North London is Never Far Away.
At 10.30pm on Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles, the motto underpinning Arsenal’s tour of the United States rings true.
Stationed in a red-brick warehouse block, The Beehive is swarming with close to a thousand fans, local influencers and Arsenal-supporting musicians as they celebrate Islington’s Finest — with a special cocktail even brewed for the occasion.
London DJ Siobhan Bell has repurposed the new shock-yellow kit as a two-piece outfit for her performance, while former players Gilberto Silva, Lauren and Ray Parlour mingle with supporters after doing a live podcast with fan media sites Arseblog and ArsenalVision.
Siobhan Bell DJs at The Beehive (Photo: Arsenal FC)
Antslive, who fronted the video to launch the away shirt alongside other up-and-coming artists and first-team players Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, is kitted out along with his hype man, who is orchestrating the crowd. The 23-year-old’s breakout track, Number One Candidate, will have only come into most fans’ consciousness as the soundtrack of the kit release.
Antslive’s affiliations became known to the club when his song went viral on TikTok, reaching over 1.4 million views. It helped that in the video, which saw him galloping past the Italian Dolomites on horseback, he wore a vintage Arsenal shirt and sported an Ian Wright-inspired gold tooth and flat cap.
If that sounds like doing things differently then that is because it is — which is why Arsenal saw him as the perfect partner for the launch.
The club is making a concerted attempt to cater for U.S. fans, now their primary international audience. Arsenal America is the umbrella group that brings all the supporters’ clubs together and, in total, there are 85 branches across 33 states.
That crowd in that defeat to Manchester United in New York last week looked like a 50-50 split in terms of shirts — a sign of Arsenal’s growing presence. It is no wonder that those at the top of the club have seen a change in the level of passion and fanaticism among the supporters compared to as recently as five years ago.
Over the last 20 years all the major clubs in England have come to the U.S. on tour and attempted to leverage their brand. Some have assaulted the eyes with stars and stripes, but Arsenal have been trying to do things in a distinct, non-gimmicky way.
After listening to feedback from their supporters in the U.S., Arsenal have established that they do not want an ‘Americanised’ version of the club sold to them. It may have been at a distance, but that fanbase have grown up with Arsenal, its heroes and everything the club stands for. They don’t want to be patronised or have English football culture watered down.
The club has identified that projecting Arsenal as not just a team but as a lifestyle — a vibrant north London culture accessible to metropolitan fans across the Atlantic — is helping to build a deeper connection.
Gilberto Silva holds court (Photo: Arsenal FC)
It has been an organic realisation and, due to the positive response, the kit launch is another manifestation of the path they are now treading. It is based on the idea of projecting the best of Islington and bringing the creatives of the Arsenal community to a global stage, particularly coastal areas like New York and Los Angeles.
‘Islington FM’ is just the latest in a string of similarly themed videos.
Arsenal have sought to capitalise on the rich talent pool from within their fanbase. They hope that using someone like Antslive on their video helps strengthen that connection and resonates with new demographics, but also lifts young talents like the young north London rapper.
If they can create a ripple effect then that will only help generate a shared sense of belonging.
Alessio Russo’s announcement video features other cultural references from north London, whether it be street names, local chip shops or bus routes. But it also includes a fan wearing an LA t-shirt and another nod to the music scene with a newspaper cutting of Notting Hill Carnival headliners Rampage Sound System — who helped platform Dizzee Rascal, Bashy and Stormzy as new kids on the block.
Beyond excited to have joined The Arsenal ✨ pic.twitter.com/rEEN8BSklg
— Alessia Russo (@alessiarusso7) July 4, 2023
Arsenal and Adidas work together closely on these projects and their Declan Rice signing announcement video saw them pull in leading sports presenter and Arsenal fan Laura Woods, while Manchester United fan Stormzy — who comes from south London — was brought in for a more comedic role to persuade him against signing.
“You ain’t born a Londoner, you’re made one,” says Ian Wright in the 2019-20 home kit video.
That feels like the starting point of the strategy in which the club’s raft of international stars lip sync cockney dialogue and actor Idris Elba, an Arsenal fan, has a cameo. They are selling Arsenal’s roots as the core of the club’s identity but offering worldwide supporters the chance to absorb it into their own fandom.
In the Antslive video there are various underground artists from London, while Wolf Alice bassist Theo Ellis features, as does Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp.
They are not catering for just one group. Diversity is a central part of everything Arsenal do.
Antslive at The Beehive (Photo: Arsenal FC)
The murals that were unveiled at the Emirates stadium earlier this year were an example of that — designer Reuben Dangoor helped put together art work featuring over 700 fans of different ages, races and genders to showcase the diversity of the club.
Mikel Arteta’s on-field speech at the end of the season thanked the fans for their “unconditional love” and nurturing that sentiment has been at the heart of the messaging to supporters. Arsenal are trying to reflect the unity and youthfulness on the pitch within that.
Arsenal have not shied away from social activism in recent years. The ‘No More Red’ all-white kit produced in reaction to rising knife crime figures in London was a particularly powerful message.
When the image of Aston Mack, founder of the Orlando Freedom Fighters, wearing his Arsenal top during the Black Lives Matters protests in 2020 went viral, they brought him to meet the players and gave him an enhanced platform to fight for equality. Then there was the racist abuse Saka faced after missing a penalty in the shootout of the final of Euro 2020, too, which sparked a wall of messages for the Hale End boy.
Following Arsenal on their U.S. tour it was striking just how prevalent Saka’s name is on the back of jerseys. For Black fans he is someone with whom they can identify; a player of such ability that he could go on to transcend the sport in the way few athletes can.
The club’s social media following in the U.S. now tops four million and is up 14 per cent since June last year. In total their overall global social media following is around 100 million.
Arsenal’s popularity in the U.S. continues to grow (Photo: Arsenal FC)
The growing interest in Arsenal and the Premier League is shown by NBC’s coverage hitting 122 million households between August and November, with their total Premier League viewership increasing by 22 per cent in 2022.
Arsenal’s 3-2 win over Manchester United in February was the most-watched Premier League game in U.S. history at nearly two million viewers. Fans rise in the middle of the night to watch games. “These events mean a lot to us,” says Taylor Younani, branch manager of Arsenal Los Angeles who watches games at the Fox and Hounds pub in Studio City. “We don’t need to go to the Emirates every week as we go to the pub every weekend.
“We’re all there at 3.30am sometimes and on big game days it exceeds capacity at 300 people, so they have to turn some away.
“They’re making an attempt to unify us. Access to the game out here is relatively new so any effort from clubs to make us feel included is appreciated. These guys are my best friends from meeting each other at the pub. I went on my first date with my wife Heidi at the pub. She wasn’t a fan then but we got married there!”
Taylor Younani and friends at The Beehive event (Photo: The Athletic)
Supporting a club that hasn’t experienced glory in some time can feel very much like a tired marriage.
Arsenal had become a jaded brand in danger of falling away from the pack if their seven-year absence from the Champions League had been further prolonged, but a memorable season last time out has helped imbue life back into the club.
There is a self-confidence, a swagger about the Arsenal brand again. By the looks of things, their U.S. followers are buying into it all.
(Top photo: Arsenal FC)
