When were Arsenal forced to play a league and an FA Cup game at the same time?

This is our daily review of Arsenal anniversaries taken from the Arsenal day by day  files prepared by the AISA Arsenal History Society.

Our headline is taken from this day in 1896.

Here are the stories from this day in history…

12 December 1886: The report of the score of Arsenal’s first match against Eastern Wanderers appeared in The Referee magazine – the first contemporary confirmation that the game actually took place that was discovered by the Arsenal History Society. Prior to this there were only commentaries made many years later.

12 December 1892: Royal Arsenal 3 FG Armitage’s XI 1.  We have no record of who FG Armitage was and why he had a team – all information would be gratefully received.

12 December 1896: Arsenal 5 Leyton 2 in FA Cup.  In 1905 Leyton joined Southern League II and in 2002 won a High Court action to show they were a continuation of the original team, of this name, making it the second oldest existing club in Greater London, after Cray Wanderers.   On the same day  Arsenal lost 0-8 to Loughborough in the league.  The League and FA really hated each other in those days.  See also Patrick Boylan

12 December 1899: Charlie Jones born.  Jones’ early career was not promising one.  He left Cardiff City after one game, and moved into the Third Division with Stockport.  When he got back to the first division with Oldham they were relegated, and after a couple of seasons he moved to Nottingham Forest also in the second division and started playing for Wales.

12 December 1908: 7 months after his move to Arsenal Angus McKinnon plays his first game.  It ended Arsenal 1 Newcastle 2.

12 December 1921: Reg Boreham’s first game – in a match against Bolton which was abandoned due to fog.  He went on to play 51 league games before his contract was cancelled upon the departure of Leslie Knighton.

12 December 1946: Ronnie Rooke signed for Arsenal aged 35 from Fulham.  Before signing for Arsenal he never played in the top division of English football and remains the oldest player to make his Arsenal first team debut.  David Nelson and Cyril Grant went to Fulham as part of the deal.

12 December 1970: Arsenal 2 Wolverhampton W 1, making it seven games in the last eight that Radford had scored in.    League match 12 of the first Double season.

12 December 1991: Mickey Thomas sold to Liverpool (exact date varies in reports.  See 16 December).  It was one of the most ironic transfers of all time, give that he had scored the last minute goal at Anfield in 1989 to win Arsenal the league.

12 December 2014: Francis Coquelin recalled from his loan at Charlton and came on as a sub in the next three games, before taking over as Arsenal’s first choice defensive mid-fielder.


 

The latest post from our series on Henry Norris at the Arsenal

November 1918: war ends, FA / League quarrel, Henry Norris is called on (again).

Yesterday’s anniversaries:   How the truth behind Arsenal’s first match was finally revealed.

Special feature: Highbury: from start to end with previously unseen pictures of the end of the stadium.

What’s on the Arsenal History Society site

An index to the various series that contain over 1,700 articles on this site concerning the history of Arsenal appears on our home page.

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