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Barnet v. Arsenal
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18/08/2026
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More On Arsenal
This article has been viewed 166 times.
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by Max Bygraves
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Ok, so it’s not really Barnet v Arsenal but the silly cup where they let big teams’ kids play in putting us up against Arsenal Youth got us thinking about times gone by. It doesn’t feel all that long ago that it was a regular sight to see Arsenal superstars gracing the Barnet turf, both against us and using it for their reserve games.
This was of course at Underhill which doesn’t seem to ever get much further away from memory despite the years continually growing. In fact, I really found it hard to believe that this meeting between Barnet and an Arsenal XI is only the second ever at The Hive. In 2019, Arsenal sent a side for a pre-season friendly that’ll probably have a similar feel to the one that will run out this time. Folarin Balogun of recent overturned red card in the World Cup fame bagged a six-minute hat trick in a 2-3 win.
I don’t know and wouldn’t like to speculate on what changed in terms of the relationship between the two clubs, given the strong bond of the 2000s. It of course goes further back than that, with an initial meeting in the London Challenge Cup at Highbury in the 1930s.
Then, through the 60s, 70s and 80s there were many friendlies between the clubs. A 4-1 London Challenge Cup win in 1968 with Billy Meadows scoring a hat trick the undisputed highlight from a Barnet perspective in this fixture - covering all eras. In the late 80s, Arsenal sent a strong team for Stan Flashman to proudly unveil new floodlights.
Perhaps the most notable game to signify the positive feeling between the two clubs came in May 1991. Arsenal had just won the 1st Division (top flight in old money) and Barnet were GM Vauxhall Conference champions. A week after the season finished, the two clubs contested a “celebration match,” which Arsenal won 2-4. Both teams paraded their league trophies around the pitch. Can you imagine something like that in this day and age? Anywhere?
This is partly what prompted the thought of this article - how farfetched it would now be for a team like Arsenal to send a full complement of names to Barnet for a friendly. I saw a few weeks back that Newcastle went to Gateshead for a pre-season friendly, fielding several first team names. It caught my eye because it seemed just so unusual. You don’t see this anymore. It used to be standard stuff that towards the end of pre-season, Arsenal would come to Barnet, Liverpool would go to Tranmere, Manchester United would turn up at any assortment of northern club and all of them would field proper line ups.
At this juncture, there is no particular Arsenal agenda here. Very aware lots of Barnet fans also have Tottenham loyalties. We’ve simply played them a lot less and any sort of relationship has been a lot less evident. Interestingly, every time we have played them over the last 25 or so years in a friendly, it’s been really poorly attended. They chose Stevenage as their mates in the era we’re looking at for friendlies and reserve team games. We played Arsenal a lot, that’s it.
Between 2000-2010, Arsenal came to Underhill in 11 consecutive pre-seasons. The first meeting between the clubs for the best part of a decade came with little fanfare. A mixed Arsenal side triumphed 0-1 with a young Jermaine Pennant scoring the only goal of the game. This could be a misremembering, but I’m sure for that game we were in our ‘between’ temporary stands behind the goal part of the year and subsequently seem to recall being stood watching it in an empty space a bit like the one at The Hive these days.
2001/02 was when the link between the clubs seemingly ramped up. Arsenal agreed to play their reserve games at Underhill and would go on to do so for several years to follow. These were free admission and an absolute autograph hunter’s paradise for youngsters. Seemingly part of the deal was for a real A grade Arsenal side to play in the pre-season game. Henry, Bergkamp, Vieira and controversial new signing Sol Campbell all starred as we were swept away 1-6 by that season’s double winners.
The following year, off the back of a World Cup, it wasn’t quite as star-studded from start to finish and we gave them a great game. Mark Arber’s goal looked to be enough to grab a draw but we were denied by a late Matthew Upson winner.
By 2003, the game had really gained traction and was an annual sell out. Ticket prices were higher than normal and I do recall a fairly muted level of outrage (there was a valid point that perhaps Barnet season ticket holders saw some kind of benefit or discount) given who the vast majority of tickets were aimed at. Queueing up Westcombe Drive on a Sunday morning in late June; a different time.
This round of the fixture was Martin Allen’s first at Underhill as permanent manager in his first spell. It was a chance for us to see a completely newly assembled side in action - many parallels to the more recent 2022/23 squad. We weren’t only treated to our new players, though. The creator of the website Friends-Reunited in a world before social media, Steve Pankhurst, paid a ‘4 figure sum’ to be part of the squad. Not really sporting a footballing figure, he was given a few minutes on the pitch and allowed a dribble toward goal before the ref blew for full time. I recall Martin Keown looking at him with utter contempt. Great publicity for the club, though. With Sky et al there, it also meant our very respectable 0-0 draw was shared widely. Arsenal had a trialist on show that afternoon wearing number 4 who missed an absolute sitter of a header from point blank range. He looked useless. Some bloke called Yaya Toure apparently…
The ‘pay for a place in the squad’ continued into the following season. Under Paul Fairclough, it perhaps wasn’t surprising this tradition didn’t continue beyond this time. Very much a Mad Dog stunt. This time, a chap called Jeremy Aves coughed up the cash for four minutes of game time.
This friendly came on the back of Arsenal’s invincible Premier League season. We’d just missed out in the play-offs but would go on to have an amazing season ahead. Arsenal would have to wait 22 years for another title, in which time we’d enjoy 3, so the sting of what was about to unfold that afternoon maybe levelled out. A few of the household names didn’t feature due to the just finished Euro 2004 tournament, however, Lauren, Parlour, Reyes and Bergkamp all featured along with two relatively unknown youngsters, Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie.
It all started so well. In the 12th minute, our own exciting new player signed from Kettering Town, Richard Graham, marked his Underhill debut with a cool finish to fire Barnet 1-0 up. About 30 of us who had stubbornly remained in our East Terrace place went absolutely bananas. Bodies everywhere, including many disgruntled and somewhat confused Arsenal fans. We enjoyed that but they would have the last laugh. Or laughs, rather. It just got very out of hand. By half time, Van Persie had a hat trick and Bergkamp had also got in on the act to make it 1-5. Both teams rang the changes but very little did on the pitch. It just got stupid with the game finishing Barnet 1-10 Arsenal. It was that score after 70 minutes so I suppose it could have been even worse.
Before we move on from that, we had a chap start the game in midfield from Cameroon. Details are very sketchy and I could only find a surname from a report online - Khumbla. He’d got a mention by Fairclough pre match about playing to earn a contract. He got subbed after about 20 minutes and was never seen again. It looked like he got the same privilege as the bloke who paid to be part of it for free. Barnet’s very own Ali Dia? Maybe he said he was Roger Milla’s cousin. Still, he got to share a pitch with Bergkamp, Van Persie and Fabregas. No doubt some decent photos on his mantle piece.
The all round experience of the 1-10 defeat was enough to put many of us off attending this game in future versions. The payday was great for the club but Underhill being over-run by people who simply didn’t get what a place like that or a club like ours was about, wasn’t much fun. That’s not to tar all Premier League fans with the same brush but there were a lot of very disrespectful first timers in attendance. A slightly reduced Barnet contingent in future editions made no difference to ticket sales.
For the 2005 edition, we adorned an orange strip with black pinstripes. It was apparently deemed too much of an assault on the eyes on that showing and subsequently, we played the season in the colours reversed. The shirt was too orange. Sound familiar?
This time, we went into the game as champions. With no international tournament preceding it, Arsenal came with all the big guns. Bergkamp and Henry both were amongst the goals as Arsenal raced into a 0-4 first half lead. Not again. Thankfully, on this occasion, the half time changes did slow things down. The only goal of the second half coming from Dean Sinclair to make it a more respectable 1-4.
Whilst Arsenal continued to play the game for a number of following years, this felt like a bit of a turning point in terms of how strong the side they sent was. Pre season tours abroad were becoming more and more the done thing and it felt like we were being squeezed in rather than part of the standard schedule.
A respectable yet uneventful 0-0 draw in 2006, Lee Harrison making a fine save from
Van Persie on his second coming followed by a less noteworthy 0-2 loss in 2007.
Some energy was brought back into the fixture by how competitive they were in the following couple of editions. Kenny Gillet’s superb curling free kick sent Barnet into a 1-0 lead in 2008. This lasted for much of the game and hopes were growing of a famous victory. However, two goals in the final half hour saw Arsenal’s blushes spared.
In 2009, the game proved to be a real ding-dong battle as we prepared for Ian Hendon’s first (and in the event, only) campaign as permanent manager. Arsenal took an early lead but were pegged back by an Ismail Yakubu header. In the second half, the Gunners re-took the lead and appeared to be on course for their standard win. However, in the last few minutes, they were denied when young striker Elliott Charles grabbed an equaliser to make it 2-2. As Gillet had done the year before, he rightfully fully celebrated this goal. He would make 12 sub appearances for Barnet and never score a competitive goal but nonetheless, he’s got a decent little career highlight to look back on there.
The final edition of the game came in July 2010. Andrei Arshavin and Samir Nasri opened and closed the scoring as Arsenal ran to a comprehensive 0-4 victory. I took my Arsenal supporting Dad along to that one as a belated Father’s Day present so did experience the game for the last time. Not much to recall from it, but I suppose at the time the expectation was that this was just another of these games and there’d be plenty more.
Arsenal’s reserve side continued to play at Underhill right until the end, in fact an Arsenal v Tottenham second string fixture was played there just two days after our final game, attracting a not dissimilar sized crowd. As I said earlier, I’ve no idea what caused the friendly arrangement to end or why no relationship seemed to follow us to The Hive - presumably location/distance a factor.
Arsene Wenger was always hugely positive about Underhill, featuring on the Simon Emmett documentary giving his thoughts on it. I’m paraphrasing, but there was a quote along the lines of the place being representative of everything the English game was about. David Dein, the long-serving Arsenal chief executive was also seemingly key in the relationship between the two clubs. I met him at an event a few years ago and mentioned this particular era. He said how much he always enjoyed visiting Underhill and that he kept an eye out for Barnet. He hoped we’d be successful in getting back to where we belong. As a Totteridge resident, he’d be warmly welcomed to his local side again. Perhaps the end of the Dein-Wenger axis was a key part in the clubs going their separate ways.
Who knows if perhaps a return to Barnet would see some sort of relationship being rekindled given proximity and it being more a hotbed of Arsenal support.
The one thing that has never really been too fruitful for us given geography and the previous relationship was getting decent youngsters in. Steve Morrow appeared on loan in the early 90s before his league cup winning and arm breaking exploits a year later. Without a thorough look through the database, Sead Hajrovic on loan in 2012 is the last one I can remember. What do you mean, you don’t? When Ray Parlour was in the last knockings of his career, we made an audacious and quite public bid to sign him with the enticing offer of being captain. He declined. Given the stick he got about his expensive divorce on one of his pre-season visits, perhaps not surprising.
In the meantime, the game today holds little significance but should bring a few extra through the gates than another draw might have. As always, one hopes that a visit to a Barnet game in this context may draw an Arsenal fan or two to decide to come again to watch one of our proper games. If you’re going, my key advice would be patience. And not just because of the usual Hive experience. Arf. We want these people to enjoy it and come back - allow for any frustrations that may ensue!
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