“The job is yours, providing you work on Saturdays…”
“*weeping* yeah, ok. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do”
Is there anything worse than sitting at work, knowing your team is playing but being unable to follow it, record it or generally have any idea what is going on? One incident really sticks in my mind – the game away at Stoke last season… It was one of the very first times I had to work through a football match, I was on a quick break and glanced at a text from the hardcore Sp*rs supporting missus: “Ramsey just been carried off the pitch with a nasty injury, looks similar to Eduardo’s. Poor guy”.
I had no access to the TV, little phone signal and we were in the title race.. plus one of our youngest and best players was probably out the game for a long long time. You couldn’t make it up. Complete and utter torture.
During this experience I contemplated asking randomers if they knew the scores… I never did in the end, knowing that my luck would mean I ask the person who would probably try to wind me up and give me the completely wrong score. Where I work there is a tv right at the back on display, sometimes SSN is on. There must have only been a couple of minutes left in every game and the score read Arsenal 0-0 Wolves – Despite not watching the game I felt all the frustration I would surely have felt watching it, on the way home there was a desperate attempt to follow the final few seconds of the game on Twitter. I lost the signal and didn’t bother trying to check again. It was all over.
Came home. Switched on the computer.
Arsenal 1-0 Wolves (Bendtner).
How the hell did I miss that?
Those were the only two main fixtures I missed last season – but this season coming up, every Saturday we play it looks like being a similar scenario. It would be so, so much easier if the game was recorded but with no Sky or Sky + it is an impossibility.
Over the past three seasons I can probably count the games I have missed on one hand – nearly all of those have been due to my education or family commitments.
However, I think I may have found a solution.
Any Saturday game is a write-off with a nine hour working day guaranteed, no point even trying to work anything out there. The solution? Go to as many home games as humanly possible, yes it isnt easy to buy the football tickets but it is probably the only solution to replacing not watching all the games – yes, it may be expensive sometimes but if it is viable financially and traveling wise – its on. Starting with the Emirates Cup on Sunday the 1st against August, nothing like seeing it live to kick-start the season.
October and November look like being particularly friendly months viewing wise – Chelsea, City, Newcastle, Everton and Sp*rs games are all occurring on a Sunday afternoon. I can’t stand Rupert Murdoch but Sky are the ones that have nudged these games onto a Sunday and I am grateful for that, believe me.
I guess there is also a need to hope that we progress as far into the Champions League as possible – the weekday fixtures, especially on a Wednesday mean matches are sometimes moved to a Sunday lunchtime kick off for logistic and recovery reasons. Brilliant.
All this bodes a question though, what if, say Sky offered a complete 90 minute re-run of a football game for a fee, monthly annual or otherwise? How many people would there be signing up to that if it wasn’t ridiculously expensive… as far as I’m aware it wouldn’t infringe on highlights rights as that isn’t what they would be showing. An interesting thought all the same.
The chance is there are thousands of Arsenal fans who go through this every week, possibly millions of them taking into account the loyal overseas fans – have you got any stories?
Oh to be a Gooner
Arsenal News 24/7
I watched every game except aston villa vs arsenal. I wish I could watch Arsenal at the Emirates. To see our places in person. A guy can have dreams,hey? (By the way good post-From a Teen Goon from South Africa who enjoys thegoonblog!!!)
“Places” was supposed to be “players”
Sky do have 90 minute re-runs, its called “football first” and it airs around 10:30 pm on the day of the match.
ARsenal TV Online is your answer!
I spend most of my day keeping an eye on Arsenal news. Goonernews is an endless source of enhoyment for me of a morning as i sift through the news. it is part of my routine, similar to brushing my teeth. I watched every arsenal game last season. but living in aus it is very hard to stay on top of the games. Often at midnight or even 4am. Cable tv offer the ability to record all live games. So my sunday night is spent re-watching, or watching for the first time denilson lose the ball. Best game of last season was Arsenal vs wolves. I met a girl during a nigth out and as we were going to get some sleep, i saw the game was on. Catching the last half hour, i cannot imagine what was going through her mind as i jumped crazily to see a sagna cross fly into the back of teh net from Bendtner. A bit drunk i slid on the floor at 3am in the morning. Splashed with an odd look, I didnt care if i got some. I got what i wanted.
I’ve got a season ticket, so for our home games, I always book the day off, but I have to make up for it and work when we’re away. If I can, I’ll listen to the game on the radio but there’s a great site called Arsenalist.com where they put the highlights and often the full game up within about an hour of the game finishing.
I’m very lucky to have a mon-fri job and a season ticket. I’m a 1 hour journey away from the stadium. So I go to all home games.
Sometimes though I wish I’d stayed in the pub!
I got to say though its one of the better places to have a season ticket as you’re guaranteed decent football even when we play sides who park the proverbial!
I got a good feeling about next season