Souh London v Middlesex, plyaed in Hong Kong. But really, do origins matter?

 

 

• Celebrating 100 consecutive seasons of Arsenal in the top division
• Arsenal: Getting ready to start season 100 (twice)

By Tony Attwood

It is thoroughly boring the hear the ceaseless moaning of some anti-Arsenalistas that Arsenal is a South London club.   But if we have to hear them, we must also accept (as was recently pointed out in these columns) that Tottenham is a Middlesex club.  Although quite why people get so worked up abouto origins I don’t know.

Indeed, most of us, I am sure, know most of the history about Arsenal and Tottenham games, but Wiki does have one little snippet that you might have missed.

The first meeting between the two teams was a friendly on 19 November 1887, played at Tottenham Marshes and was abandoned with a quarter of an hour to go because it got too dark to see the ball.  Tottenham, it is said, were winning 2-1 at the time.  The first match between the two sides that was actually completed was played at Plumstead and Arsenal won 6-2. 

The first game with both clubs settled in north London was a friendly in August 1914 at White Hart Lane.  Arsenal of Division Two, beat Tottenham of Division One, 5-1 and that sort of set things up for the future.

Looking at matches in the United League, London League and the Southern and District League, each of which both clubs played in, began in 1896 and Arsenal won only one of the first five such matches before getting the hang of things.  The first league match was a Division One game on 4 December 1909 in Plumstead which Tottenham won 0-1.

And of late, despite Arsenal’s league superiority, Tottenham seem to have put an extra effort into the games, perhaps feeling that if they could at least beat Arsenal, no one would really notice their league form.    As a result, in the last ten league games, Arsenal have won just two and Tottenham seven.   

Now those games take us back to December 2020.  That was the season Tottenham finished seventh in the League and Arsenal eighth.  The clubs were behind the likes of Leicester City, West Ham and indeed Manchester United (and just look where they finished last season). 

Times however, have change,d although I think some Tottenham fans have never forgiven Arsenal for being elected into the expanded first division in 1919 ahead of them.   Arsenal got the vote of 18 clubs to Tottenham’s eight.  If it was bribery as some allege (without producing any evidence), it was a very wasteful and very risky form of bribery to bribe so many so unnecessarily.   One might even say it was grossly incompetent.  If you are interested there is an article “Why so many northern clubs voted for Arsenal to be promoted in 1919”

In the actual meeting that decided who went up, Arsenal were in fact, helped by a speech from the League president who spoke of Arsenal’s efforts against all the odds to bring the Football League (not the Southern League that Tottenham had bought into) to London.  Arsenal got 18 votes; Tottenham came second with eight.

And just to round this up we might remember that Tottenham were elected into the Football League after finishing 7th in the Southern League in 1908.   Maybe we should start some rumours about that – although no, it would be a bit childish, given the lack of evidence.   Although….

Still Tottenham do like to revisit their old days as in 1977/78 when they went back to the second division, thus making this coming season their 48th consecutive season in the top legaue.   As you may have noted it is Arsenal’s 100th.

But of course Tottenham do have things to celebrate such as winning the last north London derby at WHL in 2017, allowing them to finish above Arsenal for the first time in 22 years, and we must be generous and allow them to celebrate such matters.  After all, they don’t have an equivalent of St Totteringham’s Day since, well, it wouldn’t happen very often. (Tottenham have only finished above Arsenal eight times in the Premier League and Arsenal have won the league 13 times and Tottenham twice).

Here’s the league table for the end of the last campaign… Arsenal were two points short of doubling Tottenham’s total and three goals over halving Tottenham’s number of goals conceded.  Arsenal’s goal difference was 36 better.   But Tottenham won a European trophy so I suppose that makes it all ok.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
2	Arsenal	38	20	14	4	69	34	35	74
17	Tottenham Hotspur	38	11	5	22	64	65	-1	38

 

Kick off today is at 12.30, and as with the other matches, it is available on computers via a subscription.  And I must say, with the opening two games of the tour, the quality of the broadcast has been perfect.  I’m rather looking forward to this.