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1886–87 Royal Arsenal F.C. season

English football club season

Field	Value
club	Dial Square / Royal Arsenal
season	1886–87
manager	None
chairman	None
pattern_b1	_collar_buttons_2
leftarm1	ff0000
body1	ff0000
rightarm1	ff0000
shorts1	FFFFFF
socks1	000000
nextseason	1887–88
stadium	Plumstead Common
stdtitle	Ground

Following their first match, the workers changed the club's name to Royal Arsenal Football Club; a club committee was formed as Danskin and Beardsley were voted captain and vice-captain respectively. Royal Arsenal won their first home game 6–1 on Plumstead Common against Erith on 8 January 1887. Facilities in local pubs were often used as changing rooms and administrative hubs during the season. In their first season, the club played ten friendly games; scoring 36 goals goals and conceding eight. They faced five different opponents twice, both home and away.

Establishment

The club was formed by David Danskin and other workers from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Early games were played under the name Dial Square.

Home games were played on an area of Plumstead Common that is now bordered by Heavitree Road, Waverley Crescent and St John's Terrace. Players used The Star Inn public house in Jago Close as a dressing room.

The club's first match was against Eastern Wanderers on 11 December 1886. The match was played on a piece of scrap land in what is now Tiller Road on the Isle of Dogs.

In his book "Forward, Arsenal!", Bernard Joy gave the team line-up for first match as: Beardsley, Danskin, Porteous, Gregory, Bee, Wolfe, Smith, Moy, Whitehead, Morris, Duggan. However, in 1953 Robert Thompson claimed that he played in the first game (along with Wells in place of Morris and Duggan) and scored the first goal. Further, it has been found that Fred Beardsley played for Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup that day.

Thompson also claimed to have suggested the name Royal Arsenal. From Thompson's account, it appears that the first game played as Royal Arsenal was against Millwall Rovers on 5 February 1887.

Players

Players that were reported as having played for Dial Square / Royal Arsenal during the 1886–87 season include:

Scotland David Danskin (captain)
England Fred Beardsley (vice-captain)
England Joseph Bee
James Crichton
Robert Crichton
Charles Duggan
John Gellatly
Thomas Gregory
Alfred Morris
James Moy
Richard Pearce
Duncan Porteous
Richard Price
George Smith
Robert Thompson
Thomas Wells
G Whitehead
England Frank Wolfe
England Morris Bates

Club officials

;Committee members

David Danskin
Fred Beardsley
Joseph Bee
Thomas Wells
Duncan Porteous
G Whitehead
George Smith
Thomas Gregory
Trainer: Morris Bates
Secretary: Elijah Watkins
Treasurer: Fred Beardsley

Jack Humble was probably involved with the club during the season.

Matches

Friendlies

All matches that Dial Square / Royal Arsenal played during the 1886–87 season were friendlies. Significant matches were:

11 December 1886 v Eastern Wanderers (A) – the club's first-ever game
8 January 1887 v Erith (H) – the club's first home game and the club's first game under the name Royal Arsenal
5 February 1887 v Millwall Rovers (A)-First defeat

References

(1988). "Arsenal History And Full Record 1886 – 1988". Lingfield Sport Publications.
(25 October 2010). "Arsenal's first game". The History of ArsenalFC by Tony Attwood.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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