The 1948 FA Charity Shield was the 26th Charity Shield, an annual English association football match played between the winners of the previous season's

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

. It was the first edition held since the postponement of football during the Second World War. The match, held at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

on 6 October 1948, was contested by

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 mostl ...

, champions of the

1947–48 Football League The 1947– 48 season was the 49th completed season of The Football League. Final league tables The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found aThe Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite and in ''Rothmans Bo ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, who beat

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of the 1947–48 FA Cup. This was Arsenal's eighth Charity Shield appearance to Manchester United's third. Watched by a crowd of over 30,000,

Reg Lewis Reginald Lewis (1942–1993) was an American businessman. Reginald, Reg or Reggie Lewis may also refer to: *Reggie Lewis (1965–1993), American basketball player * Reggie Lewis (cornerback) (born 1984), American football cornerback * Reggie Lewis ...

, Bryn Jones, and

Ronnie Rooke Ronald Leslie Rooke (7 December 1911 – 9 June 1985) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. During his three decades' playing career he scored at least 931 goals in 1029 official matches, among which more than 765 league goa ...

each scored for the league champions inside the first 15 minutes. Manchester United responded by scoring twice before the half-time break through

Jack Rowley John Frederick Rowley (7 October 1918 – 28 June 1998) was an English footballer who played as a forward from the 1930s to the 1950s, mainly remembered for a 17-year spell with Manchester United. He was nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his pr ...

and Ronnie Burke. Lionel Smith's own goal in the 53rd minute made the scoreline 4–3, and though United's attack were dominant in the second half, there were no further goals. Arsenal were awarded the Shield by A.V. Alexander, the

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

. Gate receipts for the match came to a total of £4,300.

Background

The

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

was founded in 1908 as a successor to the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. It was a contest between the respective champions of the

and Southern League, and then by 1913 teams of amateur and professional players. In 1921, it was played by the Football League champions and

winners for the first time. After a ten-year absence due to the suspension of football during the Second World War, the Charity Shield made a return in 1948. Arsenal qualified for the 1948 FA Charity Shield as winners of the

First Division. It was the club's sixth league title and striker

scored 33 goals in the campaign to become the division's top goalscorer. The other Charity Shield place went to

who beat

to win the

of the 1947–48 FA Cup. Manchester United's progress in the competition was unique as the club was drawn against teams from the First Division in every round. Their home ties were staged at three different grounds as

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

was being repaired from the damage sustained in the

Manchester Blitz The Manchester Blitz (also known as the Christmas Blitz) was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the German '' Luftwaffe''. It was one of three major raids ...

. This was Arsenal's eighth Charity Shield appearance; prior to the game they had won five Shields (

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

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 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the authoritarian regime. ** State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France ...

), and lost two (

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

). By contrast Manchester United were undefeated in the Charity Shield; the club won their previous two appearances, in 1908 and

1911 A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * ...

. Manchester United had beaten Arsenal 1–0 the last time the two clubs met at Highbury, for a league fixture on 30 August 1948;

Charlie Mitten Charles Mitten (17 January 1921 – 2 January 2002) was an English football player and manager who came through the junior ranks at Manchester United. Over his career, Mitten also played for Fulham, Mansfield Town and Altrincham in England, and ...

scored the only goal of the match.

Match

Summary

Arsenal began the quicker of the two teams. Inside a minute, a miskick by Manchester United left back John Aston troubled his defence, and presented

and Rooke with shooting opportunities. After three minutes, Arsenal took the lead; combination play from Jimmy Logie and Bryn Jones forced goalkeeper Jack Crompton out of his area, and ended with Jones hitting the ball high into an empty net. Lewis headed in

Archie Macaulay Archibald Renwick Macaulay (30 July 1915 – 10 June 1993) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Born in Falkirk, Macaulay started his playing career in junior football and joined Rangers in 1933, where he became a regular ...

's cross from the right to double Arsenal's lead, and the team scored their third almost immediately, when Rooke maneuvered past the United defence to shoot past Crompton. United regrouped and scored immediately. Charging forward, John Anderson and

each shot wide, before Johnny Morris's effort hit the post. The ball rebounded to Rowley, whose shot went in past goalkeeper

George Swindin George Hedley Swindin (4 December 1914 – 26 October 2005) was an English football player and manager. Playing as a goalkeeper, Swindin made more than 300 appearances in the Football League with Bradford City and Arsenal, where his 18-year car ...

. United were in full ascendancy – "Anderson and Warner were winning the ball in mid-field, and bringing it through to their forwards .. making the Arsenal defence feel the strain," so said ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' football correspondent. In the 35th minute however, Lewis scored his second goal of the match, beating Allenby Chilton to the ball first and going past Crompton. Five minutes before half-time, United halved Arsenal's lead – a well-worked move started by Carey in his own half was finished off by Burke. Arsenal struggled to regain fluency in the second half, as their opponents dominated play. In the 53rd minute, United scored to make it 4–3;

's flick in the area was diverted into the Arsenal net by Lionel Smith for an own goal. United fashioned further chances through Burke and Rowley, but for large periods of the second half the Arsenal defence stood firm. Jones' headed goal was rule out for offside, after which the match descended into a contest between United's attack and Arsenal's defence. Jimmy Delaney came closest to equalising late on, when he darted forward and missed by inches.

Details

Source

Post-match

A.V. Alexander, the

presented Arsenal with the Shield. Assessing the match the next day, ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' football correspondent John MacAdam wrote: "Charity begins at home, they say, and, by golly, it began at Highbury yesterday, for Arsenal were the luckiest team in the world to beat Manchester United 4–3 in the F.A. Charity Shield match between the winners of the League and the Cup." ''The Times'' correspondent assessed, "Arsenal won because they sneaked a commanding lead of three goals, before Manchester had realised they were in London," and concluded the piece with the sentence "It had been a game worthy of the occasion and of two fine clubs." Gate receipts for the match totalled £4,300. Manchester United ended the season as runners-up to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, and reached the semi-final stage of the FA Cup. Arsenal progressed no further than the fourth round of the cup competition, and finished sixth in the league. The two clubs next faced each other in the Charity Shield in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, when Manchester United won the inaugural

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

title, and Arsenal were FA Cup winners in the

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

season.

References