The Football League did not come out of the match fixing scandals of the early 20th century very well. They had initially refused to accept the possibility that match fixing could be taking place and threatened anyone who mentioned the possibility of a lifetime ban from football. And then when they were finally forced to investigate, because of the outcry from punters when gambling firms refused to pay up on games they claimed were fixed, the League did not even try to investigate if club directors were involved.
Which is interesting given that they had ordered one such director (Henry Norris) not to comment on match fixing any more after he had raised the issue in a newspaper article.
But then the League committee that investigated the match fixing was made up of club directors, so it could hardly have been otherwise.
Here are the anniversaries.
7 June 1915: The Football League opened its enquiry into the Manchester Utd 2 Liverpool 0 match; the second match involving Liverpool in which match fixing was alleged and this time there was so much evidence that it was impossible to hush the whole thing up. Henry Norris who had first raised the issue in 1913 in his newspaper column and been ordered never to speak another word about Liverpool match fixing was about to be vindicated.
7 June 1917: The British army detonated 19 ammonal mines (an alternative to TNT) which had been placed under the German lines. 10,000 enemy soldiers were killed in what is said to have been the deadliest deliberate non-nuclear man-made explosion in history.
7 June 1922: Sir Henry Norris, the Arsenal chairman and major shareholder, began to split completely from his political work in Fulham, telling his party he would engage with them no more because of the financial demands they made upon him.
7 June 1928: Dave Bowen born. He first played for Northampton but was spotted by Pat Whittaker, the son of Arsenal’s manager, and signed by Arsenal after only 12 games for Northampton. See also here
7 June 1928: After two years at Arsenal, Jack Lee was sold to Chesterfield for £250.
7 June 1941: Tim Rogers played in a wartime international for Wales against England. England won 3-2.
7 June 1947: Arsenal lost 1-2 to Sheffield United away in the final league match of the season – the only time AFC have played a league match in June. The season was extended because of the number of postponements due to the exceptionally bad winter weather.
7 June 1948: Alf Morgan (also known as Stan Morgan) was transferred from Arsenal to Walsall. He was on Arsenal’s books for 1946 to 1948 but played just twice in the league.
7 June 1970: Brazil 1 England 0 in the world cup finals group stages There was a consensus in the media that England would retain the world cup they won at Wembley four years earlier.
7 June 2013: David Bentley once of Arsenal, who had pushed for a transfer in order to get the games he felt he deserved, was released by Tottenham, and heard of no more in football. He then set up his own restaurant. He is since said to have invested in a restaurant with Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and other businesses in Spain and England.
