The Arsenal player who sued Arsenal and changed football’s approach to contracts

This is our daily review of Arsenal anniversaries taken from the Arsenal day by day  files prepared by the AISA Arsenal History Society.

Our headline is taken from this day in 1892


Special feature:

Highbury: from start to end with previously unseen pictures of the end of the stadium.

Below are the Anniversaries from  November 17. 

19 November 1886:  On this day the Kentish Mercury published a letter confirming there was a Steamboat crossing from Greenwich to Isle of Dogs, thus allowing us to confirm over 125 years later how the Dial Square players got to their first game.  Prior to this the apparent lack of transport had cast doubt on whether the game was played in that location.

19 November 1887: First ever game between Arsenal and Tottenham.  Poor light stopped play with Tottenham leading 2-1 and about 15 minutes to go.  It is alleged on some Tottenham sites that the problem was caused by Royal Arsenal players arriving late, but no supporting evidence is provided with these claims.

19 November 1892: George Davie’s last game as the result of an injury.  He then sued Arsenal for his wages for the rest of the season, but lost, thus changing the way football contracts were written and the introduction of the notorious “retain and transfer” rule.

19 November 1897: Tom Parker born.  He joined his local club playing his first season in the war leagues that carried on until 1919, then played with Southampton  in the Southern League and then in the newly created third division.

19 November 1927: Eddie Hapgood made his debut in a 1-1 draw against Birmingham.  He played 3 games that season but by 1929/30 was a permanent fixture in the side.See also here  

19 November 1929 – Jack Kelsey was born in Llansamlet, near Swansea.  Jack joined Arsenal in 1949 from Winch Wen – his only other club (playing in the Swansea and District League side).  

19 November 1932: Aston Villa 5 Arsenal 3  Jack, Lambert and Bastin scored.  It was part of a run in which Arsenal scored 40 goals in nine games, 12 of which came from Bastin.

19 November 1933: Racing Club de Paris 0 Arsenal 1 and curiously against on 19 November 1958: Racing Club de Paris 0 Arsenal 1

19 November 1960: Jimmy Bloomfield sold to Birmingham City for £30,000.  He spent four years there, played in a Fairs Cup final, winning the league cup and scoring in the final.  He later played for Brentford, West Ham, Plymouth Argyle and Leyton Orient,  where he was player manager, winning Division 3 in his second season.

19 November 2011:  Having been 15th in the league (with Tottenham 17th) Arsenal scored their fifth win in a row with a 2-1 away with to Norwich, scoring 15 goals.  They ended the season in 3rd; Tottenham came in fourth.

19 November 2012: Frimpong went on loan to Charlton; the second of three loans before moving on to Barnsley and then Ufa.  Ufa was created by the President of the  Republic of Bashkortostan, to represent the republic in the Russian league.

 And elsewhere on this day in 1969

Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro Pele scored his 1000th goal.


 

Yesterday’s anniversaries:

He died playing for Arsenal – the club he loved.


 

The latest post from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal

Norris at the Arsenal: March 1918, crowds drop, rationing, the war turns

A full index of the various series of articles on this site appears on the home page.

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