AISA Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage
By Nigel Tremlett My father took me to my first game at the age of seven and I can remember it so well: a 3-1 defeat to Luton Town in March 1957. Our goal was scored by Derek Tapscott, who drilled it in from the edge of the area, but I cried all the way …
Read More “Arsenal v West Brom, Jan 1964. A personal memory”
by Tony Attwood This season the official Arsenal programme will include a column called “Arsenal Uncovered”. Now as you may know, I edit a blog called Untold Arsenal, as well as this history blog, and the fact that “Uncovered” is going to include quite a few history incidents, and that prefix “Un” appears in both …
Read More “We’ve got our own column in the official Arsenal programme this season. Please buy one!”
By Tony Attwood Saturday September 10th, 1910. One hundred years ago. The crowd was 14,000 and the goalless draw left Arsenal with two draws and a defeat from the first three games, having scored 2 goals and let in three. At least having already lost three key players in the first two games there were …
Read More “Woolwich Arsenal 0 Sheffield United 0. Sept 1910.”
Arsenal had no game this weekend because they had been knocked out of the cup. The match they should have played was moved to the monday (no hanging about for re-arranged fixture organisation or permission from the police 100 years back). Meanwhile Henry Norris had gone cool on the issue of Woolwich Arsenal, and predicted …
Read More “100 years ago it was cup weekend, and Arsenal had no game”
First, Jacko Jones’ review of Arsenal against Blackburn 100 years ago where the writer states that he watched from a hot air balloon…. Woolwich Arsenal met with Blackburn Rovers in the Football League Division I on Saturday, It was too cold for standing on the terraces, with a fierce wind blowing across the pitch so …
Read More “Arsenal watched from a hot air balloon plus a really intriguing question”
On 22 January 1910 Arsenal won a league match (a rarity in itself in a rotten season), but events elsewhere overshadowed the win. However I have a real feeling that very few people actually realised just how desperate things were that weekend – and indeed if one didn’t go to either of the meetings on …
Read More “100 years ago to the day, Norris expresses his first interest in Arsenal”
There’s no indication that the Woolwich Arsenal players had anything to do with the two momentous meetings held in Woolwich Town Hall on 22 January 1910 – the meetings which set in train the events that ended up with the formation of the modern Arsenal. After all they had a game to play, and they …
Read More “Will Arsenal be relegated? Arsenal v Boro, 100 years ago”
MAKING THE ARSENAL is a novel – the diary of a football journalist in 1910 who is given the job of covering the story of the collapse of Woolwich Arsenal, its take-over by Fulham and its re-birth as a new club. But the story is more than just football – it is a story about …
Here’s a story related to today’s game of Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers which you might not believe straight off… In the summer of 1967, Wolverhampton W. played in the United Soccer Association – a league of 12 clubs in Canada and the USA. Each club was a club from elsewhere in the world, rebranded with …
The run up to 1909. This charts the history of Arsenal 100 years ago – leading up to the take over of the club by Henry (later Sir Henry) Norris in 1910. Today: the league history of the club up to this point. Woolwich Arsenal spent 11 not very eventful years in …
This is an extract from the novel, MAKING THE ARSENAL which records the history of the takeover of Woolwich Arsenal by Henry (later Sir Henry) Norris of Fulham. At this point in the story, Jacko Jones, the journalist, is trying to piece together Norris’ past activities in football. And he hits on a rather …
If you have read any of my ramblings on the topic of the early days of Arsenal before, you’ll know that I believe the modern Arsenal was founded in 1910. The reason for that is simple – in 1910 the existing owners of Woolwich Arsenal FC put the club into liquidation, and ultimately sold …
Read More “What is the name of the man who built the modern Arsenal?”
Making the Arsenal is a record of the diary of Jacko Jones, football reporter with the Daily Chronicle in Fleet Street. You can read more about it on this site – and the whole book will be published at the end of October 2009. Meanwhile here is one day’s extract from the diary. …
Read More “Life in the old days – an extract from Jacko Jones diary”
In the 1909/1910 season which we celebrate here (100 years ago, in case I didn’t make that quite clear), Arsenal didn’t play the centre of all evil (Birmingham City FC) because they (Evil Birmingham) were in Division II. In fact Birmingham were so bad that year that then ended up bottom of Division II. …
One of the great things about studying football history is that one keeps coming across little known oddities which give just a tiny insight into the world of Arsenal. The problem is that quite often they just don’t give enough information, and I am left desperately searching for a proper explanation. Let me give …
This page is archived under George Morrell and Season 1910/11 Why did Arsenal go into liquidation? Just over 100 years ago Arsenal FC (then known as Woolwich Arsenal) teetered on the brink, and toppled into administration. There were four separate buy-outs, the last of which saw the club purchased by Henry Norris, who also …
This page is indexed under Season 1910/11 George Morrell Ten things you may not know about life in England in the 1909/1910 season. 1: While there was no radio or TV, there were however gramophones playing 78rpm records. It was a new development, but spreading fast among the middle classes. Many houses in London had …
Read More “Arsenal, football and life 100 years ago. All the things you didn’t know.”
Below is an extract from MAKING THE ARSENAL, the diaries of Jacko Jones, of the Daily Chronicle. Jacko covered the story of the the demise and rebirth of Woolwich Arsenal in 1910. In this extract, Jacko, a veteran of the Boer War turned football correspondent, has been ordered by his editor to get himself …
Read More “The day Arsenal FC went bust: an eye witness report”
This article was published 5 October 2009. It is indexed under George Morrell October 2nd 1909 Blackburn Rovers v Woolwich Arsenal A curious coincidence: 100 years ago almost to the day, Arsenal played Blackburn Rovers. But the club and the date are where the coincidences ended, for the events of October 1909 and October 2009 …
Read More “October 1909 Blackburn Rovers v Woolwich Arsenal”
This article is filed under George Morrell and Season 1909/10 Arsenal v Blackburn 100 years ago The 1909/1910 season for Woolwich Arsenal was not exactly the lowest point of the club but it was certainly not far short. The club escaped relegation from the fist division by just two points, with a game to go, …
Read More “Arsenal vs Blackburn: the story from 100 years ago”
This article is archived under George Morrell and Season 1910/11 What was football like in 1910? 100 years ago the Football League was well established and could get crowds for matches in the First Division of anything between 5,000 (at small clubs like Preston North End) up to 60,000 at the largest grounds. Old Trafford …
