The latest posts from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal
August 1919: Arsenal return to the First Division for the next 99 years
Below is our daily review of Arsenal anniversaries taken from the Arsenal day by day files prepared by the AISA Arsenal History Society. We expect to add another 1000 anniversaries to our files by the end of this year. Today’s headline comes from 1976. Six new anniversaries have been added to the list since this time last year.
17 January 1891: Football resumed for the first time since 13 December 1890, with all matches in the interim postponed because of bad weather. It was Edward Bee’s first competitive game for Arsenal – having made 105 appearances in friendly matches prior to this date. Although he played in this FA Cup match (see below) he never played a league game for Arsenal.
17 January 1891: Royal Arsenal’s first appearance in FA Cup competition proper in a game against Derby. Many histories suggest that Peter Connolly and Bob Buist were approached by Derby with contract offers, but this is not the case. See also here. Final cup game for Humphrey Barbur who played 66 games for Royal Arsenal and scored 55 goals but did not play in the league.
17 January 1896: Adam Haywood signed. Arsenal was his first club and he played his first game against Leicester on January 25 1896, retaining his place playing nine consecutive games and scoring four. He was part of the 7-0 thrashing of Crewe on March 21 1896.
17 January 1897: The Weekly Dispatch published an interview with George Lawrance in what was the first ever review of Arsenal’s historic origins. Born in 1851 Lawrance was the first benefactor of the club, and although now largely forgotten was of huge significance in both keeping the club going and ensuring a record was made of its early activities.
17 January 1914: Arsenal beat Hull City, and won the next game to make it three wins in the league in a row. This took them second in Division Two, equal on points with Notts County at the top.
17 January 1920: Wally Hardinge made his first appearance for Arsenal’s first team in a 1-4 away defeat to Man C. He was however much more famous as a cricketer scoring over 33,000 runs in first class cricket and being selected for one test match.
17 January 1922: Bob John signed from Caerphilly. He was Knighton’s greatest signing, and came to fruition under Chapman playing more times for Arsenal than any other player up to 1939.
17 January 1931: Sandwiched between a 7-1 and 9-1 win, Arsenal managed to lose 1-3 to Sunderland. The next defeat, as Arsenal marched on to win the league for the first time, was 1-5 to Aston Villa on March 15.
17 January 1932: Jackie Henderson born. A brilliant player who had the misfortune to join clubs (including Arsenal) that were either in decline or at the top (like Wolverhampton) and who didn’t want to disturb a winning team.
17 January 1948: The pivotal match of the season: a 1-1 draw with Man U in front of 81,962 – the biggest crowd for an Arsenal league match and reported as the highest league attendance ever at that time. The game was played at Maine Road, as Old Trafford was still being repaired after the second world war.
17 January 1968: Arsenal’s first semi-final since 1952 – Arsenal 3 Huddersfield 2 (in the League Cup). Graham, Radford and McNab scored. After no semi-finals in 16 years Arsenal now went on to six semis in six years ending with a defeat to Sunderland in the FA Cup in 1973.
17 January 1976: Leicester City 2 Arsenal 1 and “Boring Arsenal” was a theme within the press, although some preferred “Dreary Arsenal”, while others suggested that the fans thought relegation a distinct possibility. The away support for the Gunners was only 300 in number. The Mirror said, “you need masochistic tendencies to enjoy Arsenal these days.”
17 January 1979: Arsenal 3 Sheffield Wed 3 (at Leicester) FA Cup 3rd round 3rd replay. There was still one more replay to go.
17 January 1988 Coventry City 2 Arsenal 2. Vieira was sent off on 65 minutes and David Seaman broke his finger. Nic Anelka scored Arsenal’s second after a speedy run towards goal and turned, head down, no celebration, shuffling back up the pitch.
17 January 1993: Bill Seddon died aged 91. He won the Combination five times, along with Arsenal’s first FA Cup and the club’s first league title. After playing for Grimsby and Luton Town he became a trainer with Notts County and Romford. In 1967 Arsenal played Romford in a testimonial for him to mark his retirement. He was the last surviving player to appear in the first FA Cup victory.
17 January 1997: Paul Read sold to Wycombe for £35,000. In a seven year career he never played for Arsenal, but did play 100 games in the lower divisions. His last club was Exeter City whom he left in 2002.
17 January 1998: Coventry 2 Arsenal 2 – David Seaman broke a finger in the 23rd match of the second Double season. Bergkamp and Anelka scored. The second double: part 1, part 2, part 3.
17 January 2008: Lassana Diarra sold to Portsmouth for £5.5m. He was reported to be under investigation for money laundering, and has been accused of having links with Islamic State – which he has denied. After Portsmouth he moved to Real Madrid and in 2016 was playing for Marseille.
Yesterday’s anniversaries:
When FA Cup replays just kept going until someone scored
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What’s on the Arsenal History Society site
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