When Arthur Chandler Scored Two Hat-Tricks In Three Days

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When Arthur Chandler Scored Two Hat-Tricks In Three Days

Club Historian John Hutchinson recalls how, in June 1929, Leicester City’s record goalscorer Arthur Chandler scored two hat-tricks in three days.

2026-06-22T16:50+01:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

22 Jun, 2026

When Arthur Chandler Scored Two Hat-Tricks In Three Days

Club Historian John Hutchinson recalls how, in June 1929, Leicester City’s record goalscorer Arthur Chandler scored two hat-tricks in three days.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-22T16:50+01:00

When Arthur Chandler Scored Two Hat-Tricks In Three Days

Club Historian John Hutchinson recalls how, in June 1929, Leicester City’s record goalscorer Arthur Chandler scored two hat-tricks in three days.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-22T16:50+01:00

When Arthur Chandler Scored Two Hat-Tricks In Three Days

Club Historian John Hutchinson recalls how, in June 1929, Leicester City’s record goalscorer Arthur Chandler scored two hat-tricks in three days.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-22T16:50+01:00

When Arthur Chandler Scored Two Hat-Tricks In Three Days

Club Historian John Hutchinson recalls how, in June 1929, Leicester City’s record goalscorer Arthur Chandler scored two hat-tricks in three days.

John Hutchinson

2026-06-22T16:50+01:00

He scored these goals whilst representing the English FA in their 1929 Tour of South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Arthur arrived in Rhodesia on 26 June, 1929 as a member of a very strong FA touring party. This contained several England internationals including Arthur’s Leicester team-mate, left-back Reg Osborne. The English team was undefeated on the tour and Chandler was in great form.

In the build up to the visit to Rhodesia he had scored 20 goals in the 10 games in South Africa. Consequently, Arthur was the star player that everybody in Rhodesia wanted to see.

We are fortunate to have access to the details of Arthur’s exploits in that last week of June 1929. These would have been largely lost to history had he not left his newspaper cuttings from the tour to the Club before his death at the age of 88 in 1984.

Chandler's cap from the 1929 trip to South Africa and Rhodesia.

These crumbling, yellowing pages from the South African and Rhodesian press, (now on the Club’s digital archive), transport us back to 97 years ago this week.

They recount how, on 27 June, 1929 Arthur scored a hat-trick for the FA in a 4-0 win against Rhodesia at Salisbury (Harare). Under the heading 'Chandler’s Greatness', the Rhodesia Herald describes Chandler as being “five feet nine inches tall and almost 12 stone. He thunders down the centre - a big lump to tackle and stop. He has got scores of goals for Leicester and can shoot like a gun”.

Two days later, on 29 June, 1929, in a 6-1 win over Rhodesia in Bulawayo, Arthur scored another hat-trick. At this stage of the tour, Chandler had scored a remarkable 26 goals in 12 games.

The verdict on Chandler after his two games in Rhodesia was described in the local press in these terms. “Chandler was the shining light. His form was a revelation. His ball control, on grounds like concrete, was remarkable.” Another report described Arthur as “easily the best centre forward ever to have come to this country”.

Chandler's shirt crest from the tour.

There were some tensions though. The local press resented the English “win at all costs” approach to the game and did not approve of the way the English players shouted instructions to each other on the field which they felt was “bad form”.

Arthur was well paid for his exploits in Rhodesia. He received £9.50 per week at a time when the top contracts in England in the close season were only £6 per week.

The last week in June is traditionally a time when players are on holiday. This was certainly not the case for Arthur all those years ago. He followed up his week in Rhodesia with seven more goals in four games, which included two test matches against South Africa. His final goal tally for the tour was an amazing 33 goals in 16 games.

Some of Arthur’s memorabilia from his remarkable tour are in the Club’s collection. These include his FA Tour cap, his England FA shirt crest, his personal snapshots and his newspaper archive.

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