Gooner!
Sumi knew exactly what day it was before she even opened her eyes that morning – 17 May 2014 - Arsenal were playing Man U in the FA cup final! And she just knew that this time The Gunners would win! It had been 8 years, 11 months and 26 days since they had last won a trophy – but she was going to think really, really strong positive thoughts for them all day and then they couldn't possibly lose!
"Gunners gonna win!" she thought as she skimmed down the steps of her bunk bed.
"Gunners gonna win!" she thought as she put the toothpaste on her Arsenal toothbrush and brushed her teeth.
"Gunners gonna win!" she thought as she pulled on her Arsenal jogging bottoms, "Gunners gonna win!" - her Arsenal t-shirt - "Gunners gonna win!" – her Arsenal bomber jacket "Gunners gonna win!" – her Arsenal scarf - "Gunners gonna win!" her Arsenal bobble hat. "Gunners gonna win!" as she ran down stairs.
Daddy was already there and had just finished making their sandwiches.
"I'm ready! Gunners gonna win!" She announced loudly.
"You sure about that?" said Daddy pointing at her feet.
"Awwww!" Sumi groaned and dashed back upstairs for her Arsenal socks ("Gunners gonna win!") and her.... shoes. Just boring old normal shoes – not Arsenal ones at all.
She fell asleep in the car on the way up to London, and all the way while she dreamed of chasing pink rabbits and giant ice lollies with Minnie over volcanoes spewing Smarties, a little voice still kept going in the back of her head... "Gunners gonna win!"
She was wide awake by the time they parked outside Shobby Mashi's flat. Yet again, they had turned down said Mashi's offer of scrumptious masala dosa in favour of their traditional chips at the Stadium.
Sumi and her Dad joined the stream of red and white swathed Gooners pouring down Manor Road towards the Emirates Stadium... Sumi's favourite place in the world! They joined in a few choruses of "We love you Arsenal, we do!" And then Sumi started off a round of "Oh to, Oh to be, Oh to be a Gooner!"
Then suddenly they turned a corner and found themselves surrounded by... Man U fans. They were making jeering comments about the fact that Arsenal hadn't won a trophy in eight years, and Sumi was getting crosser and crosser listening to them. She couldn't take it any more – "ACTUALLY!" she said in a loud voice... the Man U fans all looked round surprised, and didn't Sumi at first. Then they all looked down and saw her in her Arsenal gear and started laughing.
Sumi went red. But not with embarrassment. With fury! "Actually – even though they don't happen to have won a trophy recently," she said in a clear, steady voice, "they do hold the record for spending the longest time at the top of the English league... AND if you added up all their wins and compared it with EVERY OTHER TEAM across the whole of the 20th century – they would come first!"
The Man U fans looked shocked. Now it was their turn to go red. They stood towering around Sumi with their mouths hanging open and clenching their fists. Daddy looked rather worried and started edging Sumi away from them... then one of them nodded, and said "Er, yeah, right. Fair enough, hen." And they all went calmly on their way. Sumi grinned up at Daddy who was wiping his forehead in a very relieved way!
At last they got to the stadium and Sumi waved cheerfully to Matthew. He was the owner of a little stall outside the vast stadium and he sold the best Arsenal stuff – and it was so cheap that Sumi could usually afford to pay for things from her own pocket money.
She liked Matthew – he was a very jolly man who always had a smile and a joke for her. He called her "My Lady" which was very silly... but Sumi kind of liked it! But today he wasn't smiling at all. Sumi had to wave and shout for ages before he even noticed she was there. Then all she got back was a sort of half hearted wave and a huge sigh.
"What's up, Matthew?" Sumi asked. She hated seeing people sad and always wanted to help if she thought someone was in trouble.
"Ah, my lady, they're going to take away my life!"
"What?! Someone's trying to kill you?!!"
"No, no! They want to take away the way I make my living, my stall... selling these Arsenal goodies! How will I survive then? What will my wife say when I tell her I lost the stall?"
He slumped down until he was barely visible behind the piles of red and white scarves, t-shirts, footballs and replica trophies.
"That's not fair! Who's doing this to you, Mathew?"
Without raising his head, Matthew jabbed a thumb behind him. Sumi followed the direction it pointed in... the Stadium!
"Y-you mean...?"
"Yes!" said Matthew in a kind of choked sob, "Arsenal themselves!" They're taking me to court and if I lose I'll have to pay £175,000 and stop selling my wares. But if I stop selling them where am I going to get £175,000... ?!!"
"But how can they? You're just helping their fans to show how much they love Arsenal!"
"I know! But it's all big business now, you know, my lady, the man on the street doesn't get a word in. It's a rough old world..."
"Oh! Matthew – I bet you HATE Arsenal now!"
At this, Matthew's head jerked up, scattering a shower of Thiery Henri key rings. "'Hate Arsenal?' 'Hate Arsenal?' Are you mad, my lady? I couldn't hate Arsenal. I've been a Gooner for 40 years...it's just something you're born with, innit? It doesn't just disappear when something bad happens! Do you think I could have survived these eight trophy-less years without the Arsenal colours running through my very veins..?"
"Alright, alright, keep your hair on" said Sumi, with a grin. "I do wish there was something I could do to help you, though"
"So do I, my lady" said Matthew sadly, "So do I... " and with that he turned away to serve a customer, a boy of about Sumi's age. "That'll be a fiver please, mate" he said, handing over a beautiful sunshine yellow Arsenal away shirt. Sumi sighed, how would kids like that be able to afford their Arsenal souvenirs if Matthew went, she wondered.
"Gunners gonna win!" said Sumi, in an encouraging voice.
"Gunners gonna win..." echoed Matthew, sadly.
Soon Sumi was swept away by the excitement of the build up to the game. The crowds on each side roared like enormous thunderstorms, each trying to drown each other out with their chants. Mexican waves surged along the rows of seats from the Clock End to the North Bank Stand and back again. If Sumi squeezed her eyes almost shut, it almost looked like real breakers charging across a red and white sea.
Then the players ran out onto the pitch and Sumi had to hold her breath until she spotted that number 14 shirt... Theo Walcott!
"Look at those ears!" said Daddy, "Never seen anyone with such sticky out ears... Hhahahaha! OW!"
Sumi punched him hard on the arm. "His ears are perfect! Just like every other bit of him," she hissed through clenched teeth.
It was a brilliant first half. Arsenal scored two goals and Man U only one! Hah! Now all they had to do was stop them scoring any more goals and they would be the champions again – after eight long years! (and 11 months and 26 and a half days).
At half time, Sumi and Dad went down to join the long queue for a fizzy drink and delicious hot, greasy chips. The queue seemed longer than ever this time, and Sumi was worried they wouldn't get back to the stands in time for the start of the second half.
But she wasn't the one who should have been worried! After waiting ages in the queue she told her dad she was going to the loo. He looked a bit worried, but before he could say anything, she was off. But Daddy knew that Sumi was a sensible girl who could look after herself (and other people come to that) and he trusted her to find her way to the loo and back.
"If we lose each other, meet you back at the stands, ok?" he shouted after her.
"Ok!" she shouted back.
But there was a huge queue for the loo as well and by the time she came out, s
he could see on the monitor that the second half was just about to start! She was about to make a dash to her Dad when she noticed a familiar looking figure hanging around at the end of the corridor near the entrance to the players' treatment room.
It was Kolo Toure! (Pity it wasn't Theo!) Sumi couldn't resist. She ran up to him and asked him for his autograph. He looked round wildly...
"What? No, no, I can't do autographs now! I'll be late for the start of the second half!"
"So what are you doing out here? The second half is just about to start!"
"I know! But I'm always the last one to come onto the pitch and Bill is in there having extra treatment. I can't go on until after he does or I won't be the last one... and that will be bad luck!"
Sumi nodded understandingly. Nobody could take any chances with The Gunners' luck – especially not today! Just then William Gallas came out of the treatment room and they trotted off together towards the pitch.
Sumi got back to her seat (and her very worried Dad) just in time to see poor old Toure getting a yellow card for joining the game after it had started without the ref's permission!
But it didn't matter because Theo scored another goal and Man U didn't stand a chance after that.... ARSENAL WON THE FA CUP FINAL!!!!!! YAAAAAY!!!!!
Everyone felt like they were floating on clouds as they came out of the stadium. Complete strangers were hugging eachother, grinning and thumping each other on the back. Even poor old Matthew had a little smile on is sad face.
Sumi asked Daddy if they could stop and try to cheer him up a bit – and at the same time she wanted to see if he had any Arsenal shoes she could buy. She'd saved up ten pounds for that very thing. Sadly, though, Matthew didn't have any shoes.
"I'll try and get some for you before the next match, my lady... if I still have a stall by then..."
They stayed and chatted with him for so long that all the crowds had disappeared and the sun was going down.
Matthew had packed up his stall and loaded into a white van just like Dad's. Dad and Sumi were just starting to head back to Shobby Mashi's flat when they heard a kafuffle going on behind them.
The players had come out of their dressing rooms and seemed to have fallen out about something.
"You idiot! You could have made us lose the game!" one was saying.
"Leave him alone – we've all got our superstitions, you always kiss your cross, and you always sit in the same seat on the tour bus..."
That was all Sumi heard before the shouting and pushing and shoving started again... it looked like a fight was going to kick off!
"Oi!" said Sumi in her firmest voice.
Just like the Man U fans, they all stopped for a second looked around, puzzled then looked down and saw her. But this time they didn't laugh. They looked very ashamed of themselves. Especially when Sumi said
"Victoria Concordia Crescit, remember. Victory comes from harmony! Poor old Kolo was just unlucky... but you all might have been unlucky if he hadn't stuck to his superstition."
"She's right you know, lads," said Theo Walcott. "We couldn't have won if we hadn't played as a team. And maybe Toure helped... Thanks, kid. What's your name?"
"Sumi"
"Nice Arsenal gear, Sumi. But why haven't you got any Arsenal shoes?"
Sumi explained how expensive they were in the official shop and that Matthew didn't have them in and might not even have his stall any more if he lost the court case against Arsenal.
"Well, these might not fit you just yet, but if you don't mind second hand, you're welcome to these". And he fished in his bag and pulle out his own boots... THE ONES HE HAD SCORED THE WINNING GOAL WITH!!!!
Sumi couldn't believe her luck.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said and gave him a huge hug.
"But what about poor old Matthew? Is there anything you can do to help him?"
"Hmmm," said Theo. "I think so, don't you, lads?"
"Yeah!" they all shouted in harmony, "Victoria Concordia Crescit!!"
They huddled together to make a plan, and then gave a big cheer.
"We're going to pay Matthew's court costs for him – that'll be about ten minutes salary for one of us!" They all laughed. "And then we'll get him a special job in the official Arsenal shop selling souvenirs at special reduced rates for kids."
"Yaaay!" said Sumi. And she sang Arsenal we love you, we do all they way back to Henfield.
Daddy looked a bit worn out by the time they got back, but Sumi was on cloud nine for weeks. She hung Theo Walcott's winning boots from the ceiling over her bed and gazed at them every night before going to sleep.
And every night she dreamed of Arsenal. With a few pink rabbits and ice lollies thrown in.
The End.