Historical Football Kits

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Arsenal

Formed 1886

Elected to Division Two 1893

Arsenal Away Kits now Available

Kit History

Background

Arsenal were originally formed as Dial Square FC in 1886 by workers at the Woolwich armaments factory in South London, a connection immortalised in the club crest, adopted in 1888, featuring three cannons (which never appeared on players' shirts). The name was changed to the more imposing Royal Arsenal a few months after their formation and when the club turned professional in 1891 they became Woolwich Arsenal. The club's first red and white strip was donated by Nottingham Forest. At the time, Forest wore "Garibaldi Red" shirts, a richer and darker shade than the conventional red. It appears that the club retained this shade (aside from 1895-96) until the famous white sleeves were added in the 1930s.

In 1893 Woolwich Arsenal became the first club south of Birmingham to join the Football League. Having turned professional just two years earlier, the club found themselves ostracised by their amateur peers (association football in the metropolitan area was still dominated by gentlemen-players from the upper classes). Their initial attempts to form a professional league foundered (it would be another two years before the Southern League was formed) so they had nowhere else to go. They won promotion to the First Division in 1904 and survived for nine years until they were relegated 1913. That year the club left Plumstead in South-East London to move to Highbury despite vigorous protests from Tottenham Hotspur. When League football resumed after the First World War in 1919 the First Division was expanded. Arsenal's chairman, Sir Henry Norris, contrived to have his club (who had finished fifth in Division Two in 1915) replace Tottenham (bottom of Division One).

After several mediocre seasons, Arsenal appointed Herbert Chapman as manager. Having previously guided Huddersfield Town to two of their three successive League titles, Chapman set about transforming Arsenal from an average First Division club into one of the great names in world football. He had the nearby underground station renamed "Arsenal", introduced the now famous white sleeves and pioneered the use of shirt numbers. Under his guidance the club went on to dominate English football over the following decade. The FA Cup became Arsenal's first major trophy in 1930 and their first League Championship in 1931 was followed by a further 4 titles and another FA Cup over the next 7 years. A new art deco crest was designed and appeared on the shirts worn in the 1932 and 1936 FA Cup Finals. This motif also appeared prominently in the club's fabled marbled halls, over the East Stand and in the boardroom.

After the interruption caused by the Second World War, Tom Whittaker forged another great team winning two more titles (1948 and 1953) and an FA Cup (1950) with the 1951-52 season also seeing the Gunners narrowly miss the elusive double, runners up in both league and FA cup. Whittaker's death in 1956 presaged a barren 14 years.

Club physiotherapist Bertie Mee took over as manager in 1966 and in 1967, after two seasons wearing plain red shirts, the classic Gunners' strip was reintroduced, now enhanced by a smart new crest consisting of a cannon. (This motif had featured in the club's official crest as far back as the nineteenth century.) Defeat in the League Cup final of 1969 at the hands of Third Division Swindon did not bode well but a year later Arsenal captured their first European trophy, winning the Inter-City Fairs Cup against Anderlecht. The following season Arsenal achieved the domestic "double," clinching the League championship with a 1-0 win over Tottenham. Days later a Charlie George goal won the FA cup in extra time at Wembley against Liverpool.

Despite reaching the FA Cup final again in 1972 and finishing second in the league the following season Arsenal became a mediocre side during the mid seventies. Towards the end of the decade Terry Neill and Don Howe achieved some success when Arsenal reached the FA Cup final in 3 successive seasons. This coincided with a slight modification to the crest, which now had "AFC" superimposed on three, stacked cannonballs, a motif now repeated on the shorts. Only the middle visit to Wembley, in 1979, was triumphant, a thrilling last minute 3-2 victory against Manchester United. The following season saw cup heartbreak when Arsenal lost the FA Cup final to West Ham, and 4 days later the European Cup Winners Cup final to Valencia on penalties.

After George Graham took over in 1986, Arsenal won six major trophies in the next eight years. A League Cup triumph in 1987 was built upon, and in 1989 the League Championship returned to Highbury after an 18 year absence when Arsenal pipped Liverpool to the title on goals scored. In the most exciting finish to the league season ever witnessed in English football the final, deciding match at Anfield was won 2-0, the decisive second goal coming in injury time. Another championship followed two years later when Arsenal lost only one league game and conceded just 18 goals in 38 matches. In 1990 the club adopted the crest first designed in 1949 and now worn on players' shirts for the first time.

In the Premiership's inaugural year 1992-93 Arsenal became the first team ever to win both domestic cups in the same season. The following year the European Cup Winners' Cup was captured in Copenhagen. Despite the cup successes, Arsenal's league results remained ordinary and following a scandal over illicit transfer payments, Graham was sacked in the middle of the 1994-95 season. (Also in 1994, the crest was altered to more subtle colouring which, until 2000, appeared on a navy shield).

After a period of turbulence, Frenchman Arsene Wenger was confirmed as Arsenal's new manager at the end of September 1996. Wenger set about transforming Arsenal's traditional cautious playing style. In 1998 Arsenal won the double for the second time, eclipsing Manchester United after trailing them by 13 points in January. The second half of the double, the FA Cup, was achieved with a comfortable 2-0 win against Newcastle at Wembley in May. The following season Arsenal fell just short of repeating their triumph, losing unluckily in the FA Cup semi-final in extra time to Manchester United and missing out on the title to the same deadly rivals by just one point. As the new millennium approached, the balance of power between Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United and Wenger's Arsenal tipped towards the Londoners.

In 2001 the crest was modified again for commercial reasons with solid yellow replacing the gold tones and the club motto rendered in clearer script to make the whole image easier to reproduce.

Because Arsenal's crest had evolved over many years, incorporating design elements from several sources, the club was unable to register copyright. To overcome this and to emphasise the renaissance of the club, a new crest was introduced in 2002, which combined Arsenal's traditional colours (red, dark red, white and navy) with metallic gold, all of which would be featured in Nike's kits over the following seasons.

Another double was achieved in 2002 and in 2004, the Gunners won the Premiership title without being defeated, a feat that has not been achieved since Preston North End won the first ever League title in 1888, undefeated in 18 games. Arsenal were unbeaten in 38 League matches. A year later club won the FA Cup in a penalty shoot-out against Manchester United, the first time the competition had been decided in this way.

In June 2005 the club announced that they would play in dark "red currant" jerseys for one season to mark their last season at Highbury. The following season a more traditional strip was introduced, restoring white sleeves (with metallic gold trim on the body) and in 2008, Nike took something of a risk by reintroducing predominently red shirts with white and "red currant" trim.

Sources

www.arseweb.com Fansite has an entertaining club history and comprehensive stats. See also the useful Kit History section on the Arsenal Website.

Arsenal Away Kits

• a The Official Illustrated History of Arsenal (Phil Soar & Martin Tyler 1998)
• b Photograph - source unknown
• c empics
• d www.sporting-heroes.net
• e www.arsenal.com
• f Football Focus
• g Kuen-Wah Cheung
• h Pete's Picture Palace
• i Association of Football Statisticians - provided by Pete Wyatt
• j Pete's Picture Palace
• k The Big Book of Football Champions 1960-61 provided by Simon Monks
• l Dick Waite
• m Simon Monks

Club crests are the property of Arsenal FC - for a complete history visit Arsenal.com.

* The long sleeved shirt from 1956-57 was reained for cold weather in 1957-58.