Battle of Highbury
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| Date | 14 November 1934 | ||||||
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| Venue | Arsenal Stadium, London | ||||||
| Referee | Otto Olsson (Sweden) | ||||||
| Attendance | 56,044 | ||||||
The "Battle of Highbury" was the name given to the football match between England and Italy that took place on 14 November 1934 at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, London. England won 3–2 in a hotly contested and frequently violent match.
This was Italy's first match since they had won the 1934 FIFA World Cup that summer, although England had not taken part as the Football Association had left FIFA 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 was important enough to the Italians that Benito Mussolini had reportedly offered each player an Alfa Romeo car and the equivalent of £150 (about £6,000 in modern terms) if they beat the English.
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) 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, Wilf Copping, Ray Bowden, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin), a young Stanley Matthews won his second cap for the side; Cliff Britton, Jack Barker and Eric Brook were the other three players. The England side was largely inexperienced, with every player having fewer than ten caps for his country.
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