Arsenal crest
Good Old Arsenal
Afc crest

The Royal Arsenal - bronze cannon

Dial Square - Royal Arsenal - Woolwich Arsenal
Highbury

Dial Square
1886 • team formed by workers at The Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich, beside the Thames
11 Dec 1886

• first match as Dial Square FC: beat East Wanderers 6-0



the sundial
- the original Clock End?


Dial Square Ranges


1880 map

The Royal Arsenal
25 Dec 1886 • club founded as Royal Arsenal at a meeting at The Royal Oak (now The Pullman)
• first set of shirts and ball provided by Nottingham Forest


original factory buildings

start of a great tradition

1887 • friendlies played on Plumstead Common, then Plumstead Marshes, then Manor Field
1888 • played 22, lost 4
• nicknamed 'Woolwich Reds', attendances up to 1000
1888/89 • 24 friendlies
• first entry to FA Cup qualifying rounds
• first trophies - Kent Senior Cup, London Charity Cup
1890/91 • moved to Invicta Ground - terracing and dressing rooms
• attendances up to 12000
• reached first round proper of FA Cup v. Derby County - lost 1-2
• turned professional (first club in South)
1891/92 • 57 friendlies
1892/93 • 56 friendlies



1893/94 • joined Football League's new Second Division as Woolwich Arsenal FC
• moved back to Manor Ground - purchased for £4000
• first league match v. Newcastle United: 2-2
• first victory 11 Sep, 4-1 v. Walsall Town Swifts
• finished 9th out of 15
1896/97 • lowest ever position - 10/16 in Division 2
1903/04 • finished 2nd - promoted to 1st Division for first time
1905/06 • reached semi-final of FA Cup for first time (lost 0-2 to Newcastle)
1906/07 • lost in FA Cup semi-final again - 1-3 to Sheffield Wednesday
1912/13 • worst ever top division season - 20/20 - relegated back to Div. 2
• worst record in top division until 1985 (Stoke City)



The Royal Arsenal Woolwich Home Page

Hand-drawn map (1880)

Links
On Arsenal.com: fuller account of early years, every result ever in Superbase
Much more on Arseweb's history section, including: full record of league positions, 1500 word history, longer history to 1956
Steve Gleiber's The Glorious History (to 1993)
Boring-boring-Arsenal: all results ever
; history section

Highbury
North Bank
2 Double 02
-
"We're the North Bank . . . " - Arsenaalstraat - Awesome Arsenal

pictures: © North Bank (except where obviously not - eg from The Royal Arsenal Woolwich Home Page); usual conditions apply

Updated:28 June, 2002
Michalská
comments & suggestions to: m.shade@btinternet.com