My First Football Shirt: Humans of The Arsenal

We caught up with Jason from Humans of The Arsenal – a great photo blog – to talk USA losing to Iran, his favourite Arsenal shirt and that Kanu hat trick against Chelsea. This interview was done as part of our My First Football Shirt series. 

What was your first football shirt?

This might come as a bit of a surprise to some but it was actually the USA’s 1998 World Cup Away shirt, given to me as a gift, and as an Australian, I’m still not sure why. Not only was it a forgettable time for American soccer (especially losing against Iran in the group stages) – Australia’s hopes to qualify for the first time since 1974 were dashed the year before by the same country (on away goals)!

What was your favourite football shirt? 

🗓 January 9, 2012: The King comes home 👑

What a moment, courtesy of @thierryhenry 😱 pic.twitter.com/W6M4mr2z6I

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 9, 2018

I have 3 favourites – and it’s mainly because of the events that surround these shirts. Arsenal 2012-2014 home – this shirt holds personal significance as this was the first Arsenal shirt I picked up in the UK when my wife and I moved to London from Sydney. The stars also managed to align when we found a place to live in Highbury and Arsenal signed Mesut Özil!

Australia 2005 home – Years of enduring heartbreaking and oh-so-close-yet-so-far World Cup qualifying campaign failures came to an end for long-suffering Socceroos supporters such as myself, with Mark Schwarzer’s right hand and John Aloisi’s left foot sending the country into raptures and to Germany for the first time in 32 years.

Philippines 2010-2011 away – the “Miracle of Hanoi” in 2010 marked the start of a football renaissance in my country of ancestry, where basketball rules. No longer Asian football’s cellar dwellers. Aesthetically speaking, West Germany 1990 and Arsenal 1971.

What is your favourite goal?

🗓️ Nwankwo Kanu vs Chelsea, 1999

1⃣ Toe poke into the bottom corner
2⃣ Fantastic touch and rifled into the net
3⃣ Scores from the byline into the top corner

👀 Nwankwo Kanu scored a sensational hat-trick as Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-2 pic.twitter.com/pKNAHP8frd

— Sporting Index (@sportingindex) October 9, 2020

My favourite goal is actually a hat-trick; Chelsea 2-3 Kanu. It’s my earliest memory of the team and I’d have to say that was the match that made me Arsenal. Kanu believe it!

Check out our marketplace to pick-up some banging vintage Arsenal shirts of your own. Browse the full collection here.