The Battle of Highbury was a football match between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

that took place on 14 November 1934 at

Arsenal Stadium Arsenal Stadium was a Association football, football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" from the name of the di ...

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

, London. England won 3–2 in a hotly contested and frequently violent match.

Background

This was Italy's first match since they had won the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the 2nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, senior men's national teams. It took place in Kin ...

that summer, although England had not taken part as

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

had left

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in 1928. England were still considered one of the strongest teams in Europe at the time, and the match was billed in England at least as the "real" World Cup final. The match set a record, in that it was the first and so far only time that seven players registered with the same club (namely

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

) started for England. Coincidentally, the match was played at Arsenal's home stadium, Highbury. In addition to the seven Arsenal players ( Frank Moss, George Male,

Eddie Hapgood Edris Albert "Eddie" Hapgood (24 September 1908 – 20 April 1973) was an English association football, footballer, who captained both Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and England national football team, England during the 1930s. Playing career Hapgood wa ...

, Wilf Copping, Ray Bowden,

Ted Drake Edward Joseph Drake (16 August 1912 – 30 May 1995) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, as well ...

and

Cliff Bastin Clifford Sydney Bastin (14 March 1912 – 4 December 1991) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Exeter City and Arsenal. He also played for the England national team. Bastin is Arsenal's third-highest goalscorer of all time. Cl ...

), a young

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

(

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

) won his second cap for the side;

Cliff Britton Clifford Samuel Britton (29 August 1909 – 1 December 1975) was an English football player and manager. Playing career After playing amateur football for a number of teams in the Bristol area, his professional playing career began when he sign ...

( Everton),

Jack Barker John William Barker (27 February 1906 – 20 January 1982) was an English footballer who played 327 league games for Derby County and won 11 England caps. He later managed Derby County and Bradford City. Playing career Derby County Born in De ...

(

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

) and

Eric Brook Eric Fred Brook (27 November 1907 – 29 March 1965) was an English footballer who played in the outside left position. Brook was also an England international. He was a muscular player with 'one of the fiercest shots in pre-war football' p25 a ...

(

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

) were the other three players. The England side was largely inexperienced, with every player having fewer than ten caps for his country.

Match summary

First half

After only two minutes the Italian

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Luis Monti Luis Felipe Monti (15 May 1901 – 9 September 1983) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams ...

had his foot broken in a rough tackle with Drake. Although Monti remained on the field for 15 minutes, he eventually had to leave the game leaving his team with ten men—at the time, no substitutes were allowed. Further, as Monti continued to play, other Italian players may not have been aware of the extent of his injury which is likely to have contributed to England's goals; England scored all its three goals in the first 12 minutes (at 2', 10', and 12'), while the Italians continued to play tactics where Monti was the last defender faced by the England attack.

and

caused the Italians an infinite amount of trouble by their passing and quick shooting. Brook had missed a first-minute

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

after Drake was fouled by Carlo Ceresoli (who was able to save the goal with a prompt jump on the right). However he made amends by scoring twice, with a header (following a precise cross from Stanley Matthews) and a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

, which Stanley Matthews described as being like a 'thunderbolt'. p67 Drake added a third before half-time to make it 3–0. However, after realising the gravity of Monti's injury, the Italians adjusted their playing tactics so that England were unable to break through their defences. The match was violent from the very start, with the visitors repeatedly retaliating against Drake's second-minute tackle: Eddie Hapgood had his nose broken (and had to be withdrawn for 15 minutes), while Bowden damaged his ankle, Drake was punched and Brook had his arm fractured.

Second half

However, Italy were not World Champions for nothing and after half time, despite the handicap of ten men, took the game to England.

Giuseppe Meazza Giuseppe Meazza (; 23 August 1910 – 21 August 1979) was an Italian football manager and player. Throughout his career, he played mainly for Inter Milan in the 1930s, scoring 284 goals in 408 games for the club, and winning three Serie A title ...

scored twice, and was only denied an equaliser by the woodwork and a series of saves from England's athletic goalkeeper, Frank Moss. Copping, England's "hardman", took the man of the match award with a strong fighting and tackling display in midfield. The match settled nothing; although the English could claim a win and unofficial crown, the Italians claimed they had been handicapped for virtually the entire match by being a man down, and that England had scored only within the few minutes in which its strongest defender had been injured and not able to run. For this reason and despite the loss, in Italy the team players are still celebrated as "The Lions of Highbury". One thing that could not be contested was the violent nature of the match; the FA considered withdrawing from all internationals as a result, while Matthews would later recount that it was the most violent match of his long career. England wore a white shirt and navy blue shorts. Italy wore traditional blue shirts and white shorts.

Match details

Footnotes

External links

Report at EnglandstatsPhoto and report at 11v11.co.uk
{{Italy national football team matches 1934–35 in English football 1934 in sport in London

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

England national football team matches Football in London 1934–35 in Italian football

International association football matches Association football matches in England November 1934 sports events in the United Kingdom Nicknamed sporting events Italy–United Kingdom sports relations