International Matches at Arsenal

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With Arsenal hosting the international friendly between Brazil and Chile this afternoon, we thought we would put together a list of international games played at Arsenal.

Prior to 1913 Arsenal’s grounds had never been considered suitable venues for international matches, the main reason being the inaccessibility of Plumstead, even though between 1890 and 1893 the club played at one of the country’s best grounds.

The first such game that Arsenal hosted was on 15 March 1920 when England played Wales at Highbury. Wales won 2-1, and this would be the only time that England tasted defeat at an Arsenal ground.

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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:

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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 →

Arsenal v Man Utd: The Spirit of Kelso

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For today’s game the manager and whole team must call upon the fighting spirit of Arsenal’s most pugnacious boss in its history. He stood up to the Manchester police as his team won away in 1906 to reach the Gunners first ever FA Cup semi-final.

Today Arsenal need the Phil Kelso spirit.

As you know we have been reproducing our programme work on the blog this season, well here is a match report in a slightly different format to those of this season, written for last season’s quarter-final programme against Everton. A prescient match up of the first FA cup tie between the two most successful teams in the competition’s history!

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Manchester United v Arsenal – FA Cup quarter-final 10 March 1906

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