Our member Noah Tan shares his visit to The Arsenal to watch the team take on Brighton in August 2024.

Arsenal 1-1 Brighton: Injustice, defiance, unity

Is there anything more annoying and frustrating than a game of football being ruined by the incompetency/ego of a referee?

Two weeks on from the Brighton game, and I’m still seething about the ridiculous Declan Rice red card – not helped, of course, by reading certain PGMOL-backed pieces in the media.

Oh, how different it could all have been had Chris Kavanagh applied a bit of common sense instead of the ‘letter of the law’. 

It all started so well for the Arsenal too. Saka, Odegaard, and Havertz were bright in the early minutes of the game, and it was clear from our viewpoint behind the Brighton goal that the Seagulls’ defence was struggling to contain us. While Trossard was booed by the Brighton fans to our right every time he touched the ball, it only served as the catalyst for us to start our chant of “Leo, Leo, Leo” to drown them out completely.

Then, the goal. To be honest, not many in the crowd – including us – expected Saka to get to the ball, but when he did, a mighty roar of anticipation and excitement erupted around the stadium. Barely five seconds later, we were all up on our feet, jumping and hugging and high-fiving everyone around us to celebrate King Kai’s deft finish. This was quickly followed by chants of “Who are you?” directed at the stony faced Brighton fans, before we all started singing – yes, you guessed it – “60 million down the drain, Kai Havertz scores again!”

Things were looking good, and there was an air of optimism in the stadium when the second half started. But it took all of five minutes for that goodwill to disappear. It was all a blur at first – in fact, a few of us cheered when the red card was shown cause we thought it was for Veltman’s kick out at Rice, and who could blame us? From a distance, all we saw was Veltman kicking Rice off the ball, so you can imagine how confused we all were when it was Rice who walked down the tunnel instead. Naturally, the sending off left the crowd in shock, and things only got worse nine minutes later when Brighton got their equaliser.

It was admittedly sobering experience hearing the Brighton fans below us cheer, especially with the knowledge that our backs were well and truly to the wall with a man down. Most of us Arsenal fans were silent, despondent. But suddenly, a rallying cry rang out – “Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal”. It started out as a lone voice, but soon the entire stadium joined in. It was, in my opinion, the most visceral, emotionally-charged, goosebump-inducing cheer of the day.

This was us in defiance. This was us in unity. This was us making a stand for our Arsenal.

The team might have had to play the rest of the game with a man down (or two men down, if you count Kavanagh’s MOTM performance for Brighton), but we, the fans, were going to do all we could to even the playing field.

Every misplaced Brighton pass and shot was mocked, every Arsenal tackle met with a fist pump and a cheer. And of course, every time Kavanagh made a decision in Brighton’s favour, we got up as one to chant “The referee’s a wan…” well, you know how it goes.

Despite a few minor scares, we managed to get through to full-time with a point, which, considering the circumstances, was a decent result. But at the end of the day, this match can easily be summed up with the chant that rang around the entire stadium at the final whistle.

“You’re not fit, you’re not fit, you’re not fit to referee! You’re not fit to refereeeee!”

And really, who can argue otherwise?