Maria Petri shuffled achingly along the sideline and collapsed into her seat. It was last spring, and the 83-year-old Petri was feeling frail, her usually booming voice reduced to a whisper, but still she came to Borehamwood to see Arsenal, the club she had fiercely supported for 72 years and that became the love of her life.
She was tiny in stature, old in age and loud in the mouth. This game was just one among thousands she had attended -- from youth games, to senior men's and women's matches at Highbury, the Emirates and Borehamwood, to international away days.