In the beginning
Dial Square
Founded in 1886 the team was nameless, had no pitch and no kit.
The first game they played was against Eastern Wanderers on 11th December 1886; the game was played on the Isle of Dogs and (despite the lack of crossbars or pitch markings) the team claimed a 6-0 win.
In this early period, the team were referred to as Dial Square (the name of one of the workshops within the Arsenal where many of the 15 founders worked). At a team meeting on Christmas Day 1886, the team were renamed Royal Arsenal (possibly a combination of the venue for the meeting (the Royal Oak) and their place of work).
Their first kit comprised red shirts, generously donated by Nottingham Forest (in fact Arsenal continued to play in red shirts until Chapman added white sleeves to the kit for the home game against Liverpool on 4th March 1933). 1887 saw the first match against Tottenham Hotspur (on the Tottenham Marshes) on the 19th November. The Royal Arsenal lost the game 2-1 and, as Arsenal had arrived late, the game only lasted 75 minutes!
Between 1886 and 1913, the team played in four different locations within Plumstead. The 1886-87 season was played on the Common.
The club then moved to the Sportsman Ground for the 1887-88 season until their match against Milwall on 11th February 1888 when the Sportsman Ground was flooded and the team hastily relocated to the Manor Ground. The Manor Ground remained the clubs home turf until, following their success in the early rounds on the FA Cup in 1890, they moved to the new ground, the Invicta.
The Invicta was their first club with a stand, terraces and a dressing room. It was only after the landlords attempted increase in rent, following their elevation to the football league in 1893, that the Arsenal moved back to the Manor Ground where they remained until their move to Highbury in 1913.
In 1891 the team turned professional and renamed Woolwich Arsenal (although the Football League continued to refer to the team as Royal Arsenal until 1896). Interestingly, despite the name they never played a game in Woolwich (their Plumstead grounds being a mile from the Woolwich Arsenal).
Woolwich Arsenal suffered their record defeat on 12th December 1896 away against Loughborough when the team were thrashed 8-0. A little over three years later they returned the compliment when, on the 12th March 1900, Loughborough were beaten 12-0 at the Manor Ground; Arsenals record win.
