the world was flat, only Europe did. India, the Native American, the Mayans, the Chinese etc etc all knew the world was round - only the Europeans believed it wasn't.

This is a question of love. The same way that guy doesn't talk about his wife so explicitly as he does about his club shows where his passion and his love REALLY lie.

Do you want to know what else is common amongst those 3 billion people you blatantly fail to notice? Love, love to wear the shirt of the team they adore. It doesn't take words. They are just proud to wear the shirt of the club they follow. That's the reason for the number, not because they are wrong. It's the passion. It's not explicit, talk is cheap, wearing a pink shirt takes balls and passion.

 

[AFCG7]

SO if i dislike a pink shirt enough not to buy it...does that make me any less a fan?
Do my 23 years as a fan go through the window ?

A lot of you may not remember that shocking blue yellow and red kit with a lightning bolt going through it.. but many of the fans absolutely hated that shirt..that season everyone got themselves a home shirt..but that away kit had to be sold at next to nothing and STILL people would not wear it.. i bought one but i never wore it..i still have it.. a classic ugly adidas Arsenal shirt.

 

[Gurgen]

But isn't the first impression of a club you get not the shirt?
First time I watched Arsenal play, I was intrigued by their football and their beatiful kits. When that all-familiar color changes, some of that feeling dies.

 

[JazzG]

I haven't even bought the current kit because I don't like it. I refuse to buy shirts I don't like. I like the dreamcast one, my old has been binned so I'm thinking of getting one like that, anyone know where I can buy one from

You binned your Arsenal shirt :shock:

It was burnt so had to

 

[reggiepaul]

One of the best stories I have heard regarding the meaning of the shirt is pre communist east germany.

Basically, to cut a long story short the ambassadors son was a big fan of Karl Heinz Rumenigge, the legendary West German player and he loved the team - but this was the son of the ambassador to East Germany a communist country.

When a dinner party was arranged, prior to this his father despised the fact his son loved Rumenigge and the west german team - his son was told to attend the Communist dinner party. His son refused a number of times but in the end a lot of trouble was occurring and he had to do it for his father but his love for the team was more so.

So, the night of the dinner party he put on his Tuxedo for the party but underneath he wore the whole of the West German kit.

 

[reggiepaul]

I haven't even bought the current kit because I don't like it. I refuse to buy shirts I don't like. I like the dreamcast one, my old has been binned so I'm thinking of getting one like that, anyone know where I can buy one from

You binned your Arsenal shirt :shock:

It was burnt so had to

Sounds like a decent shirt that would show the scars of a season quite well, or artistically.

I have a long sleeve version of the Arsenal dreamcast shirt without the dreamcast written on it. I picked it up for 10 pounds.

 

[A.M.A.G.]

How can 3 billion people be wrong?

The whole damn world used to think that the earth was flat ... and at the center of the universe...

weak arguments dude

No it's not a weak argument it's the strongest argument.

What you're saying is something that comes naturally to a fan i.e. You can wear the shirt, is innacurate and a weak argument. What utter rubbish. For people around the world, wearing the shirt of the club they love is the biggest feeling they can ever get, that is if it is pink as well.

You're wrong as well, the whole world didn't the world was flat, only Europe did. India, the Native American, the Mayans, the Chinese etc etc all knew the world was round - only the Europeans believed it wasn't.

This is a question of love. The same way that guy doesn't talk about his wife so explicitly as he does about his club shows where his passion and his love REALLY lie.

Do you want to know what else is common amongst those 3 billion people you blatantly fail to notice? Love, love to wear the shirt of the team they adore. It doesn't take words. They are just proud to wear the shirt of the club they follow. That's the reason for the number, not because they are wrong. It's the passion. It's not explicit, talk is cheap, wearing a pink shirt takes balls and passion.

loool

okay here's what i'm saying, wearing the shirt is more of public expression of your affilliation to the club... for me... Fridays are casual... so you catch me prancing around Washington D.C. Friday through Sunday in Arsenal jersies... 95%(or even more) of the people I go by have no idea why the heck this 6'5" strapping gorilla is bouncing around in a red shirt with with a O2 on it. In fact, what the f*k is O2. And then I start looking like Big Bird when i'm in yellow... but for me its all for show... win or lose... cause maybe I'll see someone that recognize's "G"... but if next year I chose not wear the jersey because it is pink... how does this detract from my love for the team? If my chick likes to hold hands in public, but it makes me uncomfortable... does it mean I don't dig her?

 

[A.M.A.G.]

I've been trying to get hold of the Navy Dreamcast jersey... if anyone know where I can get that I'd appreciate it...

so far the only websites i know of that are of any quality are
www.kitbag.com and www.subside.co.uk

any recommendations would be helpful

 

[reggiepaul]

www.ebay.co.uk

Somebody on there is usually selling one.

Yet, this is where people draw the line, but others won't. That's when the similarities between some end and the differences begin. That is what I am more so interested in.

There are Billions of fans around the world who will see Thierry Henry where an Arsenal shirt - they will want it. Many fans have the name of the player (I haven't, I write weird **** on the back of my shirts) on the back fo the shirt. This is the degree of passion, no matter what it looks like.

I have to admit, I hated the yellow shirt we have now and I still hate it. I think it sucks so badly it's unbelievable. I hate it so much - but I had to buy it because it's an arsenal shirt. Don't ask me why I did that, I just did. I didn't like the shirt but I had to buy it because I wanted the shirt and it was just what was most natural in those circumstances.

 

[A.M.A.G.]

Oh yeah, looooooooooool, I have friend, a Chelsea fan, thinks their jersey is ****... but he'll wear a tee-shirt that says "Soccer Mom"... I don't know if you'll understand how funny that is. Plus what if your old lady wakes up every morning with the rankest breath... do you still kiss her? Are you not allowed to say, "baby, your breath is kicking! stay away from me!"?

 

[reggiepaul]

Oh yeah, looooooooooool, I have friend, a Chelsea fan, thinks their jersey is s**t... but he'll wear a tee-shirt that says "Soccer Mom"... I don't know if you'll understand how funny that is. Plus what if your old lady wakes up every morning with the rankest breath... do you still kiss her? Are you not allowed to say, "baby, your breath is kicking! stay away from me!"?

You're asking the wrong man, I see the woman I love and I kiss her.

we're back to arsenal again, if the team is doing crap you'd still rate them because it's still arsenal no matter where they are in the league.

 

[A.M.A.G.]

yaaa,

but when it comes down to it, a shirt is just a shirt... chosing not to wear doesn't say anything about your loyalty...

 

[A.M.A.G.]

so you kiss her even if her breath is stinking to high heaven?

you're a good man

 

[reggiepaul]

What you say is true but we're talking about a football shirt here so then you question exactly what it means. There are few books written about football but they tell a lot about what it means to the world. It's a huge phenomenon and the shirt plays a big part in it too.

I'm the kind who is happy to see people wearing shirts and it just embodies the state of the shirt and how much of a huge impact it makes. Like a guy says I will wear the shirt today - it means a lot. The shirt is like a flagship of a club but it's much bigger than that.

I believe and I reckon it would be true, if the team were wearing the shirt week in week out, out of pride everyone would wear it, because first and foremost it will be the Arsenal shirt and being pink would be just an irrelevant circumstance.

 

[reggiepaul]

so you kiss her even if her breath is stinking to high heaven?

you're a good man

Yeah I'm weird like that, I like pink shirts too.

 

[A.M.A.G.]

I like pink shirts too... and like i said, i'd pretty much wear whatever ... for instance I've seen the pics of what is supposedly the kits for next year... not feeling them at all... but if they really turn out to be the official kits, money not being a problem, i'll get them...
But if some bloke decides that the the shirt is just too ugly for words and decides he wont wear it... surely you dont think he's less of a fan? Thats almost like saying that if you don't buy a shirt every time a new one comes out, then you're not a true fan.

 

[reggiepaul]

Of course not.

The whole idea of this thread is not about who is a fan but what degrees of a fan someone is. Not nessecarily how much of a fan someone is but the question :

Why wouldn't you wear a shirt of the team you support because it's pink?

Now you don't fal in to any of those categories because you would wear it no matter what. So I can understand, as I did, your support for anyones choices amidst this...

The shirt represents a football shirt. The colour and many other things shouldn't be an issue but on this thread and elsewhere it has occurred that it is an issue. So I am just wondering what kind of fans we have amidst all this and why some people are fans.

 

[AFCG7]

So what kind of fan is one who does not like and will not wear a shirt which they think is ugly?

 

[reggiepaul]

So what kind of fan is one who does not like and will not wear a shirt which they think is ugly?

I don't know. Your club has two major shirts in a year and they will wear them and they will signify a massive factor of the club, since that is what embodies the team. Anyone who disproves that must not watch the game because wherever the team goes the shirt goes with it. It's a massive factor.

I'm more interested in why the whole idea of the shirt being ugly comes about that it overrides having to wear it. That is the question.

What kind of a fan is one who will wear the shirt whatever it looks like?

I think that is a better question.