Graham Rix played 351 league games for Arsenal and scored 41 goals. He then moved on to France and played 89 times cor Caen and 12 for Le Havre, before finishing his career with Dundee (14) and Chelsea 1 game. However that one game was as emergency cover – he was primarily on the coaching staff.
However in March 1999, Rix was sentenced to 12 months in prison, as a sex offender. He later worked with Portsmouth, Oxford, Hearts, before working in Trinidad and Tobago and finally AFC Porchester.
In April 2017 Rix suffered a heart attack and the following year he was accused by multiple Chelsea trainees of racism and physical assault which he denied. The police investigated but concluded there was not evidence to warrant a charge.
Here are the anniversaries…
26 March 1896: Tottenham 1 Arsenal 3. The crowd was 3000; the largest so far for a game between the two teams – but within three years a crowd of 14,500 was recorded for this fixture in the United League.
26 March 1900: Harold Peel born in Bradford. He joined from Bradford PA and left Arsenal after 47 league appearances to play instead for Bradford City.
26th March 1910 – Woolwich Arsenal 0 The Wednesday 1. It was one of a run of 14 consecutive games in which Arsenal failed to score or scored just one goal. Despite this they did actually win four of those games. It was also the 2nd of three games in four days
26 March 1921: Last game for Frederick Groves. Arsenal 2 Sheffield U 6. Curiously Sheffield U were fighting relegation at the time and ended the season 20th out of 22. Arsenal ended the season in 9th.
26 March 1921: Ted Platt born. He was signed from Colchester in 1938 but didn’t make his debut until November 1946, because of the suspension of football during the war. He went on to play 53 league games for the club.
26 March 1927: Arsenal 2 Southampton 1; FA Cup semi-final number 3 – the first victory in the semi-final. Hulme and Buchan scored the goals that took Arsenal to Wembley for the first time. See also here
26 March 1930: Hull City 0 Arsenal 1. FA Cup semi-final replay. David Jack scored the goal at Villa Park which took Arsenal to their second final and ultimately their first major trophy.
26 March 1934: Driving tests became compulsory for all new drivers. Drivers who had a driving licence before that date (having obtained one without taking a test) were allowed to continue driving for life, and were not required to take the new test.
26 March 1937: Ted Drake’s last game of the season He only played 26 games in total this season but he still scored 20 goals in the league. In the cup he played three and scored seven. But the games he missed through injury were considered to have cost Arsenal the league title.
26 March 1948 Arsenal beat Middlesbrough 7-0 in the league to go eight points clear at the top. They then only won two more of their final eight games but still won the league by seven points!
26 March 1963 Danny O’Shea born. He joined from Staines Juniors and played six games in 1982/3, his only season at Arsenal, before moving on to Exeter. He later played 118 league games for Southend and 203 for Cambridge, and ended his career in 1999.
26 March 1966: Arsenal 1 Newcastle 3. This made it seven without a win and even then the run was not over as Arsenal won only two of the remaining nine games in the league, to end the league in 14th. 13,939 attended. Arsenal’s goal was an own goal.
26 March 1973: Arsenal 1 Crystal Palace 0. The result meant it was four wins in a row, and just one defeat in 16. But a poor run thereafter left Arsenal finishing second. Alan Ball scored the only goal of the game.
26 March 1979: Bolton 4 Arsenal 2. The result made it four defeats, one win, one draw in the last six league games. Arsenal gained just two wins in the remaining ten games. Price and Heeley got the goals.
26 March 1987: Alan Smith signed for Arsenal and was then loaned back to Leicester for the remainder of the season. Questions were asked about the legality of such a move which had not been seen before but the League agreed there was nothing amiss with the manoeuvre.
26 March 1999: Graham Rix was sentenced to one year imprisonment for having sex with an underage girl. He was last heard of as manager of A.F.C. Portchester of the Wessex League Premier Division.
26 March 2019: Al Nasr 2 Arsenal 3 in a friendly in the UAE. Jenkinson, Lacazette and John-Jules scored.
