AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
David Rocastle was born at Lewisham on 2 May 1967 and joined Arsenal in May 1982, turning professional in December 1984. He was introduced into the first team by Don Howe and grew in stature under George Graham. However George Graham sold David, and having played his last game on 2 May 1992 he was …
By Tony Attwood If you keep a regular eye on the Arsenal History Society blog you’ll know that we run a section called Anniversaries. It tries to list most of the main events that have taken place in Arsenal’s history in order of the date. Then having put in the dates we try and write …
By Andy Kelly, Mark Andrews and Tony Attwood For much of its existence Arsenal has been dependant on benefactors – men who put their own money into the club in order that it may survive. One such was George Leavey, who, although now long forgotten by the club, was a man of whom it could …
Clifford Charles Holton known universally as Cliff was born on 29 April 1929 and died on 4 June 1996. Only 14 players in the entire history of the Football League have surpassed his career total of 293 league and cup goals, scored for Arsenal, Watford, Northampton, Crystal Palace, Charlton and Orient. Only Arthur Rowley, Jimmy Greaves, …
By Tony Attwood The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final was played in 1970 over two legs. It came at a time when Arsenal had in the two previous seasons lost two finals in the Football League Cup. In Cup Final terms it proved to be third time lucky and was our first European trophy. The story …
By Mark Andrews @RoyalArsenalMRA Arsenal Committee man and Director: 1891-1901 and silent saviour of the 1893 schism The 1893 schism focused on Royal Ordnance Factories FC (ROFFC)– a vanity project run by ex-directors of Royal Arsenal who couldn’t get their way at Royal Arsenal FC, and who perceived themselves to be of the gentlemanly class. …
Read More “George Lawrance: Born 27 April 1851 – First Benefactor of the Club”
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) Woolwich Arsenal’s final game of the disastrous 1912/13 season was played at home and, thus, was the last game that they played in Plumstead. Earlier on in the year the directors had announced that they would be leaving South London for Highbury. When Henry Norris and William Hall took control of …
Read More “26 April 1913 – Arsenal’s last game in Plumstead”
By Tony Attwood I remember as a child being so fed up that birthdays only came once a year. It was so long to wait – why did a year have to be that long? Now as a more senior member of society I think the opposite, and would very much like the Earth to …
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) I’m sure that you are aware that substitutes were introduced into English football for the 1965-66 season. Before this, if a player was injured and couldn’t play on then his team had to make do with ten men. This happened to Arsenal in the 1952 FA Cup Final when Walley Barnes …
On 24 April 1915 Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 7-0. The football season had started just before the war against Germany had broken out, and the decision was taken to continue through the season. There was after all no conscription at this time, although much effort was made to recruit men to the front. Henry Norris …
Read More “The very last game Arsenal played outside the First Division; 98 years ago today”
Hi Tony, I’ve been in conversation with Genes Reunited, who have asked me to post this notice. Always happy to oblige, here we go… Are you a die-hard Arsenal fan with a story to tell? The popular genealogy website, Genes Reunited, is looking for a bright and colourful character(s) to interview for their …
Read More “Are you a die-hard Arsenal fan with a story to tell?”
By Tony Attwood This was Chapman’s last triumph, but also the start of his legacy. The following season he passed away, as Arsenal continued and won the league again in 1934 and 1935. Here’s the league table with the results after the 40th round of matches had been played First division: 22 April 1933 2 …
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) There has been much speculation over the years about Arsenal’s first game. Was it really played on 11 December 1886 or in October? What name did they play under – Dial Square FC, Dial Square Cricket Club, Royal Arsenal, no name? Was it really played in Millwall? Why travel there for …
Read More “Arsenal’s First Game – The Facts Finally Revealed”
By Mark Andrews @royalarsenalmra Yesterday at Colindale while we were searching for evidence of very early results and fixtures, Andy Kelly set a fiendishly difficult twitter question: “Who was the first Invincible to sign for the club?” With that in mind here is the information we have on the chap, a very interesting fellow called Alexander …
Read More “Royal Arsenal Foundations: Sandy Robertson – The Club’s First Invincible”
By Tony Attwood The Guardian has come up with an interesting analysis of how each team that has had a season in the top division in England and Wales compares with all the others. They have taken the number of points won (which means that teams who have competed since we went over to 3 …
Read More “Arsenal’s progress in the first division from the very start”
By Tony Attwood Henry White is probably not a name you will know in terms of Arsenal. He was born on 17 April 1892 in Watford, and played first as an amateur with Brentford before the war. But in the first season after the first world war (our first back in the first division) he …
By Tony Attwood George Hedley Swindin was both an Arsenal player and an Arsenal manager, playing almost 300 games for Arsenal, but proving to be a very poor manager, from whose tenure the club took years to recover. He was born 4 December 1914, near Doncaster, and played as an amateur for Yorkshire clubs before …
Read More “George Swindin – one of Arsenal’s great keepers.”
John Barnwell was born on 24 December 1938 and played 151 games for Arsenal between 1957 and 1964. Thus he had the misfortune to be with Arsenal during The Darkness, playing under Jack Crayston, George Swindin and Billy Wright and was precluded from any chance of winning a trophy. After playing as an amateur for …
Read More “John Barnwell, Arsenal league debut 13 April 1957”
by Andy Kelly (@Gooner_AK) One of the many myths of Arsenal’s history is that the club has never been relegated. Unfortunately, this is not so. Even worse is that when they were relegated it was with one of the worst records ever. The fateful day when Arsenal were relegated was 12 April 1913. Prior to …
Frank Robert Hill was born on 21 May 1906 – 26 August 1993) played 81 times for Arsenal and in so doing won three championship medias (1932/3, 1933/4 and 1934/5. He also won the Charity Shield in 1934 and three caps for Scotland. Later in his career he won a Division 2 runner’s up medal …
Read More “Frank “Tiger” Hill; a forgotten hero of the Chapman era”
By Tony Attwood 10 April 1948: Arsenal win the First Division Championship by drawing with Huddersfield 1-1. After the game (and remember this was the era of two points for a win, not three) Arsenal had a lead over Manchester United of seven points, with United only having three games to play. It was all …
Read More “10 April 1948: Arsenal win the League in Whittaker’s first season”
By Tony Attwood There was nothing special about this particular match 92 years ago, but I list it on the Anniversaries file, for personal reasons. Earlier this season (2012/13) I watched a game between Corby Town and Bradford PA in the Conference North. Many years ago, probably around 1960 I watched Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic …
Read More “9th April 1921: Arsenal 2 Bradford 1 – there but for the grace…”
By Tony Attwood Three last game anniversaries happened on 8 April – or at least three that we have managed to trace. 8 April 1922: Last senior game for Angus McKinnon 8 April 1939: Last senior game for Alex Wilson 8 April 1986: Last senior game for Paul Mariner The Alex Wilson article will have …
By Tony Attwood At the end of the 1979/80 season Arsenal’s schedule became increasingly crowded as the club sought to play five games in 12 days between March 28 and April 9. March 28 Everton Away 1-0 April 2 Norwich Away 1-2 April 5 Southampton Home 1-1 April 7 Tottenham H Away April 9 Juventus …
Read More “The game against Tottenham Arsenal didn’t want to play”
By Tony Attwood If you know about your Arsenal history you will know of Mel Charles, and of course his even more famous brother John. What you may not know that after he got too old to play professional football he was ‘virtually penniless’. He was reduced to working as a door to door …
Read More “6 April 1959: First Arsenal game for Mel Charles, (in Southern Floodlight Challenge Cup)”
