Below are the anniversaries of Arsenal for 1 April
The full index to what is on this site is here.
The latest article on Henry Norris at the Arsenal is…
Why did Arsenal manager Knighton turn down Man City but not buy players? Summer of 1921.
The current series:
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, our current series of articles is on Henry Norris at the Arsenal. The series is being worked on daily, and the articles thus far are here.
A list of many of our major series (including complete detailed reviews of Arsenal in the 30s and Arsenal in the 70s, and links to the anniversaries throughout the year, is given on the AISA Arsenal History Society home page.
1 April 1889: Debut of David Howat, Arsenal 6 2nd Rifle Brigade 1. He became a league regular in 1893/4 and 1894/5 but then suddenly moved to Third Lanark, and we know no more of him.
1 April 1897: Reflecting Woolwich Arsenal’s change of status within south east Kent they play the rest of Kent and win 3-0
1 April 1901: The friendlies against local rivals Millwall continued into the new century with a 1-1 draw but the crowd of only 2000 showed that some of the rivalry had gone
1 April 1918: Easter Monday Arsenal played their return wartime league fixture against West Ham, the crowd was 7000 – a low number as worries about the direction of the war continued. Arsenal lost 1-3.
1 April 1921: A national coal strike began leading to concerns that clubs would not be able to complete their away fixtures without being able to travel by train. The London clubs were particularly fearful but were offered no support by the League.
1 April 1931: Arsenal wrote to the BBC banning all future radio broadcasts from Highbury. (Exact date uncertain, but certainly within two days either way). They rather bizarrely failed to let George Allison know – even though he was the BBC’s chief commentator and a director of Arsenal.
1 April 1933: Joe Hulme got his 9th and last England cap, although even without him Arsenal still beat Aston Villa 5-0 as Sheffield Wednesday, the nearest challengers played out a 2-2 draw with lowly Chelsea. Lambert (2) Jack, Bowden and James, knocked in the goals, as Arsenal won 5-0 in front of 54,265. The third goal took Arsenal’s season total to 100,
1 April 1936: Bernard Joy’s first match in front of just 10,485 at home to Bolton. He was Arsenal’s most famous amateur player of the era and his book “Forward Arsenal!” has become a central source of information for what life within Arsenal was like in the 30s – although sadly it turns out on closer investigation to be somewhat error strewn.
1 April 1937: George Curtis signed as a professional for Arsenal having previously been an amateur. He then played for the nursery club Margate until 28 Feb 1938 when he moved over to Arsenal. He only played 13 times for Arsenal with his career interrupted by the war.
1 April 1949: Sammy Nelson born. He was too young to make an impact on the 1971 Double season but he played in three FA Cup finals (1978, 1979 and 1980) and the Cup Winners’ Cup final against Valencia.
1 April 1955: Alfred Baker died. He played 351 league matches for Arsenal, including the first ever 1st division match at Highbury.
1 April 1966: Sammy Nelson joined Arsenal on his birthday. He went on to make 245 league starts for Arsenal between 1969 and 1981 before moving on to Brighton and Hove Albion.
1 April 1972: Arsenal 3 Nottingham Forest 0; in a season when Arsenal were riding high and Forest were heading for relegation. Kennedy, George and Graham scored, and worse for Forest, Derby County won the League.
1 April 1995: Arsenal beat Norwich 5-1. In the previous four games, Arsenal had scored just one goal, and lost both the subsequent games scoring just one more. Hartson got two, Dixon and Merson one apiece, and there was one own goal.
1 April 1998: Arsène Wenger won Premier Manager of the Month award, the first Arsenal manager ever to do so since it was set up in August 1993. Alan Ball won it when with Man C in 1995 and George Graham with Leeds in 1997.
1 April 2000: 10 man Arsenal beat Wimbledon 3-1. Kanu scored two and Henry got a penalty as Wimbledon sank towards relegation.
1 April 2002: Arsenal beat Charlton 3-0 away to go top of the league with two goals from Henry and one from Ljungberg. League match 32 of the 3rd Double season
1 April 2006: Arsenal beat Aston Villa 5-0 with goals from Adebayor, Henry (2), Van Persie and Diaby.
