English football fans have a long tradition of communicating their excitement, hopes, beliefs and thoughts at matches in new and inventive ways. Fans in all stadia can be seen waving scarves, holding banners, as well as singing and chanting. All of these media carry messages that are clever, funny, hateful and sometimes all three. Fans of Arsenal FC at either Highbury or the Emirates over the years have shown themselves to be a great example of the inventiveness that is so indicative of football fans in England and indeed Britain.

English football fans have a long tradition of communicating their excitement, hopes, beliefs and thoughts at matches in new and inventive ways. Fans in all stadia can be seen waving scarves, holding banners, as well as singing and chanting. All of these media carry messages that are clever, funny, hateful and sometimes all three. Fans of Arsenal FC at either Highbury or the Emirates over the years have shown themselves to be a great example of the inventiveness that is so indicative of football fans in England and indeed Britain.

Arsenal chants

The rivalry with Spurs is a longstanding one that exists mainly because of the two north London clubs’ proximity to each other. A funny chant involving Spurs players and stomach problems caused by an apparently bad batch of lasagne was the focus one memorable and arguably very humorous chant.
Other chants have been in praise of players like Dennis Bergkamp, with the phrase ‘walking in Bergkamp wonderland’ being sung to the tune of “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”. Mesut Ozils recent arrival is still being celebrated with a chant of ‘Ozil to the Arsenal’.

Banners

While chants are a common theme of football matches, it is apparently difficult to get a good chant to catch on. This is why banners are a great way of communicating a more individualistic fan message and no more so in the modern era when there are several cameras focused on the crowds.

The easiest way to do this is by printing your own banner or poster at sites like instantprint.co.uk and taking it to the next game you go to.

The recent signing of Mesut Ozil for £42 million from Real Madrid has been celebrated perhaps more than other by the Gunners’ faithful around the Emirates stadium.

As well the aforementioned chants and songs, a number of inventive banners have made their way into the Arsenal crowd and on to the television and which have been made in salute to their new hero.
A competition to find the best Arsenal-related banner found this one in tribute to the Gunners’ three German internationals in Ozil ‘the Wizard’, Mertesacker ‘the Giant’ and Podolski ‘the Prince’.

For the midfield star’s unveiling, Arsenal pulled out all the stops to create as much fanfare as possible, with a true showbiz-style introduction which included a press conference, photo shoots and even a specially designed banner – even the club itself have realised the power of banners. The banner simply said ‘Ozil is a Gunner’ in a to-the-point manner that is typical of Arsenal fans.