In 1908 one of the most loyal Arsenal captains was born, his names George Male.
The Englishman born not far away from West Ham’s Boleyn ground and went on to trial for The Hammers before joining non-league side Clapton.
By 1929 Male signed an amateur contract with Arsenal before agreeing to professional terms a year later making his debut versus Birmingham City in 7-1 obliteration in 1930.
To start off with Male filled the left wing or left centre back roles for when Bob John was absence. Unfortunately he struggled to make it into The Gunners regular line-up in his early years, making three appearances during the 1930/31 season when Arsenal won their first top-flight title. The following campaign Male tripled his appearances total to nine appearing unexpectedly at left centre back again during the 1932 FA Cup final which Arsenal lost 1-2 to Newcastle United after going a goal up at Wembley.
In 1932 Male finally cemented his place in the first team at right back, after a tiring Tom Parker was replaced by Leslie Compton who struggled to find his feet in the position. After having been switched from left centre back to right back, Male who was unsure of this manoeuvre and of his future at Arsenal approached the office of legendary Gunners manager Herbert Chapman who won two league titles and FA Cup. He would walk out of Chapman’s offices and down the stairs of the famous Highbury Marble Halls with a fresh air of confidence and self reassurance being told he was the best right back in England. From that moment onwards he would play in 35 games a season till the commencement of World War Two in September 1939, by this period in time he had become Arsenals captain during the 1938/39 season.
He would help hold the Arsenal defence together which clinched a hat-trick of First Division titles in 1935, the league title again in 1938 and the FA Cup in 1936.
Despite being sent out to Palestine with the RAF during the war, he still returned to Arsenal to feature in 200 matches.
By the 1947/48 campaign once the football league had resumed its annual fixtures calendar Male appeared in eight Arsenal matches as The Gunners won a sixth Championship to become the first player in the history of the game to feature in six league title winning seasons.
At the end of the season Male retired as footballer running out for Arsenal on 318 occasions without scoring.
His playing days also saw him represent England 19 times between 1934 and 1939 clinching 19 caps for his country as well as captaining his side six times after originally making his debut in the historically dirty “Battle Of Highbury” in November 1934.
Male would go onto coach Arsenals youth and reserve sides, before turning out as scout spotting a young talented Charlie George who later scored 49 goals for The Gunner assisting them to a league and cup double for the first time in 1970/71 season. After nearly half a century at Highbury, Males career came to an end in 1975.
In 1998 Male passed away as one of the final players from the glorious Chapman period still alive.
Liam Harding
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