When Arsenal’s ground was closed due to unruly behaviour

Woolwich Arsenal were not only the first southern league club (ie a league club from the south – the Southern League had other connections with Woolwich Arsenal) when they joined in 1893, they were the first League club in English football to have their ground closed – in 1895.  The ground was closed for 6 weeks, when the crowd turned on the referee after a fractious game against Burton Wanderers on 26^th January 1895.

The original sentence proposed for Arsenal, was that their ground would have been closed for the rest of the 1894/95 season. However, the “compromise” of a mere 6 weeks suspension was agreed upon by the FA.

As Mark points out in his book, An almost identical episode of ref bashing at Wolverhampton Wanderers next season in October 1895 led to their ground being closed but for only 2 weeks. At least one non-local reporter put the disparity in the harshness of the sentences from the FA, down to Arsenal’s role as the pre-eminent southern professional team.

There were also some altercations with Tottenham, the most serious being when the Tottenham goalkeeper (ex-Woolwich Arsenal) punched a fan who was subjecting him to “foul and insulting language” from behind the goal.

Arsenal played one more home game (against Rotherham Town on 9 February 1895) after the Burton Wanderers match, before the punishment started.  This game was played in front of a crowd of 3000; this low crowd was explained by this being a mid-week match played in the afternoon when most men were working in the armaments factories.  The Burton game itself, at which there had been the trouble, had a crowd of 7,000.

Two matches were affected by the ban:

Arsenal returned to the Manor Ground on 30 March 1895 and secured at 3-2 win over Newton Heath in front of a crowd of 6000.

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Interestingly the very next match (6 April v Crewe Alexandra) saw the biggest win of the season – 7-0.

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Indeed despite the ground closure, this was indeed a good time for Arsenal.  Although the club only came 8th in the league in 1894/5 this run towards the end of the season saw just one defeat in 11 games, and included not just the 7-0 win over Crewe, but also a 6-1 home win in the following game against Walsall Town Swifts.

Thus Arsenal ended their second season in 8th position, one place better than their first season, but with a most encouraging run at the end.  Their strength was their home form – their weakness their away form (only 3 away wins all season).

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Here is the final league table.

		Pld	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Bury *	30	23	2	5	78	33	48
2	Notts County	30	17	5	8	75	45	39
3	Newton Heath (Man U)	30	15	8	7	78	44	38
4	Leicester Fosse	30	15	8	7	72	53	38
5	Grimsby Town	30	18	1	11	79	52	37
6	Darwen	30	16	4	10	74	43	36
7	Burton Wanderers	30	14	7	9	67	39	35
8	Woolwich Arsenal	30	14	6	10	75	58	34
9	Manchester City	30	14	3	13	82	72	31
10	Newcastle United	30	12	3	15	72	84	27
11	Burton Swifts	30	11	3	16	52	74	25
12	Rotherham Town	30	11	2	17	55	62	24
13	Lincoln City	30	10	0	20	52	92	20
14	Walsall Town Swifts*	30	10	0	20	47	92	20
15	Burslem Port Vale	30	7	4	19	39	77	18
16	Crewe Alexandra	30	3	4	23	26	103	10

* Bury promoted after play offs, Walsall left league at the end of the season

Clearly the journeys across London and out were difficult for Arsenal, but then so was the journey in for the clubs that had to make it to the border of London and Kent.