The index of all the major articles on the site about Arsenal players is now complete. It comes in two parts:
We have around 1500 articles on this site, and a fair number are specifically about one man who played for Arsenal. However this is the first time they have been fully indexed.
Of course there are many other sources of articles on Arsenal players but I do like to think that the articles here add a lot more detail, and have often found stories and issues that have been missed in other reports, not least because of the contributions from family members, and supporters of other clubs for whom individual players have played. I do hope you will give us a try.
It is more than likely that within all the articles on this site there are others that ought to be incorporated in this index, because they are primarily about an individual player, and if you spot one, please do drop me a line. I’ll be carrying on the search too.
To finish, let me, if I may, give a couple of examples as to why I think we have something to add.
Take for example, George Davie. There is, of course, an article about him on Arsenal.com which tells us that “George Davie did not play in the league for Arsenal and is arguably best remembered for taking the Club to court for wrongful dismissal and loss of earnings – a case he lost in January 1893.”
This is absolutely true, but our article also looks at the implication of Davie’s defeat in court. It led directly to the introduction, in the summer of 1893, of the retain and transfer system, which dominated football until another Arsenal player, George Eastham, went to court and got it overturned. It is an extraordinary twist that Arsenal were at the heart of both the start and end of that infamous system of restricting the rights of players to manage their own employment.
Also we’ve got some background on how football was seen at the time of the Davie case, with details from an article in the press at the time reporting on the story: Football consumes twice as much as the royal family. The view from 1893.
To give just a few more articles that might tickle your fancy, you could try these
I do hope you find this index worthwhile and helpful, as I really do feel that in some cases we have managed to expand the level of information available on some of Arsenal’s players from the past.
And of course I am sure we have missed someone – so if you find such a player, or can add any information about a player on the list, please do get in touch.
Tony Attwood