Keep Calm And Carry On

Andy Greeves tells a story from our vast history that has a link to our matchday opponents. This afternoon, he looks at our use of Arsenal’s former Highbury stadium and the Gunners’ matches at White Hart Lane during the World Wars.

Having suffered relegation to the Second Division at the end of the 191213 season, and with their finances in a precarious state, Woolwich Arsenal sought to relocate from their Manor Ground home in Plumstead, South London, in an attempt to increase club revenues.

Then-Gunners chairman Henry Norris looked at open spaces in Battersea and Harringay as potential sites for Arsenal’s new ground. He also explored the possibility of merging with Fulham to form a side that would play at Craven Cottage - but such plans were scuppered by the Football League. Instead, Norris would agree to the 21-year lease of St John’s College of Divinity’s six-acre sports ground in Highbury, N5 at a cost of £20,000.

Having relocated north of the River Thames and less than five miles from our White Hart Lane home, so a local rivalry between ourselves and Arsenal was born.

‘Arsenal Stadium’ - which became more universally known as Highbury was hurriedly built on the college site during the summer of 1913. The main stand and the three accompanying ‘banks’ were designed by renowned architect Archibald Leitch, who also worked extensively on the development of White Hart Lane over the years. Despite not being fully complete, Highbury hosted its first match against Leicester Fosse on September 6 that year.

Our first meeting after the Gunners’ relocation came in a War Relief Fund match at White Hart Lane on August 22, 1914, while we travelled to Highbury for the first time for a Football Combination League match on September 4, 1915.

Despite Great Britain declaring war on Germany on August 4, 1914, the Football League and FA Cup competitions continued for another season in 1914-15. Thereafter, ourselves and Arsenal competed in the London Football Combination for the remaining years of the conflict.