Fulham FC — Fulham v Southampton — 6 January 2018

52 The Official Fulham FC Matchday Programme

unsuccessfully, to merge the

two clubs. Norris was able to

repeat his miracles at Arsenal,

getting the Gunners promoted

into Division One of the Football

League at the expense of

Tottenham Hotspur despite them

only finishing in fifth place in

Division Two. Norris continued

to operate on the murky side of

football throughout his time at

Arsenal, appointing a manager

who had previously been banned

from football for making illegal

payments - Herbert Chapman -

and enticing the famous Charlie

Buchan to the club, again with

the judicious use of the ubiquitous

brown envelope.

Norris was also instrumental

in moving the Gunners out of

South London and across town to

Highbury, which was where the

Second Round of the Victory Cup

was played. Fulham ran out easy

winners - 4-1. And that’s when

the nasty stuff hit the fan.

Fulham were accused of fielding

a number of unregistered players

• the rule allowing this having

been rescinded at the end of the

war. The main bone of contention

revolved around the inclusion of

George ‘Cocky’ Hunter, the first

Indian-born footballer to play in

the Football League and a figure of

enormous controversy, who was

in between clubs at the time.

Arsenal,

naturally,

complained

about the result,

the case being

heard by the

Committee of

the London

Combination,

with Norris

speaking on

behalf of the

Gunners.

He asked for

Arsenal to be

awarded the

tie and Fulham

disqualified.

The Committee

decided

against this,

but ordered

the game to be

replayed. Before

that could

happen though, Fulham appealed

against the ruling. The Committee

reversed their earlier decision,

awarding the tie back to Fulham.

Norris knew nothing about the

appeal and went apoplectic when

he found out, writing an open

letter to the influential Athletic

News, moaning bitterly about

Fulham’s transgression and

accusing them of violating “all the

canons of true sportsmanship”.

A bit rich coming from someone

like Norris, and distinctly odd

behaviour considering he was still

a director of the club. Inevitably,

it would signal the end of his time

at Fulham.

Undeterred, Fulham moved

blithely on to the Semi-Finals,

putting Tottenham to the sword

2-0 at Stamford Bridge in front of

a very healthy crowd of 45,000.

Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 4-0 in

the other Semi.

Unfortunately for Fulham, the

Final, as a sop to Norris, was

played at Highbury. In front of

an extremely hostile crowd of

36,000, Fulham lost 3-0. There

were plenty of Arsenal fans in the

George Hunter

Jock Rutherford

Harry Russell was ever-present

in the Victory Cup run

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