by Tony Attwood
100 years ago, at the start of the 1919/20 season, Arsenal started the new campaign back in the first division, after an absence of six years – that break made up of two seasons in the second division and four seasons when the league was abandoned due to the war.
100 years is the absolute record for consecutive time spent in the first division with other clubs way behind Arsenal’s achievement. Everton have been in the league the second longest (since 1954), then Liverpool since 1962. Tottenham last joined the top league in 1978.
100 consecutive years is a wonderful achievement, and yet it sometimes seems that celebrating much to do with the events of 100 years ago is glossed over – and this because of the successful propaganda campaign which has remorselessly suggested that there was something amiss with the election of Arsenal and Chelsea to the first division in 1919, upon its expansion after the war from 20 clubs (up to 1915) to 22 clubs.
In fact so successful has the spreading of this story been that there are even some Arsenal supporters who think that it might be best to stay quiet about the return of Arsenal and Chelsea to the first division in 1919. If you want to read the whole story in total depth, you might want to look up
As a result, some years back, a totally detailed account of Arsenal’s election to the first division, upon its expansion in 1919 was published by the Arsenal History Society, drawing extensively on reports and documents from 1919. and what this made quite clear was that all the tales of corruption and undue influence were invented much, much later. At the time there was no hint of anything being amiss, and no one complained at the time – not even Tottenham who as a result of the election of Arsenal lost out on a reprieve from the relegation they suffered in 1915 when football was suspended.
The tales of clubs not being prepared for the election, or undue influence, of Henry Norris suddenly making a speech to persuade other clubs, of their being no logical reason for clubs to vote for Arsenal… none of these appeared at the time. Indeed a detailed search of newspapers across the country show no suggestion anywhere that many of these alleged incidents happened. Indeed even the local paper in Tottenham itself expressed disappointment at Tottenham not being elected back to the first division, but accepted the result and spoke of the club’s determination to win promotion back to the top flight the following season – which they did.
This whole story has been told in detail on the Arsenal History Society site, and I don’t want to repeat the whole thing here, but over the next few days I will go through this story in slightly less detail, in the hope that it might help reduce some of the retelling of the “fake news” account of 1919.
In terms of this research I was much aided by the work of Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews, with whom I worked on the book “Woolwich Arsenal: the club that changed history”. If you want to read the whole tale in fullest detail please do go to this page on the History Society site – and then scroll down to “Section 10” and start reading.
That will give you the story of Arsenal’s election in 1919, but there is one earlier issue that I will go back to in this opening article, and that relates to match fixing. Because football before the first world war was football in the era of match fixing. And it had a huge impact on how the various clubs thought about each other, and about what should happen in the future.
So, to begin…
In 1919, as the clubs gathered together to discuss the re-start of the Football League after it was abandoned for the duration of the war, it was decided to that the 1st division should be expanded by two clubs, in order to create more league games, and thus increase revenue.
No clubs objected to that move, but there was a problem, for the league rules said nothing about how such an expansion could be organised. So, ideas were put forward ahead of the League’s AGM, including the most obvious thoughts of either a) having an election so the League clubs themselves could decide who would go up, or alternatively b) not relegating the bottom two clubs from the 1914/15 season of the first division or c) promoting the top four clubs from the second division, rather than the top two.
But discussions of these issues were overshadowed by another issue: the problem of a series of match fixing scandals.
The most immediate match fixing affair had come in that final season of 1914/15, and it was important because, as a result of a fixed match, Chelsea had been relegated at the end of the 1914/15 season.
Everyone (except those directly involved!) had agreed that the Manchester United v Liverpool in 1915 match had been fixed, and that had it not been fixed, there was every possibility that Manchester United and not Chelsea would have ended up in 19th place and thus gone down to the second division. Here’s how the final season before the cessation of matches for the duration of the war, ended.
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | G/Av | Pts |
| 16 | Notts County | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 41 | 57 | 0.719 | 31 |
| 17 | Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 68 | 84 | 0.810 | 30 |
| 18 | Manchester United | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 46 | 62 | 0.742 | 30 |
| 19 | Chelsea | 38 | 8 | 13 | 17 | 51 | 65 | 0.785 | 29 |
| 20 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 57 | 90 | 0.633 | 28 |
At this time two clubs only were relegated. The G/Av column relates to goal average, which was used to separate teams, rather than goal difference. To work it out one divides the goals scored (F) by the goals conceded (A).
The match which was shown to be fixed was played on 2 April and the result was Manchester United 2 Liverpool 0. That gave Manchester United two points – and as the table above shows that was enough to keep them up and send Chelsea down.
Thus as soon as the notion of expanding the league in 1919/20 came up, Chelsea argued that they should have one of the two new places in the first division, because they were only relegated because of match fixing.
And that of course was a reasonable case. But although that was the only issue of match fixing that Chelsea raised, it was only the latest match fixing scandal in the league – despite the fact that the League had done all it could to play down previous revelations of match fixing. And this is where Arsenal come into the equation.
I shall take up the story in tomorrow’s episode.
Nice write up , Tony. Thanks . I do hope that we will be in the top division for a long time to come .
Happy 100 th Anniversary to the Arsenal !
Up the Gunners !
Tony
“…….in the hope that it might help reduce some of the retelling of the “fake news” account of 1919.”
Unfortunately Tony, despite your sterling work in uncovering all this information I do not expect for one second that the accusations will go away.
The fact is the Arsenal haters in the media, of which there are many as we have recently discussed, do not give a toss as to when the stories were written or whether the stories of corruption are true or ‘fake’.
We all know about ‘fake news’ now, but the reporting of ‘fake news’ has been around for years, as has the writing and rewriting of history many years after the event, but this has never stopped the fake, the account written in hindsight, or indeed the re written version being accepted as ‘the truth’.
I mean wasn’t ‘the greatest story ever told’ written many years after the event by many different people over many years.
I refer of course to the bible, a book embraced and believed by Billions.
As the biblical society says:
“………the important thing to remember is that when the Bible was written is not as important as what was written.”
Says it all really.
I have been meaning to ask but may have missed the news somewhere, but was there a reason the Untold Banner is not currently up? Visited on Saturday and couldnt see the banner.
The incredible Arsenal. The club that has stayed in the Top division in English football for 100 years and the only club in those 100 years to go a whole season undefeated. All this despite corrupt officiating; despite the unfair points deductions; despite the TVs unsporting rescheduling of games and despite the media. What an incredible football club.
Congratulations to all the Arsenal supporters and past shareholders who loved the club with passion.
Long may we stay above all that tries to destabilise our love for the club and the beautiful game.
Ben, I have no idea. The club has not told us that the banner is coming down, and it was there until the end of last season. It may have been moved because of the work being done on club level, but the two of us involved in running the project will be there for the Emirates cup so we’ll have a look, and if it is not back, we’ll get in touch with the club.
100 more years!
I wonder if there is anyone alive today who may have been at an Arsenal game in the first division, probably as a child? It would be wonderful to hear from and about this person…..what a testament to our beautiful club’s longevity and class!