ARSENAL MIGRATE FROM SOUTH TO NORTH

In 1886, munitions' workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich (South London) founded the football club known as Dial Square. In 1913 the club crossed the city to the Arsenal Stadium in Highbury.

On 22 February 1913, Arsenal publicly revealed their decision to relocate from South London to North London. 

Arsenal was the first club from the South of England to join the Football League in 1893.

Established in 1886, Arsenal spent the majority of their early years at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, southeast London. But after the turn of the century, attendances started to decline, placing the club into a difficult financial position. Majority shareholder Henry Norris (pictured) led the search for a new ground, eventually choosing the Highbury neighbourhood in the North London district of Islington and publicizing the decision in the newspapers.

In 1910, Norris and William Hall each bought 240 shares (18.75%) of the ailing Woolwich Arsenal (after the club had gone into voluntary liquidation, while still retaining their positions on the Fulham board; Norris became club chairman two years later. With Arsenal's low attendances and poor financial performance, Norris tried to create a London superclub by merging the two clubs, but this was blocked by the Football League. Undeterred, he turned his attention to moving Arsenal to a new stadium; he eventually settled on a site in Highbury, north London, on the site of the recreation ground of St John's College of Divinity; his close relationship with Archbishop, Ranfdall Davidson, helped, and the archbishop personally signed the ground's title deeds.The Arsenal Stadium opened in 1913, and the club dropped the Woolwich from its name the following year.

Despite objections from Highbury residents and the club's own supporters, Arsenal completed the move over the summer of 1913, moving into the new Arsenal Stadium that had been designed by Archibald Leitch and built at a cost of £125,000. In their first season there, their average attendance was 23,000 per match, more than doubling the average of 11,000 from the previous season. The move also created the North London Derby, Arsenal's rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur, who were there when the Gunners arrived. Below dates for Highbury:

Opened	6 September 1913
Renovated	1932–1936, 1992–1993
Closed	7 May 2006
Demolished	2006; redeveloped as housing

The club remains in Islington, but moved a short distance to Holloway in 2006 for the new Emirates Stadium.

Further south, on February 22nd, in 1956, the first floodlit match was played at Fratton Park, Portsmouth. A problem with the fuses meant that kick off was delayed for 30 minutes, but the game eventually got underway with the home team playing out a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United and the "national game" lodged itself further into the mainstream of popular entertainment.

And finally...

DIAL SQUARE REBORN Dial Square Football Club was reborn on 7th January 2020 by avid Arsenal fan, Stuart Morgan.

Despite Morgan's ambitious plans for the club to gain entry into the Combined Counties Football League Division One, it was vetoed by the League's officials. Instead, the club opted to join the the Guildford & Woking Alliance League (level 14/step 10), and played their home matches on the third generation (3G) pitch at Abbey Rangers in Addlestone, Surrey, for the 2021/22 season.

Burgundy was adopted as the club's principal colour in reference to Arsenal’s (once known as Dial Square) original strip, while Dial's 2020 logo housed a sundial and oak leaves incorporated within a shield; drawing its sentiment from The Royal Oak pub in Woolwich, Greater London, where Arsenal was originally founded in 1886. Good Luck!