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Fred Eggelton |
Lifelong Gunner fans, together to the end
FOR more than 80 years, lifelong Arsenal stewards Fred Eggelton and his brother Tom were just about inseparable.
The brothers lived near each other in Queen’s Crescent, both went to Rhyl and Haverstock schools, and worked in the same places, first a chrome-plating
factory and then Mount Pleasant Post Office.
But it was through their love of Arsenal that the two really bonded and together they saw the team more than 2,000 times.
Both volunteered as stewards at Highbury Stadium for more than 50 years and were official historians in the Arsenal Museum.
But match-days will never be the same again for Fred, 83, after the death of Tom on August 15.
Fred, who lives in Bassett Street and works three days a week in the Royal Free Hospital’s shop, said: “Tom went into the Royal Free on the Friday for a routine test. I spoke to him in the hospital and we were supposed to be meeting up the next day to go to the West Brom game.
“He was in good spirits and looking forward to the first game of the season – but then he just keeled over with a heart attack.
“I’m going to miss him – he was a Gunner to the end.”
Fred was taken to his first Arsenal game by his older brother in 1934.
He said: “Tom wanted someone to go with so he took me down. I remember we would get the bus from Camden to Finsbury Park and then walk down to Highbury.
“We would bunk in over the fence in those days – you could never do that now.”
After the war, the two young men became stewards in the stands before progressing to pitch side.
It turned out to be a lifelong vocation that ended with the pair working with the club’s top brass in the executive suite in the old East Stand run by Arsenal director Ken Friar’s daughter, Sue.
Iain Cook, Arsenal’s official historian, said: “When new laws about safety in grounds came into effect in 1993, Tom and Fred became too old to be stewards.
“I had met them in the executive suite and when I was asked to set up the Arsenal Museum in the North Bank I wanted them to come and help me with it.
“They were a real fixture at Arsenal – everyone seemed to know them.
“Tom was a little bit more serious than Fred, but they were both happy to chat to anyone and reminisce about the Arsenal.”
Fred said: “We met so many players – Charlie George, Kenny Sansom, Tony Adams. I remember writing to Tony when he was in prison – to wish him happy
birthday. It was signed by all the stewards. We were in the suite for about eight or nine years but when the North Bank opened in 1993 we went to work in the museum.”
He added: “We were there right up until the end, until the stadium closed – then we moved to the new stadium.
“We were never paid but the club treated us well. They gave us free tickets sitting next to each other after we finished as stewards and Tom and I would go to all the home games.”
Together the pair watched around 2,000 Arsenal games – but a 5-4 thriller against the Busby Babes of Manchester United stands head and shoulders above the rest.
“The stand-out match was when United came to Highbury in 1958. It was the week before the plane crash. As a supporter of a young team, to think of all those
youngsters being killed brings tears to your eyes.
“They were terrific. It was the best game I have ever seen. It was lovely to watch it and I remember leaving with Tom, buzzing with adrenalin. We felt like we’d been playing in the match. That was the be all and end all of football.”
He added: “Tom’s favourite player was Alex James – he was a genius. And then there was David Jack, the captain. The players we’ve got today – Van Persie’s pretty good and this new one Nasri looks real class – but they couldn’t hold a candle to those two.”
Tom’s wife Betty Selmes died in 2000. He is survived by one daughter. |
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