Here are the Anniversaries from 11 September – part of our regular daily look at Arsenal’s history.
Our most recent article on Arsenal’s history is
11 September 1893. The first ever league win. Woolwich Arsenal 4 Walsall Town Swifts 0; John Heath scored the first ever Arsenal hat-trick in the Football League.
11 September 1900: Jimmy Brain born. He played for Ton Pentre having worked previously as a coal miner and at the age of 23 he was sold to Arsenal.
11 September 1943: Alf Kirchen’s final match, played in the wartime league. In the war he joined the RAF as a physical training instructor, and played 116 wartime games for Arsenal scoring 81 goals but was injured in this game which meant he was unable to return to playing professionally after the war.
11 September 1946: John Roberts born in Abercynon, Rhondda Cynon Taff and played initially for Abercynon Athletic while also working as a railway fireman. He moved to Swansea Town in 1963, turned pro in 1964, gradually moving from being a forward to a centre half (number 5).
11 September 1976: Arsenal 2 West Ham 0. First game for Pat Howard having been signed two days before from Newcastle to cover for O’Leary and Simpson, both of whom were injured. Ross and Stapleton scored.
11 September 1979: Paul Davis’ first appearance for Arsenal, in the Ted Drake’s testimonial against Fulham. It ended 2-2.
11 September 1998: Fredrik Ljungberg joined Arsenal from Halmstads BK. It was said that Arsène Wenger had never seen him play when he signed him. It seems unlikely but Ljungberg repaid the faith by scoring within seconds of coming on against Manchester United in his debt on 20 September 1998.
11 September 2003: 16 year old Cesc Fabregas joined Arsenal from FC Barcelona (for whom he had signed aged 10). It is said that his first coach, Señor Blai, reportedly did not select Fàbregas for matches against Barcelona in an attempt to hide him from their scouts. The same story is told word for word about Bellerin.
11 September 2004: Arsenal win 5th consecutive game of the season beating Fulham 3-0 away. In these five opening games Arsenal scored 3 or more each time, and scored a total of 18 goals.
11 September 2010: Arsenal continue their perfect home form beating Bolton 4-1 and making it 10 goals in two home games. Koscielny, Chamakh, Song, Vela scored.
Elsewhere on this day
In 1841 the London to Brighton commuter express service began, doing the journey in one hour 45 minutes. Which is about 90 minutes faster than it takes today on Southern Rail.
- Arsenal day by day – over 5000 anniversaries of the club
The current series from the Arsenal History Series being developed on this site is Henry Norris at the Arsenal, covering all aspects off the life and work of the man who rescued Arsenal from extinction, secured the club’s future by moving it to Highbury, and then brought in Herbert Chapman as manager.
The previously untold tale of how it was that Norris came to choose Highbury as the suitable location for Arsenal’s new ground.
The series is being worked on daily, and the articles thus far are here.
Among the many other series we have run are…
- Arsenal in the 30s
- Arsenal players in the 30s
- Arsenal in the summer
- The First League Season, including a review of each player who played in that season
- Arsenal day by day – over 5000 anniversaries of the club
- Arsenal in the 70s
There are details of many other series covered by this site on our home page.
