On This Day – 14th November
England and Italy played out an ill-tempered match on this day back in 1934 that became known as‘The Battle of Highbury’ .
There were seven Arsenal players in England’s starting eleven, a record number of players from one club. It seems apt that the match was played at Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium.
Goalkeeper Frank Moss, defenders George Male, Eddie Hapgood and Wilf Copping and forwards Ray Bowden, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin all played alongside each other for Arsenal. They were joined by Stanley Matthews of Stoke City, Cliff Britton of Everton, Jack Barker of Derby County and Manchester City’s Eric Brook.
Italy had won the second World Cup a few months earlier. As the host nation, they defeated the USA, Spain and Austria before beating Czechoslovakia 2-1 after extra time in the Final. This match against England was their first since the World Cup Final five months before.
England were awarded a penalty in the opening seconds of the match but Eric Brook saw his penalty saved by Carlo Ceresoli in the Italy goal.
Italian centre half Luis Monti suffered a broken foot a minute later but carried on playing for another quarter of an hour. The injury was sustained after a tackle with Ted Drake and Monti stayed on as long as he could because substitutes weren’t allowed at this point.
The English forward line took full advantage of the crocked defender to score all three of their goals in the time that Monti played on with the injury.
Italy went out to seek retribution and Eddie Hapgood was given a broken nose and left the pitch unable to continue after fifteen minutes. Ted Drake was also punched, Eric Brook’s arm was fractured and Ray Bowden’s ankle was damaged. All of this happened in a frantic and violent first 45 minutes!
Giuseppe Meazza scored twice in the second half to give Italy some hope of claiming a draw but they couldn’t find that elusive equaliser. Arsenal’s Frank Moss had put in an inspiring performance in the England goal and kept the Italians at bay. On the one occasion a shot managed to pass him, the Italians were denied by the woodwork.
Years later, Stanley Matthews described the match as the most violent of his 33 year playing career. Incidentally, the game against Italy was only the second of 54 caps that Matthews won in his illustrious career.
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