AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
———————– Ordinary is Pointless ———————————- By Tony Attwood If you are a regular reader you will know that this site is taking a long run up towards the 100th anniversary of the move of Woolwich Arsenal FC from Plumstead to the ground that we eventually got to know as “Highbury”. The reason for this is …
Read More “Behold! The programme for the first ever game at Highbury 99 years ago.”
By Tony Attwood We have got a couple of copies of Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football to give away. And in case you already have a copy, we’ve got some alternative prizes too. To win, all you have to do is to enter Andy Kelly’s fiendish Arsenal History Quiz. Better still, you don’t …
Read More “The Great History of Arsenal competition – with prizes”
Ordinary is Pointless By Tony Attwood This is the chronology of the move of Arsenal FC from Plumstead to Islington which took place in 1913 – part of the ISLINGTON 100 project run by the Arsenal History Society. Some dates are obvious ones that must be included – such as the first league match at …
Read More “ISLINGTON 100: Plumstead to Highbury, day by day”
By Tony Attwood If Arsenal FC had asked me to produce for them a phrase for the 125 year celebrations “Ordinary is Pointless” is the sort of thing I would have given them. Because a) it is true (there is no point in being ordinary in this life) and because b) Arsenal, from the very …
By Tony Attwood and Andy Kelly Britain’s Greg Rutherford has won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump on Saturday. And we mention this because Greg is the great grandson of Woolwich Arsenal, The Arsenal and Arsenal star player Jock Rutherford. Full details of Jock Rutherford are of course incorporated into the book Woolwich …
Read More “Great Grandson of Arsenal star wins gold at Olympics”
—————- Who invented away support? ——————— By Tony Attwood On August 4th 1938 George Allison, the Arsenal manager broke the British transfer record in signing Bryn Jones from Wolverhampton, for £14,500. So outrageous was the fee seemed (and what with this being Arsenal) questions were asked in Parliament. 74 years later to the day, as …
—————- Who invented away support? ——————— By Tony Attwood August 3 1999 – what a day. Henry arrives (for the first time). What on earth can we say about Thierry Henry that has not already been said? Maybe the story that when he was 13 the scout of Monaco went to watch him play in …
Read More “Arsenal Anniversaries: Thierry Henry signs for Arsenal, 3 August 1999”
By Tony Attwood A couple of years back I mentioned to Ivan Gazidis the idea that Arsenal might collect the memories of fans who have been to watch matches over the years. He was enthusiastic, but unfortunately it is one of those things that has never been able to get off the ground. The idea …
Read More “ISLINGTON 100: Send me your memories of Highbury”
By Tony Attwood, chairman, Arsenal History Society. I have been writing recently to the effect that the Arsenal History Society, part of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association, had proposed to Arsenal FC a series of events to commemorate the move from Plumstead of Highbury. The move started in1912 when Henry Norris began the search for …
Read More “Celebrating 100 years of Arsenal in Islington: a proposal for the club’s AGM”
By Tony Attwood, chairman, Arsenal History Society. I wrote in an earlier post that the Arsenal History Society, part of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association, had proposed to Arsenal a series of events to commemorate the move from Plumstead of Highbury. The move started in1912 when Henry Norris began the search for a new ground, …
Read More “ISLINGTON 100: The commemoration of Norris, Humble and Hall”
Look around the Arsenal today and you will not find a single mention of Henry Norris. No statue, no plaque, no picture. Mention Henry Norris to your average Arsenal fan and either he or she will not have heard of the man or that supporter will say something like “he was a crook wasn’t he?” …
Read More “The anniversary of the death of the man who created the modern Arsenal”
Arsenal History Society is part of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association and together we put a proposal to Arsenal FC to work to commemorate the move to Islington – and the events of 1912 and 1913. Although Arsenal FC were very positive indeed in terms of our suggestion for a statue of Herbert Chapman at …
Read More “ISLINGTON 100: Celebrating 100 years of Arsenal in north London”
Launching Islington 100 by Tony Attwood Last season Arsenal celebrated 125 years since its first game. So maybe that’s enough anniversaries for now. Except that this coming season sees something much more important, by way of anniversary. What, you may ask, could be more important than the start of the club? Well, I would argue …
Read More “We’re approaching one of the biggest anniversaries in Arsenal’s history”
By Tony Attwood Woolwich Arsenal FC was created in 1893 and for the first four years of its existence (during which time it was in the Football League Division 2), it was managed by a Committee of the Directors – or indeed the whole board of directors (I’m not sure which). The selection meetings must …
Read More “When the Arsenal team was selected by a committee!”
In the late 19th century Woolwich Arsenal was just about the most famous football team in the world. Which is extraordinary when you think that the club never won either the FA Cup nor the Football League. It was famous because it was the adopted club of servicemen throughout the British Empire. Whether they had …
Read More “A revolution in the appraisal of Arsenal’s history”
Tony, In the season ticket article from http://afchistory.wordpress.com/ you asked what the prices were in 1905. Well earlier in the pre-season on 30th June 1905 they were advertised in the Kentish Independent. Please see below. At this time the skilled Royal Arsenal artisans would have been paid up to approx £3 a week, and the unskilled labourer at the …
By Tony Attwood I missed this yesterday, but Yogi’s Warrior, who runs the excellent Arsenal on this Day site kindly pointed it out to me. I am hoping he doesn’t mind if I take his kindness further and reprint the whole thing as it is a rather find instance of how widespread the interest in …
Read More “Season Tickets On Sale at Arsenal, (24th July 1905)”
If you think you know your Arsenal history – it is time to think again. Never before has one book so transformed what we know about a football club. Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. —————————————- Herbert Chapman – an overview of his achievements By Tony Attwood When Herbert Chapman became manager he took over …
Read More “Herbert Chapman – just how great were his achievements”
—————— If you think you know your Arsenal history – it is time to think again. Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. ————– By Tony Attwood These days we often spend our time on Untold Arsenal telling players that if they leave Arsenal life will never be so good. We’ve charted the career of player …
By Tony Attwood I wanted to write a piece about Liam Brady turning professional on this day (23 July) in 1973. The problem is that although some sources such as “The Gunners: Day to Day Life at Highbury” say (and I quote exactly) “signed his first professional contract for Arsenal” on this day, while Wiki …
Read More “Liam Brady: who may (or may not) have signed pro forms on this day in 1973”
By Tony Attwood Woolwich Arsenal never won the league, never got further in the FA Cup than the semi-finals, and didn’t provide the backbone of the England or Scotland national sides. So how can we claim that the club changed football? Woolwich Arsenal’s most obvious claim to fame is that they brought the Football League …
If you think you know your Arsenal history – it is time to think again. Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. ———————– By Tony Attwood Anders Erik Limpar (born 24 September 1965) In many ways Anders Limpar started a revolution. By no means our first non-British Isles player, but he joined a team in …
Read More “Graham’s players: Anders Limpar – and an insight into the sale of Rocastle”
By Tony Attwood Bob McNab was born on 20 July 1943 in Yorkshire. Happy 69th Birthday Bob. After playing 68 times between 1963 and 1966 for Huddersfield, he was signed by Bertie Mee in October 1966 – two months into Mee’s reign. He replaced David Court at right back on October 15th in the away …
Read More “Bob McNab: happy birthday to one of Mee’s key men”
By Tony Attwood I was writing recently about the time when a ref stopped an Arsenal / Tottenham game at Plumstead because of bad language from the crowd. The full story of that, and the incidents I relate here are given in Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football which is published this weekend. After …
Read More “When the Tottenham keeper hit an Arsenal supporter during a game”
By Tony Attwood Bernard Joy (who died on 18 July 1984) played 86 games for Arsenal between 1935 and 1947 under the management of George Allison. He is also responsible for publishing a letter which has for years acted as one of only two sources of information about Arsenal’s first ever game. The letter is …
Read More “Bernard Joy – captain of the GB Olympics football team 1936”
