Robin van Persie
We had driven an estimate of more than two hundred miles from Southampton heading to Manchester. My friends and I had decided to take a break and stopped on one of the service stations along the motorway. We were both coming from Isle of Wight where we had visited some close relatives who were involved in a car accident in Zimbabwe, and miraculously all the six passengers including a six months old baby survived the accident with minor scratches with the exception of the mother of the baby who suffered from severe broken left leg, her right feet cracked underneath and the ankles twisted. Her situation forced her to depend on other people and so in the end we decided to take the baby away from her for a while so that she could recover with less stress.
It was on the previous weekend and on a Sunday night we were on our way back. Having stopped at the service station we decided to go for KFC food, it was good for family size portions and reasonably cheap. As we found ourselves standing behind the counter, a group three young white lads saw us and between us they saw their rival exposed by his Manchester city attire, which he had worn that day as we travelled back to Manchester. They came to us and sang in front of him. “All Van Persie,” they sang for a while and stopped as they ordered their food. We took our order and went and sat down. Whilst in the middle of eating our KFC food, we heard a roar of sound that covered the KFC building, all the diners were now singing: “All Van Persie”. They sang for a good one solid minute. It was then we realised that the entire service station was flooded with Manchester United fans of all ages, the young ones and the adults. Little did we know that we had travelled on the same boat with the Manchester United supporters or royalists from Southampton heading to north west direction?
“Why are they singing about Van Persie?” I asked my uncle the Manchester United rival who was sitting opposite to me with the interest. “It is because he scored all three goals for Manchester United.” he answered and “also sending a message to me as their rival that they have won the game,” he added as his eyes scanned around the Manchester United fans.
I felt the coldness and a pang of jealous for Manchester United. Van Persie was one of our footballer legends in Arsenal team. His move to Manchester United left a big vacuum and it is irreplaceable for our team. I do understand these were last minutes for the Arsenal team to make an important decision and get something useful by selling him to Manchester United. If things were reversible I would have wanted Van Persie back to our team. He is the one of the greatest footballers in the world. In the end I ended up singing: All Van Persie, and my uncle the rival for Manchester United thought I was singing to annoy him like the Manchester United fans. “Nada,” I said to him in Portuguese language and shook my head in denial. I was singing for the joy. “All Van Persie.” Van Persie had made himself proud to be who he is, a star that shines among stars.