The North London Feud…

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are bitter rivals.

But how did that rivalry start? Originally, why did Spurs fans hate Arsenal so much?

(Spoiler alert: they shouldn’t have! But another team really should’ve!)

A bit of history.

When Arsenal Football Club moved from Woolwich to Highbury in 1913, nearby Tottenham Hotspur felt they were encroaching upon their turf. They felt the Gunners would take their own fans away from them.

It didn’t happen, though. In fact the opposite happened.

It brought increased interest in football to north London so both teams benefitted. Attendances increased at both clubs - well, until war broke out ending the 1914-1915 season.

No, the hatred really started a bit later - just before the 1918-19 season started - after World War I (WWI) was over.

Spurs believed then, and believe now, that Arsenal stole their position in the league.

But did they?

At that time, the league had just two divisions. With 20 teams in each division.

Also at that time the bottom THREE teams of division one would swap places with the top THREE teams of division two at the end of each season.

Poorly performing teams get relegated a division, well performing teams get promoted a division.

And it was Man Utd, Chelsea, and Tottenham who were due to go down for division one to division two. All three teams were at the bottom of the previous 1915 division one league table. Man Utd were 18th, Chelsea were 19th, and Spurs were last, 20th. Which turned out to be significant.

However, some objections were raised because that 1915 season was plagued by match fixing esp. by Liverpool. So some saw that triple relegation as unfair. Some.

Also the league was due to expand both its divisions from 20 to 22 teams. So maybe a compromise could be found. Maybe.

Some division two teams argued that FIVE teams ought to be promoted. Three that normally would be promoted and then two more to fill the extra two spaces that are becoming available in division one.

Others said that maybe that the normal THREE could be promoted from the second division, but only ONE be demoted from the first division. So taking up the two extra division one spaces.

A meeting was held. A compromise was agreed.

Both Man Utd and Chelsea could stay in division one - not least as the match fixing in 1915 by Liverpool had affected Chelsea’s games directly. But Spurs couldn’t stay in the top flight as Liverpool’s fixed games hadn’t affected them directly. So Spurs were rightly being demoted to division two. Because they were 20th - last - in division one!

So there was just the matter of which of the THREE teams were going to be promoted from division two to division one. Obvious, right? The top three from the 1914-1915 season, right? Er… no.

Derby County and Preston North End had come 1st & 2nd in the 1915 division two table so they were guaranteed both a top flight spot. So far so good.

The controversy is perhaps why Arsenal were chosen as the third team coming up from division two to division one when they had only reached 5th place in division two in 1915! They jumped over Wolves who had come in 3rd place! Why?

The argument used was that Arsenal had grown the game massively in Highbury (since their move north of the river in 1913) so it was good for the league overall. Good for football. Indeed ticket receipts were huge at Highbury.

I make no judgement on the fairness of this but it’s perhaps Wolves fans who should hate Arsenal not Spurs fans!

So just to be clear, Spurs were rightly demoted because they were crap in 1915. Arsenal didn’t steal their place. They stole Wolves’s one!

So Spurs fans hate Arsenal football club for the wrong reason. It’s not because we stole their top-flight spot in 1918. It’s just because we’ve out-class them ever since. 😂

I might also note that Arsenal have not dropped out of the top rung of English football since.

Just saying. 🙂

@arsenal
#COYG