She Wore a Yellow Ribbon: Arsenal Kits in the FA Cup Final – 2015 ver – updated 2020

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Arsenal kit in each of the previous finals

By Mark Andrews – Stats updated to reflect 1 August 2020

As part of the run up to the FA Cup final we will be looking into various aspects of Arsenal’s rich history with the competition. Today we cover kits worn in finals, which is a yellow tinted updated version of last year’s article to take into account the recent announcement that we will be wearing our change kit

Only 7 minutes but, boy, what 7 minutes they were

Pat Rice and Steve Walford try to catch Alan Sunderland in the final minute of the 1979 FA Cup Final

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Arsenal’s FA Cup Semi-final Record – To 1 August 2020

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This blog written in 2015 – has been updated statistically to reflect Arsenal’s recent 14th FA Cup win

We’re sure that we will be asked at some point about Arsenal’s record so, we’ve dusted down last year’s blog and updated it. Below is a list of all the FA Cup semi-finals that Arsenal have appeared in. This will be the Arsenal’s 28th appearance at this stage, setting a new record. (This record now stands at 30) And, as an added bonus, programmes from a couple of victories.

1971-03-31 Stoke City (N) FAC 01

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Arsenal’s record at Wembley

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With Arsenal’s victorious appearance at Wembley on Saturday the club’s record at Spur’s new ground is unsurpassed.

We originally published this post in 2014 before the FA Cup semi-final against Wigan.

It’s now been updated to take into account the subsequent games at Wembley since then. In this update we’ve added a couple of programmes from previous Wembley appearances.

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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 v Austria: 1933 at Highbury.

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When the Austrians came to Highbury.

As it was International week we thought we would dust down an old programme article from last year showing Arsenal playing a national team.

Everyone knows about the battle of Highbury when England, with seven Arsenal players, fought and beat world champions Italy in November 1934.

1933-12-05 DMir v Austria no 8

Arsenal v Austrian XI

A lesser known “international” at Highbury occurred on 4 December 1933, just prior to Herbert Chapman’s premature death, when Arsenal hosted an Austrian team who, for matters of FA form, went by the name of “A Vienna XI” or “The Football Club of Austria”, but were to all intents and purposes the Austrian National team, albeit playing a couple of reserves.

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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.

DMir_1920_03_16_008

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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 →