Arsenal won the Treble in 1935: Crowd celebrations

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The crowd celebrate the Triple Championship win in fine style: 4 May 1935

It is just over 80 years and three weeks to the day that Arsenal’s season ended as champions for the third time in succession.

On 22 April 1935 Arsenal travelled to Ayresome Park and won 1-0. Consequently this defeat of manager George Allison’s old club, Middlesbrough, meant Arsenal had managed to win their third consecutive First Division league championship.

Huddersfield were the only team to achieve the hat-trick previously, and they too had been shaped by Herbert Chapman, though after Chapman’s untimely death Allison had taken charge of Arsenal for the start of this campaign.

Earlier in the season, in March 1935, the anticipated ‘match of the season’ drew an all time home club record of 73,295 as Arsenal entertained eventual runners-up Sunderland who were vying with the Gunners for top spot.

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Arsenal Cricketers

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Arsenal players who were also Cricketers

As the cricket season has just begun we have compiled a list of cricketing Arsenal footballers.

As befits a club who were formed out of the Dial Square cricket team, Arsenal have had many dual code players. Also, at the time of founding in 1886, Woolwich was part of the county of Kent, a once great cricketing team particularly just prior to World War 1 and the during the 1970s.

David Danskin, the first Arsenal football captain, was a prominent member of the Dial Square cricket club, though the pitches they played on at Plumstead Common were a world away from the surface used by Arsenal’s best cricketer Denis Compton when he batted at Lords.

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Arsenal and the Archery Tournament That Wasn’t

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The Archery Tournament – Or Was It?

Those of you that have read an Arsenal history book will, more than likely, have noticed that the club organising an archery tournament in 1903 to raise funds. Arsenal handbooks throughout the 1970s included this statement within the club’s chronology:

Archery 1

Now, Edwardian England may seem a long time ago, but the medieval art of archery was very much in the decline, if not virtually non-existent at this time. On top of this, £1,200 was more than one fifth of Woolwich Arsenal’s turnover at the time. To put this into perspective, it is similar to a tournament bringing in £40 million today.

So, how was it that a tournament of this nature could greatly swell the club’s coffers? Read More →

The Frank and Eddie Show

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Geordie Armstrong on the Wing: AISA meeting 

Yesterday Andy and myself travelled to the Arsenal media centre for the AISA book event of Geordie Armstrong on the Wing by Dave Seager and Jill Armstrong.

This was meant to be held prior to Christmas but had to be cancelled, and was well worth waiting for as paying tributes to Geordie were Frank McLintock, Eddie Kelly, Dave Seager and Tom Watt as compere.

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Frank, Eddie, Dave and Tom

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