(Apologies for the very late publishing of this article due to a technical problem. But the video is still worth watching!)
Portsmouth v Arsenal 2009: the video
Contact Arsenal History Society at Tony@schools.co.uk
- 100 Years in the First Division: the absolute complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919.
- Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here.
- Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
- Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
You can find the latest video each day on the home page of this site. You can also find videos for previous days by clicking the articles in the left column of this page under “Recent Posts” or by clicking on the mauve headline at the top of the screen on the right, which will take you to yesterday’s selected video – and so on back to the start of the series in August. There is more about who we are and other things we do, at the foot of the page. Below are the anniversaries for today in Arsenal’s history…
The Arsenal History Society is part of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association – a body which gives positive support to the club, and has regular meetings with directors and senior officials of the club to represent the views of its members to the club. You can read more about AISA on its website.
Here are the anniversaries
30 December 1893: Arsenal’s first ever away win in the league: Ardwick 0 Woolwich Arsenal 1. Henderson got the goal in front of a crowd of 4,000. Arsenal went on to win away twice more in the season, including a 3-6 win at Middlesbrough Ironopolis.
30 December 1911: After beating Tottenham 3-1 on Boxing Day hopes were high but the footballing year ended with a 4-1 away defeat to Liverpool.
30 December 1916: Arsenal ended the year with a 1-0 away win over Southampton making it three wins and a draw in the last four games in the wartime London Combination.
30 December 1918: Athletic News, the lead football journal of the day, raised the Liverpool and Man U match fixing affair again arguing vigorously on Chelsea’s behalf since they were the team that had been relegated as a result of the match fixing, but still no one argued that the clubs should be punished!
30 December 1921: The Fulham Chronicle stated definitively that Sir Henry Norris would be standing in Fulham East as an Independent Unionist against any official Conservative Party candidate.
30 December 1922: Arsenal beat Stoke 3-0. But it was a false dawn as there was only one more win in the next six games. The correspondent of the Times noted that Arsenal could only play on heavy pitches.
30 December 1926: James Ramsey left Arsenal and moved to Kilmarnock.
30 December 1933: Arsenal played their fourth game in eight days, and after three wins over Sheffield Utd and Leeds (twice) hopes were high but Arsenal then drew on this day with Birmingham 0-0.
30 December 1961: Charlie Nicholas born. He played 84 times for Celtic scoring 48 goals. He brought great hope of a renaissance when Terry Neill signed him in 1983 but ultimately did not live up to his high promise.
30 December 1972: As the league finished for the year Arsenal were in second place three points behind Liverpool while Manchester United were bottom of the table.
30 December 1978: Arsenal beat Birmingham City 3-1 at home, with an attendance of 27,877. The game included Rice’s first goal of the season, from 30 yards out. Arsenal were not only fourth, but only four points behind Liverpool.
30 December 1995: Arsenal 1 Wimbledon 3. One of the low points of the Rioch year, coming during a spell of one win in eight games. Ian Wright scored in front of 37,640.
30 December 2006. Sheffield Utd 1 Arsenal 0. Arsenal 7th league game of the month, and their only defeat. The result left Arsenal in 5th place, 17 points behind the leaders.
30 December 2009: Portsmouth 1 Arsenal 4. The match came in a run of nine unbeaten, which included 10 goals in three successive games. Ramsey, Song, Nasri and an own goal gave Arsenal their four.
30 December 2010: Harvard Nordtveit sold to Borussia Monchengladbach for £800,000. He became a regular fixture for the club playing over 150 league games for them before going to West Ham.
