Tuesday, April 24, 2007

One...

"One Kneel to the Arsenal!" One is slightly amused; one is not at all surprised: Royal Arsenal and all that...

Arsenal ball The bargin from Barcelona could be the one: "Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal's ingenious midfielder, is apparently the source, after he told Spanish radio that the Queen told him about her allegiance when the team visited Buckingham Palace in February. 'It seems the Queen follows football and she told us she was an Arsenal fan. She appeared to definitely know who I was and we exchanged a few special words,' he said." Times Online News Blog reports [Link]

Is it a coincidence that just as Arsenal football club is facing the possibility of passing into foreign ownership, we learn that the Queen is a fan?
Of course this isn't really a surprise: her mum was a gooner so I suppose she influenced her daughter's choice: proof in this link to ArseWeb

A few other choice facts (Wikipedia) about this mighty team and their 'firsts': Arsenal vs. Sheffield United in January 1927 was the first English League match to be broadcast live on radio. A decade later, in September 1937, an exhibition match between Arsenal's first team and the reserves was the first ever football match to be televised live and Arsenal also featured in the first edition of the beeb's Match of the Day, which screened highlights of their match against Liverpool in August 1964 although one presumes the 'other' clubs games were broadcast too.

Another great tale (if you're an Arsenal fan) was the history of their 1919 promotion...I think I've posted this before on Baldinio's blog...a period that saw fraud, bribery and match-fixing and involved not only Arsenal but Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United...

However one match in that final pre-war season was so outrageously and obviously fixed that the authorities eventually had to act – not least because every newspaper in the country was carrying the story of the fix, and the effects that it had. As a result the issue of Manchester Utd 2 Liverpool 0 became the first football ever to go to court, and the High Court ruled that the match was indeed a fixed.

plus ça change... ;-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My eldest brat (HUGE CFC fan like his Mama) is going to the Arse v CFC game (soon).

One of his friends has a student season ticket thing there but cannot make the game.

So - my poor iccle baby boy will sitting amongst all those big, nasty Arsenal fans.

I've told him that when Chelsea score - just make sure not to jump up and also that he's sitting on his hands.

Paul said...

Apart from Arsene's myopia and Theirry's dying swan, oh and Freddie's lunchbox, Petits ponytail, Adams right arm, Dixon's right leg, Keown's scary face and Cesc's cheek I've never had much of a problem with Arsenal as they've always been too good for us.

That other lot from Tottenham though - a 'big club' yes, in the same way that the Everly Brothers are still a big pop act.

Span Ows said...

agghhh!!! Your right Paul fancy a gooner even dreaming such a thing...my excuse however is that last year when I found the link to the info it was exactly those 6 clubs (Manure, Liverfluke, London Jewish, Chelski and the mighty Arsenal) that were the top 6 in the Premiership...Keown's face...remeber it well when it 6cm from horseface's face when he missed a penalty for Manure...scary!...sad to say there's no hope for you guys but bealted congrats fro ruining Arsenal's unbeaten Emirates record (fume, mutter, grumble)

Sarnia...6th May...I shall be in teh UK...looking forward to it; tell your lad not to worry...Chelsea won't score...MUAHAHAHA MUAHAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa cough.

I'm hoping Liverfluke will slip up in the League due to their Champions League progress but they have the simplest of run-ins.