The FA Cup visited the home of of one of our own 81 year old UK Cypriot Maria Petri 81 she is definitely a football person she has followed Arsenal for 70 years from eleven years ago home and away and travelled as far as China and Australia to see her beloved team.
Along with Arsenal legend and 2002 FA Cup icon, Ray Parlour the FA Cup, paid a home visit to Arsenal fan Maria Petri, who follows the men’s, women’s and academy team just about everywhere.
Maria Petri was born in London her parents came to London in 1938 from the village of Akanthou.
Arsenal beat Chelsea on Saturday to lift their 14th Emirates FA Cup trophy, breaking their own record in the competition.
Since their first FA Cup final win in 1930, they have shared the special moment with their fans at either Wembley or Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium (in 2002 and 2005).
In the absence of the fans at the game and without a celebratory parade through Islington, they’re finding different ways to celebrate safely with their diverse fanbase this week after another FA Cup win.
On Sunday morning the day after the cup final, the first thing they did was take football’s oldest trophy to Emirates Stadium.
While there, they shared the moment with their security team they have kept the site safe during lockdown and surprised unsuspecting fans who were in the area.
Along with Arsenal legend and 2002 FA Cup icon, Ray Parlour, they also paid a home visit to Arsenal fan Maria Petri, who follows the men’s, women’s and academy team just about everywhere she can. They also joined 14 fans across the globe from Denmark to Pakistan via Zoom.
On Tuesday, their FA Cup icon from the 1971 final, Charlie George, surprised some more Arsenal supporters with the cup. He visited Iris Gosling, a visually-impaired fan who follows Arsenal home and away and has been making soaps and hand sanitiser during lockdown.
This was followed by a trip to see Helder Silva, a representative of Arsenal’s amputee team, who attended HRH The Duke of Cambridge’s private viewing of the final for the Heads Together campaign at Sandringham Estate.
Finally, they went to see Qalid Halane, a Kicks participant who for the last few months has been volunteering at local foodbanks and helped build an outdoor space at Manor Gardens, a local community centre focused on health and mental wellbeing.
While out and about they also visited some famous Arsenal landmarks with the famous trophy including their old home Highbury, the Ken Friar statue and Arsenal tube station.
Listen to what Maria Petri has to say on the video Here
