26 January Arsenal anniversaries: ground shut because of crowd violence

 

 

Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order. 

Day by Day the stories  a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year

Arsenal today:   Arsenal’s 25 man squad – is it already full?

The anniversaries for 25 January

26 January 1889: St Luke’s 5 Arsenal 0 – a reminder that Royal Arsenal were strong but certainly not invincible in the early days.

26 January 1891: Royal Arsenal 0 Everton 5.  After three games in which Arsenal scored a total of 16 goals the club (which was playing its final season as amateurs) was brought down to earth by first division Everton.

26 January 1895: Crowd incidents in the Woolwich Arsenal v Burton game led to the ground being closed by the FA for two games.  The original sentence proposed was that the ground would be closed for the rest of the 1894/95 season. However, on appeal a “compromise” of 6 weeks suspension was agreed upon by the FA.   See also here.

26 January 1918:  Tottenham 0 Fulham 1 at Highbury (as Tottenham’s ground was closed for the duration).  Sir Henry Norris attended with his daughter who took her dog into the directors’ box.  The dog then escaped and then ran on the pitch and play was stopped while it was rounded up.  However this story also turns up in another match so may not be true.

26 January 1925: WHU 1 Arsenal 0 (at Stamford Bridge).  The second replay of the FA Cup match that was the scene of the Arsenal drugs scandal.  Curiously the only source for the story is the man who dished out the drugs to the team: the Arsenal manager who claimed he didn’t know the man who offered him the pills!

26 January 1926: John Logie Baird demonstrated a mechanical television system in London – the first faltering steps towards TV.

26 January 1946: Leicester 4 Arsenal 5 in Football League South.  The last of six consecutive victories in the war time league in which Arsenal scored 20 games.  Arsenal then failed to win any of the next five games in the league.

26 January 1957: Ex player Freddie Cox DFC started his most famous FA Cup run as a manager of Bournemouth, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur before narrowly losing to  Man U.

26 January 1969: James Ramsey died.  He went to Arsenal from Kilmarnock in 1924, and returned there in 1926, leaving Arsenal after 75 games.

26 January 1971: The journey to the Double was held up by a waterlogged pitch for the 4th round cup replay at Portsmouth.

26 January 1980: Arsenal beat Brighton And Hove Albion 2-0 in the cup with 43,202 in attendance.  After some poor performances Brady and Rix were back to their best and Arsenal could have reached double figures, except the Brighton keeper had the game of his life.

26 January 1985: York 1 Arsenal 0 (FA Cup).  Having taken two attempts to beat Hereford, Arsenal went down to York in front of a packed house of 10,840

26 January 2005: Jackie Henderson died in Poole, Dorset.  He played for Scotland and was a great favourite at Portsmouth, but couldn’t pull Arsenal through on his own.

26 January 2008: Arsenal beat Newcastle 3-0 at home in the FA Cup.

26 January 2013: Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 (FAC 4). This came in the midst of some high scoring matches including a 7-3 win over Newcastle, a 5-2 win away to Reading and a 5-1 win over WHU.

100 Yearsthe complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919 which launched 100+ consecutive years in the top division.

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.

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