This series follows the journey of Wolwich Arsenal from Plumstead to Highbury . The series starts with the article “Just what have been Arsenal’s greatest achievements” and continues from there on this site.
By Tony Attwood
In the last episode (Planning the revolution: Arsenal move from Plumstead to Highbury) we had Henry Norris revealing (before he meant to) that Arsenal were planing to move to what became the Highbury ground. But of course meanwhile Arsenal had to play out the final season at Plumstead – in front of a crowd that new that the club would at the end of the season, move right across London. Even if the supporters had felt that the journey was worthwhile from Plumstead to Highbury, there really was no easy way to make the tirip – especially at a time when travelling was not something one did unless it was essential.
But worse, 1912/13 was turning into a terrible season on the pitch, while although here were arguments in favour of having two first division teams close to each other, Tottenham Hotspur’s initial response to the news that Arsenal were going to move to within a couple of miles of Tottenham’s long-established ground was to try to stop the move.
So it was that on 23 February, Tottenham Hotspur went on the attack, demanding that the Management Committee of the Football League would state that they would not approve the move of Woolwich Arsenal from Plumstead to Highbury.
Tottenham were supported in this by Clapton Orient who certainly had a case. Their ground was about five miles from Tottenham’s by road, and indeed Clapton had the greater historic cause to call upon, for Clapton Orient had joined the League in 1905, and Tottenham had joined the League in 1908. The two clubs were only about five miles apart, and a third club in the area, they argued, was too much.
And quite possibly Henry Norris agreed with this. He gave no indication of believing that having two or three clubs close to each other could help boost an interest in football, nor that it would help either club, but the college grounds in Highbury were by far the best location he had found which was large enough to become a football ground, avaiable to rent or purchase, and suitable in terms of public transport (an issue he had been made very aware of in relation to football clubs, at Plumstaed.
Thus although Norris was not fixed on the idea of moving Woolwich Arsenal to Plumstead he was certainly not going to give up on the idea, given the benefits the proposed new ground brought in terms of public transport. True, he was not a user of public transport at this time in his life, but he had probably used it with his parents and he was very aware of the complaints by supporters in Plumstead of the problems of getting to and from the ground.
But Norris was a politician, and as such he had actually opposed the introduction of trams to Fulham as that was the Unionist party’s policy and he was the Unionist mayor of Fulham, so he had little choice in the matter.
The argument used in Fulham was one that was heard across London. The introduction of trams or underground trains throughout the capital would encourage ne’er-do-wells to go from the poorer parts of the city where they live, into the richer regions to commit their crimes, and then rapidly return home with their ill-gotten gains.
And as Mayor of Fulham, and a man who kept himself up to date with both technological developments and social issues, he was fully aware that the days of the fan walking along no more than a couple of streets to see his/her local team had gone. Although the number of away fans at matches was still quite small, that number was growing, and so was the number of people who were quite happy to travel by train, the underground and bus to get to the game.
Indeed as Norris was also aware, an important part of Woolwich Arsenal’s support in Plumstead came from a group of fans in Rotherhithe and there were soon a number of bus, tram and train companies enthusiastically expanding their routes to incorporate Gillespie Road station which as we have noted, was opened in 1906. As a station it was hardly ideal to take large crowds before and after matches, no sooner had Norris suggested Arsenal might move, than thought was being given to how the station could be expanded to accommodate the expected upturn in useage.
And indeed this was part of Norris’ thinking too: Gillespie Road had transport options ready-made: Finsbury Park rail and underground services were now fully operational and could accommodate the pre- and post-match crowds. In fact it was with all this in mind that Norris made certain that one of the main entrances to the stadium was opposite where one of the main entrances to the new Arsenal stadium that Norris envisaged, would actually be.
Now it is at this point that we must bring in another aspect of Henry Norris’ personality – and it was one that had served him extremely well during his time as a property developer in Fulham. He did his homework.
In this regard (and this is a factor that is often missed from reports of the evolution of Arsenal’s new stadium) he already knew that Tottenham Hotspur would not win a fight to determine where another club played. And this was quite simply because Tottenham had been down this road before.
For when Chelsea and Clapton Orient had applied for places in the Southern League in 1904 and 1905 respectively, Tottenham had objected on each occasion. And in response to these objections from Tottenham, although the Southern League, having accepted Clapton in 1904, it was persuaded to reject Chelsea in 1905, on the grounds that it would mean too many football clubs in north London and would be disruptive to community life and Saturday shopping in the area.
But it is possible that Clapton and Chelsea had considered this possibility ahead of their applications going in, because they also each applied to join the Football League and in this case they were accepted.
Now this acceptance was something of a political move since the Football League already by this time saw themselves as the rivals to the Southern League. They had been delighted to have Woolwich Arsenal as the first ever southern members of the Football League and because of this if there was an alignment to be hand, they would certainly always align themselves with Arsenal.
Tottenham on the other hand, with its regular attempts to keep the number of football clubs in London down to a minimum, were seen as a source of grief to the Football League. Indeed when Tottenham joined the Football League in 1908 it was Clapton Orient who could have objected on the grounds of proximity, but they chose not to, seeing the value of local competition.
And in fact we can see through this period of history, that slowly, clubs were realising that having clubs near each other did not reduce numbers, but increased the level of reporting of football in the local papers, heightened general interest in football across the country, and encouraged rivalry between fans. Indeed such arguments had been rehearsed from 1910 onwards and Tottenham’s request for the League Management Committee to hear the case against Arsenal moving to Highbury was immediately rejected, since the Management Committee were perfectly aware that their rules, which they had so carefully re-iterated in 1910, were clear: they controlled which of their leagues each club played in, but they did not control where clubs played. That vision was now deeply ingrained in the ethos of what the Football League was.
The series continues…
