For local fans of football — the global variety that most Americans call “soccer” — Patsy Hartigan’s Irish Pub is the place to be for big matches. The River City Gooners, who root for the tradition-rich Arsenal Football Club in North London, England, come out in force when the Gunners kick off. (The “Gunners” nickname dates to 1886 and honors the Royal Arsenal munitions factory where the team’s founders worked). Even when Arsenal loses, there’s bonding over pints of Guinness beer and what the late Brazilian legend Pelé called “the beautiful game.”
The Gooners were born at the now-closed Doc’s Sports Bar (which was helmed by Patsy Hartigan’s co-owner Joshua Pietrowski). Andy Zellers, whose Arsenal fandom dates to his U.S. Navy service in Japan in the 1990s, watched matches at Doc’s or private homes with three or four friends. Their gatherings grew as the COVID-19 pandemic eased and sports fans were eager for action to resume.
“Soccer in England was one of the first sports to come back during COVID, and so it was really a good opportunity to kind of try to find a group of people that were like-minded Arsenal fans,” says Zellers, who is Director of Financial Aid at Owensboro, Kentucky’s Brescia University. Today, the club has more than 50 Facebook members.
Local “Gooners” — a diminutive for Arsenal fans — reflect Evansville’s worldly population. John Gammon spent his formative years in the United Kingdom and got his first red jersey at age 9. On a trip to the U.K. a couple of years ago, he did the “Legends” tour of Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal plays its home matches. The tour guide that day was Charlie George, a former Arsenal star who scored the club’s winning goal in the 1971 FA Cup Final vs. Liverpool.
“I’ve probably been an Arsenal fan for longer than any of these other people have been alive,” the broker and owner of Evansville’s Gammon Realty said as the Gunners and Manchester City squared off April 19 in a match shown at Patsy Hartigan’s; it was one of the year’s most important Premier League contests.
Debbie Ngeny, whose family arrived from Kenya 17 years ago, discovered the local club via Facebook and says she loves following Arsenal with fellow football fans. “They made me feel at home,” the hospice nurse says.
Arsenal fans are across the U.S., and some River City Gooners have hit the road to connect with others in Indianapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and Saint Louis, Missouri. Zellers says the Gooners likely will get together this summer when the World Cup is contested in North American cities. At least one club member has tickets to attend a match in Dallas, Texas.
“I think most of us will probably plan on watching it, either here (at Patsy Hartigan’s) or wherever we are,” Zellers says. “Summer’s kind of busy, with travel, with kids, and whatnot. But I’ll try to be down here for as many matches as we can.”
