By Tony Attwood; AISA Arsenal History Society
Arsenal were elected to the first division of the Football League in 1919 upon its expansion to 22 clubs, following the conclusion of the First World War. Arsenal had come fifth in Division 2 in the last season before professional football was suspended for the duration, although some publications, perhaps trying to downplay Arsenal’s chances of getting promotion in the vote of clubs prior to the start of the 1919/20 campaign, listed Arsenal as sixth. But fifth it was.
At this time, and indeed all the way up to 1987, electing and deselecting clubs to and from the league was the normal process for the lowest league in the pyramid, prior to 1987, when the system of promotion and relegation that was part of the Football League, was expanded to the league immediately below the fourth division.
As a result prior to 1987, getting a club into the Football League was a bit of a hit and miss affair, and there was much talk of the fact that clubs in the bottom leagues (Divisions 3 South and North, and later Divisions 3 and 4) would always vote incumbant clubs back in, fearing that it might be their turn next season to beg such a favour..
But going back in time, the Second Division was formed in 1892 with 12 clubs, mostly from the midlands and north and mostly from the Football Alliance league. Year by year it expanded until by 1893 when Arsenal joined there were 15 clubs. The numbers grew to 20 by 1905 and then in 1919 at the end of the war it was decided to expand the league again to 22 clubs..
For the first few years, there was no automatic promotion to the First Division. Instead, the top few teams in Division Two, played a series of knock out games. This was stopped in 1898 after a match fixing scandal in the series involving Burnley and Stoke City where the clubs played a goalless draw which enabled Stoke to avoid relegation. Of course one could argue that match fixing is enough to have a club disbanded and barred from the League forever, but seemingly not.
The system of voting for clubs at the bottom of the lowest league therefore came into existence, but this too had a fault since most clubs in the lower part of the league would vote for those below them to stay in the league, fearing that next time around it could be them looking at possible exclusion in a vote.
Part of the reason for this favouritism was that once voted out of the League, clubs found it nearly impossible to get back in, and yet in many cases still had the costs of the stadium, players and staff to maintain. So while relegation today to the National League in tier five is hardly to be welcomed the, it doesn’t hold the fear that failing to gain re-election did prior to 1987.
In fact in 1987, Scarborough became the first club to be automatically promoted, replacing Lincoln City in the Football League Fourth Division.
Of course such matters were never of concern to Arsenal. The club joined Division 2 of the Football League for the 1983/4 season, staying in this league until 1903/4 when they won promotion to Division 1. During this time, they also played in various other leagues such as the United League, the Southern Combination and the London League. In many regards, these Leagues enable the club to give meaningful games to its reserves, and bring in a little more cash to the club.
However, in 1903/4, after three seasons of coming fourth, fourth and third in the Football League Division 2, as it was formally called, Arsenal came second, and thus gained promotion. It turned out to be the one and only time Arsenal were promoted.
Arsenal then played nine seasons in Division 1, their highest position being seventh in 1907. Arsenal also improved dramatically in the FA Cup, having never gone beyond the second round before, as in 1905/6 Arsenal reached the semi-final and repeated that achievement the following year.
However, for the next five years, Arsenal settled back into mid-table obscurity with early exits from the FA Cup, unable to improve their position not least because of dwindling crowds for their games in Plumstead, as the shipyards were run down as the more modern vessels needed to be launched in deeper water.
Then in 1912/13 Arsenal were relegated for the only time in the club’s history, coming bottom of the league – and not just by a point or two – Woolwich Arsenal ended up ten points from safety (and remember this was a time of just two points for a win) and with the lowest scoring record and the worst defence in the league. There was no doubt that with just three wins, Woolwich Arsenal deserved to go down, but questions were raised about the ability of London teams to sustain themselves in the top league.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | ||
| 16 | Middlesbrough | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 55 | 69 | 32 |
| 17 | Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 45 | 72 | 30 |
| 18 | Chelsea | 38 | 11 | 6 | 21 | 51 | 73 | 28 |
| 19 | Notts County | 38 | 7 | 9 | 22 | 28 | 56 | 23 |
| 20 | Woolwich Arsenal | 38 | 3 | 12 | 23 | 26 | 74 | 18 |
There were in fact just two London clubs in the second division: Fulham who came ninth in that division and Clapton (later Leyton) Orient who came 14th – so there certainly seemed to be some merit in the notion that London clubs just couldn’t hack it in the League.
Thus it was that northern and midland teams dominated the Football League, as Sunderland sailed to their fifth English league title. In that season of 1912/13 there were but three London clubs in the First Division and they ended up in three of the bottom four places in the League.
So the notion at this time of a London team becoming the club with the longest ever stay in the first division would have seemed utterly laughable. London teams were having a problem even getting into the first division, and there was talk of the south really being a rugby area, with little interst in football. Besides which the Southern League was still flourishing.
So it was that Arsenal went down to Division 2. But they came back to the first division after just two seasons, yet without gaining promotion in the normal way of coming first or second in division two. Quite how they did that we will look at in the next article, as we continue to celebrate 100 consecutive seasons of Arsenal in the top division.
