My son, Jimmy Bastin, attended a week-long soccer camp in the summer of 1996 coached by former World Cup Players who were visiting the states. One of these fellows from England asked if Jimmy were related to soccer great Cliff Bastin. At the time, I had no idea who Cliff Bastin was. But, upon searching, I discovered that Cliff was one of the greatest footballers of all time!
In the pre-World War II era, Cliff Bastin was the highest scoring Arsenal player, and played a crucial role in Arsenal's first win of the F.A. Cup in 1930, as well as in their second win of the F.A. Cup in 1936. For nearly 60 years, Cliff Bastin, who played for Arsenal from 1928 until 1939, led the all time list of Arsenal players in total goals scored, with a career total of 178 goals in 395 games, averaging 0.45 goals per game (or, depending on which games are counted, 198 goals in 425 appearances). (Modern-day Arsenal player Ian Wright recently broke some of Cliff's records.)
Perhaps the most memorable win from this era, in which Cliff Bastin was the key goal-scorer, was the first Arsenal Win of the F.A. Cup Final on Saturday, 26 April 1930 before a crowd of 92,488. Arsenal defeated the dominant team of the late 1920's, Huddersfield Town. Highpoints include vivid images of the airship Graf Zeppelin flying 2,000 feet above Wembley during the first half, and King George handing over the trophy! This win signaled the start of a period when Arsenal completely dominated English football and gained worldwide recognition.
In 1939, Hollywood came to North London! The last game at Highbury before the Second World War against Brentford on 06 May 1939 was an Arsenal win. This game was also used to film "The Arsenal Stadium Mystery". Brentford wore unusual uniforms and played the fictional part of "The Trojans" in the film. Several Arsenal players had parts in the film, including Cliff Bastin, Tom Whittaker and George Allison.
The following 1935 photo shows Cliff Bastin in his Arsenal uniform. (Photo is provided with permission of Guy Sella (Email: arsenal@israelmail.com) of Israel, who runs an Arsenal Webpage. Thanks, Guy!)
Get your own Free Home Page