Royal Arsenal: Champions of the South

By Mark Andrews, Andy Kelly and Tim Stillman.

Yes it’s true, Mark and Andy from the thearsenalhistory.com have found time between writing in official Arsenal publications and our day jobs to produce the definitive account of the start of the Arsenal, covering the ensuing years of the club in it’s short-lived guise as Dial Square and then Royal Arsenal.

We uncover how Royal Arsenal grew to become the Champions of the South – encapsulating the football lives of the founders, players and administrators of the forerunners of The Arsenal Football Club. Along the way, this book chronicles how the football club emerged as an offshoot of the Dial Square cricket club, which was established after the 1886 cricket season had ended to keep the men occupied. The location of the initial Dial Square game is revealed, how the supporters responded to their team, and we reveal the club’s first programme writer – a very well-known late Victorian era poet. The real story of how Royal Arsenal became professional is a fascinating tale of how working men repelled the rapacious landlord of their ground, and at the same time, put one over the old boys’ network who ran the local Football Associations.

A real tale of intrigue, underhand dealings, drunken players and “shamateurism” in Victorian era Plumstead.

There are a number of exclusives in the book:

How the club was formed, and who the founders really were

How Fred Beardsley actually influenced the colour of the shirts

The real location of the first game the club ever played at Millwall

The first programme editor

The identity of the first chairman

Our editor Tim Stillman, in the foreword, says the following lovely words about our work:

“In the absence of regulation, historians such as Mark and Andy are invaluable guardians, whether appointed or otherwise. Once I came to understand the entirely undemocratic construction of the history of Arsenal Football Club, I became emphatically persuaded by Mark and Andy’s work- its quality, its rigour and most of all, its importance. “

Also after reading a review copy of the book, the great journalist Paddy Barclay, now the chairman of the reputable Football Writers’ Association said:

To my mind historians are the lifeblood of football and people with Arsenal at heart are lucky to have Mark Andrews and Andy Kelly. This masterpiece is enhanced by the skilful writing of Tim Stillman and the result is an extraordinary combination of detail with readability. Royal Arsenal: Champions of the South is a terrific piece of work.

Buy online before the end of April 2018 and get your name printed in the Arsenal fans’ Roll of Honour that will appear within the book and receive a limited edition print of Royal Arsenal at the Invicta Ground.

To be part of the history of our great club purchase here from Legends Publishing:

Royal Arsenal – Champions of the South

If you have any questions about the book please contact us via this website, or our twitter accounts:

Legends Publishing

Mark Andrews

Andy Kelly

Tim Stillman