Word: arsenal
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...sale, the queue had swelled to 16,000, stretching for two miles. The crowd became unruly; it pushed over a couple of brick walls, trampled gardens, uprooted hedges. This frenzied performance by normally well-behaved Englishmen was directed to a single-minded purpose: getting tickets for the Chelsea-Arsenal soccer game, the semifinal climax of the Football Association Cup matches. By noon, 50,000 tickets had been sold, and scalpers were offering them for resale at eight times the 2 shillings sixpence (35?) purchase price. Britons were at a World Series fever pitch...
...baseball comparison was evident in other ways. The Arsenal eleven, glamorous, wealthy and efficient, resembles the New York Yankees; Chelsea, lovably erratic, has a Brooklyn Dodgers appeal. Arsenal is the most popular team in London, draws an average of 53,000 fans a game, and has rewarded its loyal rooters with six league championships and three Football Cups in the past 20 years. Chelsea, whose London fans are just as prepared to laugh as to cheer, draws an average of 38,000. It has repaid this loyalty by never winning a league championship, by losing its only cup final...
Defense v. Offense. The contrast is also apparent on the playing field. Arsenal's five internationals (players who compete for England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales) are defensive specialists; three of Chelsea's five internationals are offensive forwards. Arsenal plays a "smash and grab'' game, unpretty but effective, concentrating on defense until it gets a sudden scoring chance. Chelsea plays a "copy book" game, pretty but often ineffective, concentrating on deft dribbling and pinpoint passing...
...kill the referees and no one screamed for the manager's scalp. If a score appeared imminent, spectators shouted a genteel, "have a go." A scoring failure was greeted with good-natured cries of "good try, lad." A finer scoring shot was rewarded with cries of "Smashing!" Arsenal scored late in the first half; in the second half, Chelsea tied it up in a melee in front of the Arsenal goal. It ended that...
This week Chelsea's defense fell apart. Arsenal "smashed and grabbed" the playoff 3 to 0. For their work, each player was rewarded with a ?15 ($42) bonus. There was ?2 extra for each of the winners to augment their weekly pittance of ?14, standard salary for all first-division players, regardless of ability. The money would hardly pay the fishing-equipment bill of the Boston Red Sox's $125,000-a-year outfielder, Ted Williams...