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ArseWEB : Frequently Asked Arsenal Questions
Written by members of the Arsenal-mailing list.
Contents
- When was the Arsenal's "One-nil" song, as borrowed and adapted by most English football clubs,
first sung by the Highbury faithful ?
-
Have you heard the one about the extraordinary match which ended with both teams
trying to score own goals?
- Why do other football fans call Arsenal Boring and/or Lucky? Why do they hate us?
- Is [insert name here] REALLY a Gooner?
- Did John Lukic really survive the Munich Air Crash as a foetus?
- When and why were the white sleeves added to the red Arsenal shirt?
- A:
... hate to disillusion you, but it was us who "borrowed" the song (or the tune
at least) from the supporters of Paris St Germain. During the first leg of last year's CWC semi-final
in Paris they were singing something to that tune, with "Allez, Paris St Germain"
instead of "One nil - to the Arsenal". Then at half time the actual Pet Shop Boys song was played over the PA
and (being 1-0 up at the time) the Arsenal fans started singing "One-nil" at
the relevant points in the song, and it being a fairly repetitive tune, kept
it up through the whole song. Then in the return leg at Highbury it got
expanded to the full "One-nil, to the Arsenal", much to the annoyance of
the travelling PSG support. The rest as they say, is
history. Mind you, we were the first English fans to use the tune, Ian
Wright did of course record a version of it, and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys,
being an Arsenal fan, has publicly voiced his approval (although as yet we
have heard of no such commitment from the Village People). The song spread rapidly,
and has since been "borrowed" by virtually every other set of fans in this country.
The most common incarnation being the ubiquitous "you're shit and you know you are",
first heard (to our knowledge) from the fans of Crystal Palace (who ought to know
about such things).
Further possible disillusionment. The PSG fans can't really take full
credit either. The tune has been knocking around a number of German clubs for several seasons, and certainly
before the Pet Shop Boys release. It may have been Borussia Dortmund's fans
who went for the record, singing it non-stop, very loud, for the whole of
the second half of a UEFA cup tie in the 93-94 season.
Let's face it, ultimately
Village People are responsible (well for the song anyway).
Derek Brownjohn, Trev Collins, Simon Hubbard, October 1994.
- A: YES WE HAVE.
It goes like this....
The match was between Barbados and Grenada in 1994, in the first round of a
cup competition. It was a round robin stage and the final match in the group,
Barbados needed to win the game by two clear goals
in order to progress.
The trouble was caused by
a daft rule in the competition which stated that in the event of a game
going to penalty kicks, the winner would be awarded a 2-0 victory.
With 5 minutes to go, Barbados were leading 2-1, and going out of the
tournament. Then, when they realised they were probably not going to
score against Grenada's massed defence, they turned round, and
deliberately scored an own goal, to level the scores. Grenada,
themselves not being stupid, realised what was going on, and then
attempted to score an own goal themselves. However, the Barbados players
started defending their opponents goal to prevent this. In the last five
minutes, therefore, spectators were treated to the incredible sight of
a team defending their opponents goal against attackers desperately
trying to score an own goal!
Naturally, the game went to penalties, which Barbados won...
- A: It's hard to say. But "lucky" could come from the fact that our playesr tend not to give up till the final whistle, a fact that has
resulted in an extraordinary number of late winners and equalisers. There is
an ArseWeb list of last gasp Arsenal goals. While
the same reason could account for people hating us, the "boring" tag continues
to mystify.....
- ArseWeb maintains a list of Celebrity Gooners. If
they're not on that list then we don't know if they are or not. If you know
somehting we don't please let us know..
- A: This is a myth that's been going around for a few years. It was
popularised by a triv question that was going round that went "Which survivor
of the Munich Air Crash is still playing first division football?". The answer
was supposedly , with the explanation that his mother was pregnant
with him and on the plane (as a stewardess).
Sorry, it's just not true. Before the 95-96 League Cup final (when John was a Leeds player), there was an interview in the Times where they asked him about it.
According to John he had heard a story that there was a stewardess on the plane
whose surname was Lukic, and who may or may not have pregnant at the time.
However, he quite categorically denied that his Mother was the said stewardess.
Matt Moore adds:
There was a program on the Busby Babes about a month ago (spring 1998),
and of course it dealt with the crash.
There was a passenger called Lukic, who had her baby with her.
They were both rescued by Harry Gregg, a Utd player, who went
searching for survivors.
He and the baby, now a grown woman, (not called John either),
were both interviewed.
And in case you still believe it:
Date of Munich air crash: 8th Feb 1958
Date of birth of John Lukic: 11th Dec 1960
ok?
- A: Arsenal wear red because our first kit was donated by
Nottingham Forest. The great Herbert Chapman (also responsible for
getting London Transport to change the name of Gillespie Road underground
station to "Arsenal" ) introduced the white sleeves for the match against
Liverpool on 4th March 1933.
The white sleeves have been a fixture since then, except for the season 1963-64,
when manager Billy Wright adopted an all-red shirt (with white collar). Not
a popular change - it only lasted one season.
There are several stories alleging to explain the white sleeves. One is
that he got the idea from another club that was already wearing contrasting
sleeves (eg Villa). But the definitive answer appears to be that found in
Tom Whittaker's Arsenal story:
"Ever on the alert for new ideas to advance the claims that his beloved
Arsenal was the most up-to-date club in soccer, Mr. Chapman sent Arsenal out
to play in their new jerseys against Liverpool on March 4 1933, at Highbury,
having been granted permission to change by the Football League two weeks
earlier. The jerseys did not bring us luck immediately, for we lost 1-0.
Instead of the rather drab, all-red jerseys, the Arsenal players appeared in
the striking new creation of pillar-box red shirts with white sleeves and
collars. Their appearance on the field was greeted by delighted cries and
whistles from the crowd, but neither the reception nor the defeat affected
Mr. Chapman. Quite rightly, he felt that half the battle towards success, as
it is in most walks of life, is to be well dressed. And the Arsenal players
certainly were that. The story behind the sartorial change is interesting.
Some months previously the famous cartoonist, Tom Webster, was on holiday at
Blackpool with Claude Kirby, chairman of Chelsea. One morning Tom presented
himself for a golf appointment with Mr. Kirby, dressed in a rather striking
get-up which included a sleeveless blue pullover over a white cricket shirt.
Mr. Kirby was struck by the colour combination, which happened to be that of
the Chelsea team. On his return to London he mentioned the possibility of
adding white sleeves to the blue Chelsea jerseys to his manager, Mr. David
Calderhead. The bluff Scot was emphatic in his condemnation of the idea and
there the matter rested until one evening during the football season.
Webster and Chapman were discussing football matters over a drink at the
Royal Victoria Station Hotel, Sheffield, when Webster mentioned the incident
with Mr. Kirby. At once Chapman was interested and asked Tom Webster to
sketch out the idea, which Tom did after sending for a bottle of red ink.
Chapman never let any grass grow under his feet, and after experimenting
with a white shirt, surmounted by a red surcoat (which was found to be
troublesome in the washing), he eventually had made up the red and white
jersey as it is known today."
(thanks to Kenneth Sterne)
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