Arsenal Stadium
Highbury, "The Home of Football"[1]
Full name	Arsenal Stadium
Location	Highbury, London, England
Opened	6 September 1913
Renovated	1932-36, 1992-93
Closed	7 May 2006
Demolished	2006; To be redeveloped as housing
Owner	Arsenal Holdings plc
Operator	Arsenal
Construction cost	£125,000 (1913 original) £175,000 (1930s redevelopment)
Architect	Archibald Leitch (1913 original) C. W. Ferrier and W. Binnie (1930s redevelopment)
Tenants	Arsenal FC (1913-2006)
Capacity	38,419 (at closure), 73,000 (peak)
Field dimensions	109×73 yds / 100×67 m[2]

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. Highbury is an area in the London Borough of Islington. It lies between the following places Finsbury Park, north of Highbury London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Archibald "Archie" Leitch ( April 27, 1865 &ndash April 25, 1939) was a Scottish Architect, most famous for his Claude Waterlow Ferrier FRIBA ( 1879 - 6 July 1935) was a Scottish Architect, who specialised in the Art Deco William Bryce Binnie FRIBA ( c 1885/1886 – ?) was a Scottish architect Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered Highbury is an area in the London Borough of Islington. It lies between the following places Finsbury Park, north of Highbury North London is the northern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. It was popularly known as Highbury due to its location, and was given the affectionate nickname of "The Home of Football" by the club. ^[1]

It was originally built in 1913 on the site of a local college's recreation ground and has been significantly redeveloped twice. College ( Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an Educational Institution. The first came in the 1930s from which the Art Deco East and West Stands date; the second in the late 1980s and early 1990s following the Taylor Report, during which the terraces at both ends of the pitch were removed, making it all-seater with four stands. Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial The Taylor Report is a document whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in A terrace or terracing in sporting terms refers to the traditional standing area of a sports stadium particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The resulting reduction in capacity and matchday revenue eventually led to Arsenal opting to build the Emirates Stadium nearby, which they moved to in 2006. The Emirates Stadium is a football stadium located on Ashburton Grove in Holloway, North London, and the home of Arsenal Football Club since Currently, Highbury is undergoing redevelopment to turn it into an apartment complex, with most of the stadium being demolished; parts of the East and West Stands will remain to be incorporated into the new development.

The stadium also hosted England matches and FA Cup semi-finals, as well as boxing, baseball and cricket. The English national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of Tournament where the loser of each Boxing (sometimes also known as English boxing or pugilism) is a Combat sport in which two participants generally of similar weight, Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries Its presence also led to the local Tube station being renamed to Arsenal in 1932, making it the only station on the network to be named after a football club. The London Underground is a Metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire Arsenal tube station, in Highbury, north London, is a London Underground station near the former Arsenal Stadium, which was home of Arsenal

History

The original stadium was built in 1913, when Woolwich Arsenal moved from the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South East London to Highbury, leasing the recreation fields of St John's College of Divinity for £20,000. The Manor Ground in Plumstead, south east London was a football Stadium which between 1888 & 1890 and 1893 & 1913 was the home of the football This article is about the district in London For other places names Plumstead see Plumstead (disambiguation Plumstead is a place and electoral South East London may refer to SE postcode area eastern part of South London The stadium was hurriedly built over the summer of that year, and was designed by Archibald Leitch, architect of many other football grounds of that era; it featured a single stand on the eastern side, and the other three sides had banked terracing. Archibald "Archie" Leitch ( April 27, 1865 &ndash April 25, 1939) was a Scottish Architect, most famous for his The new stadium cost £125,000. It opened whilst not yet fully complete, with Arsenal's first match of the 1913-14 season, a 2-1 Second Division win against Leicester Fosse on September 6 1913; Leicester's Tommy Benfield scored the first goal at the new ground, while George Jobey was the first Arsenal player to do so. From 1892 until 1992 the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football. PLEASE NOTE This section is the introduction Please do not add too much detail here Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started Tommy Benfield (died September 1918 was an English footballer He played for Leicester Fosse, and is famous for being the very first person to score George Jobey (1886 – May 9 1962) was an English football player and manager ^[3] Highbury hosted its first England match in 1920. Arsenal bought the stadium site outright in 1925, for £64,000.

No significant portion of Leitch's original stadium remains today, following a series of bold redevelopments during the 1930s. The first of these was the West Stand, designed by Claude Waterlow Ferrier and William Binnie in the Art Deco style, which opened in 1932;^[4] the same year, on November 5, the local Tube station was renamed from Gillespie Road to Arsenal. Claude Waterlow Ferrier FRIBA ( 1879 - 6 July 1935) was a Scottish Architect, who specialised in the Art Deco William Bryce Binnie FRIBA ( c 1885/1886 – ?) was a Scottish architect Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Leitch's main stand was demolished to make way for a new East Stand, matching the West, in 1936. The West Stand cost £45,000 while the East Stand went far over budget and ended up costing £130,000, mainly thanks to the expense of the facade. ^[5] The North Bank terrace was given a roof, and the southern terrace had a clock fitted to its front, giving it the name The Clock End. Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput, or Clock is a gene which encodes proteins regulating Circadian rhythm.

For the next 50 years, the stadium changed little, although during World War II the North Bank terrace was bombed and had to be rebuilt; the roof was not restored until 1956. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Floodlights were fitted in 1951, with the first floodlit match being a friendly against Hapoel Tel Aviv on October 17 of that year. Hapoel Tel Aviv (הפועל תל-אביב is an Israeli football based in Tel Aviv. Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Undersoil heating was added in 1964. Under-soil heating is a method used in various sports Stadiums (that have grass as their main surface which heats the underside of the pitch to avoid any bad weather such as Unlike at many other grounds, Arsenal refused to install perimeter fencing, even at the height of hooliganism in the 1980s, a decision that saw it struck off the list of eligible FA Cup semi-final venues. A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary Football hooliganism such as brawls vandalism and intimidation carried out by Association football club supporters and fans ^[6]

In the early 1990s, the Taylor report on the Hillsborough disaster was published, which recommended that football stadiums become all-seater. The Taylor Report is a document whose development was overseen by Lord Taylor of Gosforth, concerning the aftermath and causes of the Hillsborough disaster in The North Bank, which had become home of Arsenal's most passionate supporters, was demolished in 1992, and a new all-seater stand opened in its place the following year. During the work, a giant mural of fans was placed behind the goal at that end, to give the illusion that the players were kicking towards a crowd rather than a construction site. The mural initially attracted criticism for its absence of black fans, which was quickly rectified. ^[7] The Clock End was also redeveloped, with a roof and executive boxes fitted in 1989, and seating installed four years later.

Structure

At the time of its closure, the stadium consisted of four separate all-seater stands; the pitch was aligned north-south, with the North Bank Stand and South Stand (popularly known as the Clock End) at the ends. The East and West Stands ran alongside the pitch, and are two of the few examples of British football stands designed in the Art Deco style. The East Stand incorporated the club's offices and was well known for its marble halls (though the floors were actually terrazzo) which are often cited in media depictions of the stadium,^[8] and the facade that faces onto Avenell Road. Marble is a nonfoliated Metamorphic rock resulting from the Metamorphism of Limestone, composed mostly of Calcite (a crystalline form of Terrazzo is a Faux - Marble flooring or Countertopping material A facade or façade (fəˈsɑːd is generally one side of the exterior of a Building, especially the front but also sometimes the sides and rear The stand is considered architecturally significant enough to have been designated a Grade II listed building. A listed building in the United Kingdom is a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural historical or cultural significance ^[4]

The stadium's main entrances were on Gillespie Road, Avenell Road and Highbury Hill. Gillespie Road is a road in Highbury, North London, running east-west along the north side of the Arsenal Stadium, previously home of Arsenal Football When it closed, Highbury had a capacity of 38,419^[9] (approximately 12,500 in the North Bank, 11,000 in the West Stand, 9,000 in the East Stand and 6,000 in the Clock End), all seated, and had Jumbotron screens in the south-east and north-west corners. A JumboTron is a Large-screen television technology developed by Sony, typically used in Sports stadiums and concert venues to show close up shots of the Before the Taylor Report and the era of all-seater stadiums in Britain, both the North Bank and Clock End consisted of terracing, and the stadium often saw crowds of up to 60,000 or more; its largest attendance was 73,295 on March 9, 1935 when Arsenal played Sunderland in the First Division; the game finished 0–0. A terrace or terracing in sporting terms refers to the traditional standing area of a sports stadium particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional Association football team based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, which plays in

Arsenal Stadium was well known for its very small immaculately-kept pitch, which measured only 109×73 yards (100×67 metres). A yard (abbreviation yd) is a unit of Length in several different systems including English units Imperial units and United The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International ^[2] Arsenal's groundsmen, Steve Braddock and his successor Paul Burgess, have won the FA Premier League's Groundsman of the Year award several times. The Premier League, colloquially referred to as the Premiership, is an English professional league for football clubs ^[10]

Closure and redevelopment

An artist's impression of how the developed apartment complex will look.

The post-Taylor capacity of Highbury was limited to 38,419, while Arsenal's success during the 1990s and 2000s meant that virtually every home match was filled to near total capacity. However, restrictions such as the East Stand's status as a listed building made any future expansion of Highbury difficult and expensive. Eventually, Arsenal decided to leave Highbury, and construct a new stadium, the Emirates Stadium in nearby Ashburton Grove, which opened in July 2006. The Emirates Stadium is a football stadium located on Ashburton Grove in Holloway, North London, and the home of Arsenal Football Club since Arsenal's offices were moved to a new building, Highbury House, which was named in commemoration of the former stadium.

For their final season at Highbury (2005-06), Arsenal ran a series of promotions honouring the stadium's legacy. A commemorative logo was designed, featuring the club's traditional Art Deco crest from the 1930s; the club's history at Highbury was also celebrated through a series of themed matchdays. On the field, Arsenal temporarily set aside their traditional red shirts with white sleeves for the season and adopted a solid redcurrant shirt, the colour they wore during their first season at Highbury in 1913-14.

Arsenal's final game at the stadium was their FA Premier League match on 7 May 2006 against Wigan Athletic, which they won 4-2, with their captain and all-time leading goal scorer, Thierry Henry, getting a hat trick. Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional football team based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Thierry Daniel Henry ( born 17 August 1977 A hat-trick in Sports is associated with succeeding at anything three times in three consecutive attempts After the stadium's closure, Arsenal held an auction to sell off many of the stadium's parts, including pieces of the pitch, the goalposts and former manager George Graham's desk;^[11] sale of the stadium's seats had to be cancelled, however, after it was found they contained trace amounts of the toxic metal cadmium. "Auctioneer" redirects here For the DC Comics supervillain see Auctioneer (comics. Goal refers to a method of scoring in many sports It can also refer to the physical structure or area of the playing surface in which a score is made George Graham (born November 30, 1944 in Bargeddie, Glasgow) is a Scottish former football player and Manager SEAT SA ( English pronunciation:, "say-at" Spanish pronunciation:) is a Spanish automobile Cadmium (ˈkædmiəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Cd and Atomic number 48 ^[12]

Arsenal Stadium is currently (as of 2008) being redeveloped and converted into apartments, in a project known as "Highbury Square", a scheme that will see 711 properties built on the site. The North Bank and Clock End stands have already been demolished, with the famous clock having been moved to the new stadium; the exteriors of the listed Art Deco East Stand and the matching West Stand are being preserved and incorporated into the new developments, while the rest of the stands' structures have been removed. The pitch will become a communal garden. A garden is a planned space usually outdoors set aside for the display cultivation and enjoyment of Plants and other forms of Nature. In October 2005 the proposed apartments went on sale; as of May 2006 all properties in the North, East and West Stands had been taken. The apartments are expected to be ready by 2010.

Photo gallery

The façade of the East Stand, which looms over Avenell Road, in 2005.	The Clock End, with executive boxes above, in 2005; since demolished.	The West Stand, in 2005 before the stadium's closure.	View of the Clock End from the directors box
View in front of the directors box	View to the right of the directors box

Other roles

As well as being home to Arsenal, Highbury occasionally functioned as a home stadium for England matches; 12 internationals were played at Highbury from 1920 to 1961, most of them being friendlies. These included both England's first full home international against opposition outside of Great Britain and Ireland (Belgium in 1923), and the "Battle of Highbury", England's famous 3-2 win over World Champions Italy in 1932, where seven Arsenal players started the match. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world The Belgium national football team is the national football team of Belgium and is controlled by the Belgian Football Association. The "Battle of Highbury" was the name given to the football match between England and Italy that took place on November 14, 1934 at The FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international Association football The Italian national football team is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC and represents Italy in international football competition Highbury was also used as a football venue for two matches in the 1948 London Olympics (a first-round match and a quarter-final^[13]), although it did not host any games in the 1966 FIFA World Cup or Euro 96, both of which were held in England; by the time of the latter, the pitch had been ruled too small for international football. The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event which was held in London The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup was held in England from 11 July to 30 July The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship ( Euro 96) was hosted by England.

Highbury was the venue for twelve FA Cup semi-finals as a neutral ground, the first in 1929 and the last in 1997, although between 1984 and 1992 it was off the FA's list of approved venues, after Arsenal's refusal to install perimeter fencing following a pitch invasion by Everton fans during their semi-final against Southampton. A pitch invasion, known as rushing the field in the United States occurs when a crowd of people who are watching a sports game run onto the field to celebrate or protest about Everton Football Club is an English football club located in the city of Liverpool. Southampton Football Club is a professional English football team, nicknamed The Saints and based in the city of Southampton. ^[6] It also hosted the London XI's home leg against Lausanne Sports in the 1955-58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals; London won 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. The London XI was an Association football representative team specially created to take part in the 1955-58 edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the Lausanne Sports (also referred to as LS) is a Sports club from Lausanne, Switzerland. History Spanish era The first competition was to be held over two seasons to avoid clashes with national leagues fixtures ^[14] Clapton Orient also played a single home game at Highbury in 1930 while their own ground, Lea Bridge Road, underwent development work to meet League standards. Leyton Orient FC are an English Professional football team from east London currently playing in League One of the Football League Lea Bridge Road is a major through route in North East London across the Lea Valley from Clapton to Whipps Cross in Leyton.

Arsenal did not always play their home matches at Highbury in the 93 years they were based there. During the Second World War the stadium was used as an ARP station and was bombed; Arsenal played their matches at White Hart Lane, home of deadly rivals Tottenham Hotspur, until Highbury re-opened in 1946. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Air Raid Precautions (ARP was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated A bomb is any of a range of devices that typically rely on the Exothermic Chemical reaction of an Explosive material to produce an extremely For the railway station of the same name see White Hart Lane railway station. Tottenham Hotspur, ˈtɒʔnəm is an English professional football club which currently plays in the Premier League. More recently, Arsenal's home UEFA Champions League matches in the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons were played at Wembley Stadium, as Highbury's already limited capacity had to be reduced to accommodate advertising hoardings. See also List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winners The UEFA Champions League, which evolved from the European Champion Clubs' Cup is a seasonal club original Wembley Stadium was a football Stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand Arsenal's record at Wembley (P6 W2 D1 L3) was relatively poor, and after two seasons the club switched back to playing at Highbury, not least because since Wembley closed for rebuilding in October 2000, it would not have been able to host their 2000-01 campaign.

Highbury has also hosted several cricket and baseball matches, and was the venue for the 1966 World Heavyweight boxing title bout between Henry Cooper and Muhammad Ali, which Ali won. Sir Henry Cooper OBE, KSG (born May 3 1934) in South East London, is a retired English Heavyweight Biography Early life Cassius Clay Jr was born on January 17 1942 It has featured on the silver screen as well, having been the backdrop to at least two movies: The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, and Fever Pitch. The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is a 1939 British Fever Pitch (sometimes titled in the United States as Fever Pitch A Fan's Life) is the title of a 1992 Autobiographical book by

Final record of results

Arsenal

Arsenal's complete competitive record at Highbury is as follows:^[15]

England

England's record at Highbury is as follows:^[19]

FA Cup semi-finals

FA Cup semi-finals held at Highbury are listed below. The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition The FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international Association football The British Home Championship (also known as the Home International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom Teams in bold went on to win the competition that year

Footnotes and references

Further reading

• Glanville, Brian (2006). Brian Lester Glanville (born 24 September 1931) is a leading English football writer and novelist Arsenal Stadium History: The Official Illustrated History of Highbury Stadium. Hamlyn. ISBN 0600612171.  
• Smith, Bruce (2005). Highbury: The Story of Arsenal Stadium. Mainstream. ISBN 1845960122.  
• Spurling, Jon (2006). Highbury: The Story of Arsenal in N5. Orion. ISBN 075287344X.  

External links

• Farewell To Highbury Official tribute on Arsenal. com
• Highbury Square Official website of the redevelopment project
• Arsenal Stadium History and photos at Keke's Stadium Mania
• Highbury Photos at The Stadium Guide