History: Reg Lewis -The legendary Arsenal striker who stayed for 18 years

Reg Lewis At the turn of the 1920s one of Arsenals main talisman in history was born who would later win a league title and FA Cup just after the end of the Second World War, that man is Reg Lewis. Lewis who got to know the back streets of South London played for his […] The post History: Reg Lewis -The legendary Arsenal striker who stayed for 18 years appeared first on Just Arsenal News.

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Reg Lewis

At the turn of the 1920s one of Arsenals main talisman in history was born who would later win a league title and FA Cup just after the end of the Second World War, that man is Reg Lewis.

Lewis who got to know the back streets of South London played for his whole career at The Gunners, although as a youngster he featured for Margate which in the 1930s nurtured later Arsenal legends. He went to the non-league outfit as a schoolboy but in 1935 aged 15 he stepped up to The Arsenal who were the English footballing Empire of the decade.

Three years later in 1938 Lewis got his chance to finally wear the red and white shirt and perform at the famous theatre of football then Highbury. On his New Years Day debut versus Everton he scored heroically in The Gunners 2-1 victory over Everton, however for the rest of the campaign he would only play for Arsenals first team on a further three occasions.

During the 1938/39 season Lewis proved famous in the London Combinations league setting a record to this day of 43 strikes in 31 appearances. During this campaign he also played for the first team second time round where in 16 matches he netted 7 times.

In September 1939 World War Two broke out stopping his career, throughout this period of time Lewis remained playing for The Gunners and shone brightly as a man of natural goal scoring capabilities. However his wartime appearances and goals weren’t counted the same, going for all other footballers across the nation. From 1939-1945 Lewis had amassed 143 goals heroically in 130 games, one game which highlighted his goalscoring prowess was in the 1943 War Cup Southern Final where Lewis bagged four goals in Arsenals 7-1 annihilation of Charlton Athletic.

During the later stages of World War Two Lewis joined the British Army of the Rhine in conquered Germany before returning to North London for the resumption of league football in 1946. Towards the end of the year Lewis was called up for England duty against Scotland to cover for the famous Tommy Lawton who had been the main attacking vocal point of the 1930s England squad.

Even though Lewis had missed out on The Gunners mighty success of the 1930s which saw them win five league titles and two FA Cups, he was still only 26 come the 1946/47 season which saw him find the back of the net 29 times as Arsenals top goalscorer that year and the next. At the end of the 1947/48 campaign Lewis had achieved his one and only league title at Arsenal.

During the 1949/50 FA Cup campaign he netted five times to ensure Arsenal won the Cup for the third time with a 2-0 victory over Liverpool witnessing Lewis grab both goals helping his side to glory. Originally he was in doubt for the final but would later repay manager Tom Whittaker who was unsure about starting the striker. The opening years of the 1950s witnessed Lewis haunted by constant injuries making only 12 matches for the 1951/52 season and not being a part of Arsenals 1952/53 First Division title winning campaign. After being plagued with injury and age no longer on his side Lewis retired aged 33 where after 176 appearances he scored 116 goals declaring him as Arsenals 12^th all-time top goalscorer as of present.

Once his playing days were finished Lewis went back into employment, originally being a landlord of a pub before then hustling away in the world of insurance.

In 1997 Lewis died aged 77 inside the comforts of his home in Chadwell Heath, London.

Liam Harding

Here is the latest DUBLIN ARSENAL podcast with our Irish friends OZZY, EAMONN And JONATHON picking their BEST EVER Arsenal XI since moving to the Emirates in 2006- Who would you choose?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgFrVHnsYLM

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