Maria Petri (1 March 1939 – 22 July 2022) was an English

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

supporter. She had been attending Arsenal and

Arsenal Women Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as just Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. A ...

matches constantly since 1950 until her death on 22 July 2022 and had been recognised within English football for her unique chants.

Personal life

Petri was born on 1 March 1939 to

Greek-Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greeks, Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest Ethnolinguistic group, ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming al ...

parents, Michael and Eleni, who had immigrated from Akanthou the previous year. She studied French and Spanish at what is now the

University of Chichester The University of Chichester is a public university located in West Sussex, England, which became a university in 2005. Campuses are based in the city of Chichester and the nearby coastal resort of Bognor Regis and an associate campus for comm ...

and worked as a schoolteacher teaching languages in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London. She was reportedly able to speak six languages. She never married.

Football supporting

Petri started taking an interest in football after hearing about Arsenal on the radio whilst she was washing dishes when she was 11. She started attending Arsenal matches at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

in 1950 secretly as her parents would not allow her to go to football matches. She quickly gained a reputation for creating her own chants for the players, such as "Come on you Gunners!" Occasionally she would receive sexist comments from fellow fans about her chanting but she would always respond with a chant of "You'll never keep me quiet!" When Arsenal Ladies were started in 1987, she would also regularly attend their games. During

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...

, one of her chants for Arsenal's and England's

Beth Mead Bethany Jane Mead (born 9 May 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for the Women's Super League (WSL) club Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal and the England women's national football team, En ...

went viral. In all, she had supported Arsenal for 72 years. In 2022 she said "I'm now an 82-year-old orphan. Because I don't have any nuclear family, I see Arsenal as my family." When she died on 22 July 2022, Arsenal published a tribute to her. The Arsenal manager

Mikel Arteta Mikel Arteta Amatriain (born 26 March 1982) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of club Arsenal F.C., Arsenal. Arteta began his senior club career ...

said "She was an integral part of our support and our community. The way she transmitted Arsenal values and the feeling of this football club was something I have never seen before." Arsenal Women's players also paid tribute due to her regular attendance and vocal support at their games. Arsenal fans and former men's players such as

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

also paid tribute to her. On 23 July, Arsenal wore black armbands during their Florida Cup match against Chelsea as a tribute to her. Arsenal Women subsequently retained her season ticket seats as a charitable reward for members of their community scheme in Petri's honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Maria 1939 births 2022 deaths English people of Greek Cypriot descent 20th-century English women educators 20th-century English educators Schoolteachers from London Association football supporters Alumni of the University of Chichester Women in association football

Personal life

Football supporting

See also

References