Wearing the colours of two clubs can be controversial, but this matchday souvenir represents the complex web that is family and football
By Brady Frost
September 12, 2024
Half-and-half scarves are supposedly made for tourists and a representation of the sanitisation of the sport. But there’s one that’s very special to me.
It was early August 2008 when Arsenal made the nearly 200-mile trip up north to play Huddersfield Town, and so did my dad. He was used to making the journey as I’d moved up to West Yorkshire following my parents’ divorce. The move had left me feeling out of place. I was seen as a posh southerner to the kids at school but I was teased for being a northerner for having lost my accent when I’d visit relatives in London.
After living apart, finding common ground with my dad was tough. He was much older than my friends’ parents and a bit more old school. Our weekly phone calls started with awkward small talk but we finally found a rhythm when it came to talking about Arsenal. Arsène Wenger could do no wrong in Dad’s eyes, following that Invincibles season.
Dad and I were in the away end that evening to see who would win the first Herbert Chapman Trophy. Huddersfield arranged the pre-season friendly as part of their centenary celebrations, as both teams had been managed to League titles by Chapman in the 1920s and 1930s. Wenger fielded a youthful side containing Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere against their League One opponents featuring Matt Glennon, Danny Cadamarteri and Gary Roberts. Arsenal ran out 2-1 winners, coming from behind to score two in the last 15 minutes.
I was made up to see them win. I could rub it in the face of the Town fans at school but also because it meant Dad was happy. He wasn’t the best loser but somehow it was never Wenger’s fault if Arsenal lost. I headed home with him, talking excitedly about the team’s future and the new scarf around my shoulders. At the time, I didn’t know it would be one of the last matches we would attend together. Two years later, he died from lung cancer.
Our weekly calls about the Gunners went and so did my love for football. My stepdad Andrew was supportive, trying to talk with me about Arsenal even though they weren’t his team – but it wasn’t the same, and he respected that. I stopped watching football for a while. I didn’t want it in my life if my dad wasn’t a part of it.
But years passed and wounds healed. I couldn’t stay away, not forever, and I slowly dipped my toe back into football thanks to my stepdad. He showed me how it could be fun again through watching the occasional game on the telly together and I’ll always be grateful that he did. It didn’t feel right following Arsenal without Dad, though.
So that’s why I changed teams and became the opposite of a glory hunter. Andrew and I started supporting our local team, Huddersfield. A new start that was equally intoxicating, even if the offering wasn’t as high quality. We slowly kept coming back to see the Terriers and before long, every week we were there cheering, chastising the referee and clinking post-match pints. It wasn’t about what was happening on the pitch. It still isn’t. It was the positive memories I’d made with someone I care about.
Nearly ten years after that pre-season friendly, I was back in the same stadium on the last day of the 2017-18 season watching Wenger manage his 1,235th and final game in charge of Arsenal. What were the chances? David Wagner’s Town had pulled off a miracle a few days before, securing their Premier League survival at Stamford Bridge. Both sets of fans were soaking up the party-like atmosphere. The mood was buoyant. My stepdad and I had been season ticket holders at Huddersfield for a few years now and we could drink it all in. Our team had stayed up, against all the odds.
I wore my half-and-half scarf with pride that day. These two teams have been dear to my heart and it was a rare occasion where the result really didn’t matter to either. Both sides represent two parts of my life, my relationship with two father figures – Arsenal the past, Huddersfield the present. That blue and red scarf means more to me than I can ever say.
This article first appeared in WSC 445, September 2024. Subscribers get free access to the complete WSC digital archive
Want to see your writing published in WSC? Take a look at our pitching guide and get in touch
Tags: Arsenal, Huddersfield Town