Sunday 26 May 2013

The Gooner On The Road

Hello Gooners (and maybe some non-Gooners too).


My name is Peter Anderson. 

When I made the decision to go backpacking for a year, my excitement quickly turned into fear - that one fear that every hardcore football fan thinks when they're about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime - WHERE AM I GOING TO WATCH MY BELOVED FOOTBALL TEAM?!

Kissing the badge. A cliche but I'm
not going anywhere else

My goal is to watch every Arsenal match of the 2013-14 season with another Gooner, regardless of where I am in the World. That way, I get to travel, and I also get to watch the greatest team the world has ever seen.


The Gooner On The Road expedition will start at the Blind Pig in New York City - home to one of the world's most hospitable Arsenal Supporters Club. From there, I will be soaking in the sights and sounds of some of North America's hot-spots, before heading across the Pacific to Australia, ending the few remaining months of the Premier League season in South-East Asia.


And here's where things really start to get interesting. I'm going to to attempt to travel the world without spending a penny on accommodation. This whole trip is basically an exercise to gauge the level of goodwill between International Arsenal fans - I've already experienced it for myself on a number of occasions whilst abroad, particularly in the US, but I've other friends who have experienced people, really complete strangers, letting them into their home and their lives because they share a common religion in Goonerism.Surprisingly, I've already had offers of accommodation in New York City, Boston, Montreal, Madison WI, Toronto, Kansas City, Austin, Salt Lake City, Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. And that's just in North America. I've also had offers in Brisbane, Tokyo and possibly somewhere in Singapore. And I only came up with the concept at the beginning of the month.


On a more serious note, I am doing all this for a good cause. My mother passed away in February 2013. She suffered from Triple Negative Breast Cancer, the rarest and most ruthless form of Breast Cancer around. I will be asking for fellow Gooners to donate to the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation - there's 27 million Arsenal fans worldwide so I'm confident that with a little bit of exposure, we can really make a difference.


I have made it my personal goal (aside from the stupid crazy one mentioned above) to raise £10,000 for the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation. I am depending on Twitter followers (@GoonerOnTheRoad) and blog readers to donate whatever they can to this foundation so that we can raise awareness, increase funding and provide a better quality-of-life to sufferers of this disease.


In return you'll likely get some form of entertainment by following me on my travels - as you can probably guess it's almost guaranteed that things won't go smoothlyFor now, all that I ask is you follow me by using the links to your preferred social media platform on the right, and spread the word!


See you on the Road


COYG