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Arsenal Stadium

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Arsenal Stadium

Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" from the name of the district in which it was located, and was given the affectionate nickname of "The Home of Football".

It was originally built in 1913 on the site of a local college's recreation ground, and was significantly redeveloped twice. The first reconstruction came in the 1930s, from which the Art Deco East and West Stands date. There was a second development; the first phase, which added executive boxes to the Clock End, was completed in 1989, and afterward in 1993 a new North Bank Stand was constructed. These latter developments both followed the recommendations of the Taylor Report by replacing the terraces to make the stadium an all-seater with four stands. However, further attempts to expand the stadium were blocked by the community, resulting in a reduction in capacity and matchday revenue. This led to Arsenal opting to build a new stadium, the Emirates Stadium. After the club moved to its new stadium upon the conclusion of the 2005–06 season, Highbury was redeveloped as a residential development known as Highbury Square, with the Clock End and North Bank stands being demolished; parts of the East and West Stands remained and were incorporated into the new development due to their listed status.

The stadium also hosted international matches – both for England and in the 1948 Summer Olympics – and FA Cup semi-finals, as well as boxing, baseball and cricket matches. Its presence also led to the local London Underground station being renamed as Arsenal in 1932, making it the only station on the Underground network to be named after a football club.

In addition to its architecture, the stadium was known for its small but immaculate pitch and for the clock that had been positioned in the southern side of the ground since its introduction in 1930.

The original stadium was built in 1913 after Woolwich Arsenal chairman Henry Norris moved the club from the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South East London to Highbury, leasing the recreation fields of St John's College of Divinity for 21 years for £20,000. The move was initially opposed by Islington Borough Council, residents and nearby clubs, Tottenham Hotspur and Clapton Orient. The lease agreement, signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Randall Davidson, allowed no matches to be played on "holy days" and that no "intoxicating liquor" would be sold at the stadium; however, these stipulations were later dropped. One advantage of the site was its close proximity to Gillespie Road tube station.

The stadium, designed by Archibald Leitch, architect of many other football grounds of that era, was hurriedly built over the summer of 1913. It featured a single stand on the eastern side and the other three sides had banked terracing and cost £125,000. It opened on 6 September 1913 whilst not fully complete, for Arsenal's first match of the 1913–14 season, a 2–1 Second Division win against Leicester Fosse. Leicester's Tommy Benfield scored the first goal at the new ground while George Jobey was the first Arsenal player to do so.

Highbury hosted its first England match in 1920. The Australian rugby league team suffered the first loss of their 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain at Highbury to an English side 4 points to 5 before approximately 12,000 spectators.

In 1925, Arsenal purchased the stadium site outright for the sum of £64,000.

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