93-year-old Reading fan has hated Arsenal for almost a century
Reading plays Arsenal on Saturday in the FA Cup semifinals, but this 93-year-old Reading fan started hating the Gunners a long, long time ago.
Ciss Platten will attend Saturday's game at Wembley Stadium, and according to The Guardianshe'll be the only Reading fan there who was alive the last time the Royals advanced that far in the tournament. That was in 1927, when Reading lost to Cardiff City.
Reading is a massive underdog in Saturday's game. The club sits near the bottom of the standings in England's second tier, while perennial power Arsenal is second in the Premier League. An upset would only make things sweeter for Platten, who has hated Arsenal since the 1920's.
• Tottenham Hotspur to play MLS All-Star Game in July
"I didn’t really know about football then but dad used to stand by the window on a Sunday morning checking his Pools coupon," Platten told The Guardian. "And he’d say: ‘Bloody hell, Arsenal have let me down again. He was always grumbling about them. ‘That blasted team’ he called them. I think that’s maybe why I’ve always disliked Arsenal."
Platten still works one day a week cleaning houses and has no plans to cut down on her soccer match attendence.
"I’ll carry on following Reading until I can’t do it any more," she said. "Do you think I’ll still be doing this at 100? I hope so. I never think: ‘Oh, I can’t be bothered today.’ I can’t wait for the next game. It would be awful if I ever overslept."
- Dan Gartland
