31st March 1890 – Arsenal 3-1 Mr WH Loraine’s XI. No one seems to know who this team is, but we still notched a win. All we know is that after this game, he later went on to invent the Quiche.
31st March 1891 – Arsenal played against football league clubs to try and work towards becoming a professional club, they lost against Forest, Derby and Sunderland during this time.
31st March 1893 – Arsenal 4-1 Middlesbrough. Three friendlies in four days as Arsenal won out over their Norverrrn rivals in front of 8000 fans.
31st March 1906 – Arsenal’s first FA Cup Semi Final, the furthest they’d got in the competition.
31st March 1919 – The club appealed against Fulham’s victory in the London Victory Cup. Fulham had cheated in the tie and knowingly played half a team full of ineligible players.
Arsenal originally won the case but Fulham appealed but Henry Norris wasn’t invited to the hearing and they reversed the result, giving Fulham the win.
As a result, Arsenal legend and hero, Sir Henry Norris made his move to Arsenal, leaving his post with Fulham.
31st March 1958 – Mel Charles signed from Swansea, later saying that moving to Arsenal was the biggest mistake of his life. He left. Mel Charles never played top flight football again, bit like Alexis Sanchez, but in black and white.
31st March 1962 – Arsenal 4-5 Aston Villa. Classic game in front of 20,107 fans.
31st March 1970 – Ipswich 2-1 Arsenal. Charlie George scoring our only goal.
31st March 1971 – Arsenal 2-0 Stoke City. FA Cup Semi-Final replay. Graham and Kennedy getting the goals to set up a Cup Final against Liverpool.
31st March 1998 – Bolton 0-1 Arsenal. David Seaman’s 150th clean sheet for Arsenal.
31st March 2001 – Arsenal legend David Rocastle died from cancer. Absolute legend, and a proper gentleman who I had the pleasure to shake hands with at Plough Lane back in the 80s. Will always be remembered for his Anfield 89 involvement, and also his last minute goal to break Tottenh*m hearts in the League Cup Semi-Final, scoring a late winner just as they announced how Sp*rs fans could get their tickets for the final over the tannoy. Oooops!
RIP Rocky.
On the very same day, somewhat spookily in 2001, Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0, Robert Pires scoring the opening goal, wearing Rocky Rocastle’s number 7 shirt.
31st March 2010 – Arsenal 2-2 Barcelona. Classic Champions League game at The Emirates with Walcott and Fabregas on the scoresheet. We’d go on to get battered 4-1 at the Nou Camp in the second leg courtesy of four goals from some bloke called Lionel Messi.
The Lord himself, Sir Nicklas Bendtner had amazingly put us ahead in the away tie, before we realised we had Silvestre and Eboue at the back with Almunia in goal and collapsed in front of a bumper 95,000 crowd.
All games on this day:
31/03/1890 Mr. WH Loraine’s XI H Friendly 3-1
31/03/1891 Nottingham Forest H Friendly 0-5
31/03/1892 Notts County H Friendly 2-4
31/03/1893 Middlesbrough H Friendly 4-1
31/03/1894 Small Heath H Division 2 1-4
31/03/1899 Wellingborough H United League 3-0
31/03/1900 Small Heath A Division 2 1-3
31/03/1902 West Bromwich Albion H Division 2 2-1
31/03/1906 Newcastle United N FA Cup 0-2
31/03/1917 Chelsea A London Combination 0-2
31/03/1919 Fulham H London Victory Cup 1-4
31/03/1923 Aston Villa H Division 1 2-0
31/03/1928 Birmingham H Division 1 2-2
31/03/1934 Stoke City A Division 1 1-1
31/03/1945 Reading H Football League (South) 0-2
31/03/1951 Sunderland A Division 1 2-0
31/03/1956 Luton Town H Division 1 3-0
31/03/1961 Fulham A Division 1 2-2
31/03/1962 Aston Villa H Division 1 4-5
31/03/1969 Liverpool A Division 1 1-1
31/03/1970 Ipswich Town A Division 1 1-2
31/03/1971 Stoke City N FA Cup 2-0
31/03/1973 Derby County H Division 1 0-1
31/03/1975 Sheffield United H Division 1 1-0
31/03/1979 Wolverhampton Wanderers N FA Cup 2-0
31/03/1981 Birmingham City H Division 1 2-1
31/03/1984 Coventry City A Division 1 4-1
31/03/1986 Watford H Division 1 0-2
31/03/1990 Everton H Division 1 1-0
31/03/1992 Nottingham Forest H Division 1 3-3
31/03/1998 Bolton Wanderers A Premier League 1-0
31/03/2001 Tottenham Hotspur H Premier League 2-0
31/03/2007 Liverpool A Premier League 1-4
31/03/2010 Barcelona (Spain) H Champions League 2-2
31/03/2012 Queens Park Rangers A Premier League 1-2
Put together using some data from the Arsenal History Society Anniversary Files
