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Johnny Arnold started his
footballing career with non-League Oxford City before moving to Southampton
in 1929. He was also at this time qualifying as a professional cricketer for
Hampshire, but the next season showed Arnold's potential as a goalscoring
winger, scoring seven times in eighteen games. In the 1931-32 season he
was Southampton's top scorer with 20 goals, netting in five consecutive games
towards the season's end.
Halfway through the next season
Johnny had scored eleven goals in 26 games including a hat-trick against
West Ham United when, along with Mike Keeping, he transferred to Fulham. In
his first Fulham match he scored the cottager's first goal in a 3-3 draw
against Bury. Over the next six seasons Johnny made many goalscoring
opportunities for players like as Jim Hammond and Eddie Perry, but he also
scored his fair share too. Season 1936-37 was his best season, scoring
twelve goals. He helped Fulham reach the FA Cup Semi-finals in 1935-36 and
scored Fulham's goal in the 2-1 defeat by Sheffield United at Molineux.
Arnold was capped by England after just a month as a Fulham player in a match against
Scotland. Johnny Arnold played 213 games for Fulham scoring 63 goals, until
the outbreak of the Second World War. He continued playing cricket (as a
batsmen) for Hampshire until 1950, scoring 21,596 runs. He played in one
test match for England, thus becoming one of the few men to ever represent
his country at both sports. After his retirement from playing
sport, he became a top class umpire, a position Johnny held for an
impressive twenty years.
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