“It was always the fixture that Bill Nicholson said if we were only going to win two games all season, those were the two in the season we had to win,” said Pat Jennings, one of the handful of players to experience both sides of the cauldron that is a Tottenham-Arsenal encounter.
“It was the same in Bill’s time as a player and something that has continued through the years.”
Standing at 208 matches thus far, the North London Derby is one of the most storied and fiercest rivalries in English football.
From a neutral point-of-view, the clashes rarely disappoint for entertainment and passion. From a fan perspective, it can be excruciating. A feud so heated that the joy of winning is always slightly tinged with relief.
However, it wasn’t always the case that Tottenham and Arsenal were the most fervent of enemies.
The “venom”, as Gary Lineker put it, bubbled over time as the clubs grew respectively in stature before pivotal actions – or fate perhaps – brought them together.
This is the story of how the North London Derby came to be.
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The Early Years (1882 – 1890)
In 1882, with association football still in its relative infancy, Hotspur FC was formed by a collective of grammar school pupils who were also part of Hotspur Cricket Club.
Despite the first meetings for the club’s formation being in a basement kitchen of a YMCA, with a rickety table and chairs with no backrests, enthusiasm was high.
Within a year of conception, the club had begun playing its first matches on the Tottenham Marshes, winning its first-ever game 9-0 and its second game 1-0 (though play was halted ten minutes from time due to the ball bursting).
By 1884, the club aligned itself closer to the area in which it had been born and was renamed Tottenham Hotspur Football (and Athletic) Club.
The following year saw the first steps into competitive matches as the Lilywhites began their steady ascent.
In 1886, another football club, Dial Square, was formed south of the River Thames by workers of the Woolwich Arsenal armament factory. Their first game would be held in December of that year, a 6-0 win over Eastern Wanderers.
The club’s original name, – in reference to a sundial at the entrance of the factory – was soon changed to Royal Arsenal, with members combining their place of work with the Royal Oak pub they frequented.
The two would-be rivals met for the first time in 1887 in Tottenham, with the hosts leading Royal Arsenal 2-1 before play ceased fifteen minutes early due to darkness.
Before the Storm (1891 – 1912)
Into the 1890s, association football was growing enormously and professionalism became widespread. In 1891, Royal Arsenal turned professional with Tottenham doing so in 1895.
The clubs competed in separate leagues, with Woolwich Arsenal (a further name change in 1893) being in the second division of the Football League while Spurs remained in the non-league Southern League.
Though Woolwich Arsenal were in the more esteemed league system, the standard of the Southern League was still very high.
Spurs enjoyed great popularity during this period, with The Daily News writing that “The club receives splendid support in North London, and should have a big future before it.
They did, however, meet each other regularly for a period of time in the United League, a short-lived midweek tournament for teams in central and southern England. In seven contests, Tottenham won two, Royal Arsenal won three times and two were drawn.
One encounter, on April 8th 1898 (Good Friday in fact), saw 15,000 spectators attend Tottenham’s Northumberland Park. The ground had served Spurs well for a decade but had never seen such a crowd before.
During the match, some fans climbed atop a refreshment stand to get a better view, leading to the roof collapsing underneath them. Fortunately, only a few injuries came out of it, but Spurs took the incident as an opportunity to look for a new stadium.
Spurs moved to Tottenham High Road in 1899. Colloquially known as White Hart Lane, the name stuck upon its inception.
This certainly wouldn’t be the last time a stadium move would prove so significant in this rivalry.
Come the turn of the century, Tottenham started to taste success, winning the Southern League in 1900 and becoming the first (and highly likely only) ever non-league club to win the FA Cup in 1901.
Though Woolwich Arsenal couldn’t replicate the cup glory, they were promoted to the first division of the Football League in 1904.
Tottenham joined the Football League in 1908/09 into the second tier, achieving promotion to the first in that same campaign. The first ‘official’ derby was played in 1909, with the Gunners running out 1-0 victors.
Financial woes would plague Woolwich Arsenal during the early 20th century. The club came close to bankruptcy towards the end of the decade, having to sell a number of star players to stay afloat and eventually putting themselves into voluntary liquidation in 1910.
This was until when their fortunes were changed by a consortium, led by Sir Henry Norris.
The Birth of a Rivalry (1913 – 1919)
Norris was the chairman of Fulham FC and bought shares in Woolwich Arsenal to lift them out of liquidation and ease the economic strain. He later became chairman in 1912.
His initial plan to transform the club was to merge them with Fulham. The Football League rejected his proposal and so his next solution would seismically change the fabric of north London football.
Norris instead moved the club to Highbury in Islington, a mere four miles away from White Hart Lane.
The move not only angered Tottenham, who considered Highbury as part of their territory, but also Woolwich Arsenal supporters who were against the club moving northwards.
Other North London outfits also raised concerns. The chairman of Clapton Orient (which would later become Leyton Orient) said rather prophetically, “Any millionaire can buy up a poverty-stricken club, form a company, and then where does sport come in?”
Different areas were considered, but Highbury’s close proximity to an underground station made it much more accessible to visitors. And so, in 1913, the North London Derby was born.
This also led to Woolwich being dropped from the club’s name, rebranding as The Arsenal a year later.
In terms of attendances, the move was a success as average crowds shot up from 11,000 to 23,000.
Although Arsenal were now more popular than they had been, a relegation in 1913 left them languishing in the second division.
The Vote (1919)
Due to Arsenal’s decision to relocate, tensions were almost immediate, but after their relegation and the advent of the First World War, the rivalry wasn’t able to simmer on the pitch. Only reserve squad meetings occurred in The Football Combination.
As wealthy as Norris was, – and he was, spending the equivalent of over £1.3 million on the Highbury stadium construction – the impact of the Great War and second-tier football meant Arsenal remained in financial trouble, allegedly slipping into debts of £60,000 (also over £1.3 million in 2024) by 1919.
Being back in the First Division as soon as possible was surely key to relinquishing these further financial difficulties.
Tottenham entered the war years not in the rosiest of states. They finished bottom of the First Division in 1914/15, but, unlike second-from-bottom Chelsea, Spurs were not granted an automatic place back in the top flight upon the restart of league football after the war.
As the First Division expanded from twenty to twenty-two teams, Chelsea were spared due to ramifications of a match-fixing scandal (which is a whole other story) and the extra spot was put to the ballot box.
Tottenham’s fate would be voted for, pitting them against Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Hull City, Birmingham City, Barnsley and Arsenal.
Derby County and Preston North End – first and second place in the 1914/15 Second Division respectively – were promoted alongside Arsenal, who had finished fifth, after they accrued eighteen votes, ten ahead of Tottenham in second.
And so the clubs swapped divisions.
This is perhaps the most significant moment in the formation of the derby. Because while Arsenal packing bags was enough to stir some distaste, the vote and accusations surrounding it turned relations much more heated.
There have been numerous allegations of bribery down the years in relation to Arsenal topping the vote though no definitive proof of palm greasing has ever come to light.
Tottenham submitted their case to voters, explaining that when the First Division had been expanded twice before (in 1897/98 and 1904/05) the clubs that were meant to be relegated instead kept their positions in the league.
Athletic News reported that Arsenal’s appeal was more down to the club’s history and longevity in the Football League system, having joined in 1893.
While undeniable, Wolverhampton Wanderers were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888, so would likely usurp any club in that debate. It is unclear but also unlikely that the argument was used by Norris and Arsenal’s representatives.
What is more known is Sir Henry Norris’ power and status at the time. Not only did he have a hand in two major football clubs within the capital, he was the Conservative MP for Fulham East from 1918 to 1922.
Moreover, Norris was friends with Football League chairman (and first manager of Liverpool) John McKenna. All of which feeds into the accusations labelled at Arsenal and that they had a stronger influence on the voting parties than most.
Norris would later be banned from football in 1927 due to financial irregularities, which included using the club’s expenses for his own personal dealings.
It’s evident how monumental this event was in shaping the animosity between Tottenham and Arsenal. Spurs supporters, and other football fans alike, were outraged by the decision.
In the wake of the vote, the Tottenham Evening Herald proclaimed “Irreparable mischief has been done. The capability of the League to dispense justice is now a shattered ideal. The Spurs go to the Second Division next season. They will commence with the sympathies of every decent English sportsman.
Whether or not bribery did actually take place, the damage had been done. The accusations were out there and the relationship between Tottenham and Arsenal would never be the same again.
The Aftermath and Interwar Years (1920 – 1935)
Tottenham bounced back to the First Division on the first attempt.
Following on from that, in 1920/21, they would beat Wolves 1-0 in the final to win the club’s second FA Cup under long-serving manager Peter McWilliam (whose first reign lasted from 1912 to 1927 before a second spell in 1938 to 1942).
A second-placed league finish the season after topped off the mini McWilliam-led resurgence, potentially spurred on by the injustice the club felt from the vote.
Both clubs spent the rest of the 1920s with little-to-no silverware. Arsenal were beaten by Cardiff City in the 1926/27 FA Cup final while Spurs tumbled down the table, eventually being relegated in 1927/28.
The 1930s is perhaps the clearest divide ever seen between the teams. Arsenal swept up five league titles and two FA Cups during the decade while Tottenham yo-yoed between the first and second tier.
During this time the first two instances of crossing the divide occurred, with Jimmy Brain leaving Arsenal for Tottenham in 1931 and George Hunt – who is currently eighth on Spurs’ all-time top scorers chart – going to Highbury in 1937.
McWilliam would even spend a short time as Arsenal’s chief scout before returning to Spurs.
This would also be where some of Tottenham’s heaviest defeats at the hands of Arsenal would take place, losing 5-1 away and 6-0 at home in the 1934/35 season. The latter scoreline is still the largest victory in North London Derby history.
That same season saw Spurs relegated once again and there would be a gap of nearly fifteen years between the next staging of the derby.
The Wartime Hiatus (1936 -1949)
With Tottenham unable to gain promotion either side of the Second World War, – which halted competitive football between 1939 and 1945 – fans would have to wait until 1949 for the next meeting.
In that lengthy hiatus, tensions seemingly cooled. Tottenham even allowed Arsenal to play home matches at White Hart Lane while Highbury was being used as an air raid patrol centre.
That hospitality is likely a combination of war effort camaraderie and repaying a similar favour.
During World War One Spurs played some of their home games at Highbury, as well as Orient’s Millfields Road, when White Hart Lane was being used as a munitions factory.
The long-awaited clash at the tail end of the 1940s came in the FA Cup – the first time the sides were drawn against one another. Arsenal ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, but the fuse had been lit that day and the rivalry reignited.
This is where the derby becomes more recognisable to fans of today.
Tottenham March Back (1950 – Present)
As established, the 1930s were not the best time to be a Tottenham fan. But while the decade was lurid in terms of results, it did foster one Arthur Rowe from the academy to the first team.
Rowe was eventually appointed as manager of Tottenham in 1949, returning to the club ten years after retiring as a player. His task was straightforward enough – earn promotion to the First Division.
The Englishman went above and beyond that.
Not only did Spurs win the Second Division at a canter, but Rowe’s team would lift the First Division title on their immediate return in 1950/51 – Tottenham’s first-ever top division championship.
Rowe pioneered the ‘push and run’ method. He was inspired by the possession-focused work of Peter McWilliam, having been part of the squad in the Scotsman’s second spell at the club.
It was this style, this flourish, that would become cemented into Tottenham lore and had a huge impact on the managerial style of Bill Nicholson. Rowe’s legendary title run included a first win over Arsenal since 1934 – a 1-0 at home two days before Christmas.
Now firmly a First Division side, the North London Derby became a much more regular affair. Alongside both clubs fighting at the top of the league, the rivalry suddenly took on greater significance.
Since Tottenham’s inaugural league title, each club have had their moments in the sun, which has only exacerbated tensions. Certain matches, certain moments, and certain transfers have led to what we have today – arguably the biggest rivalry in the Premier League.
And as both clubs are now staples of the proverbial ‘big six’, with young squads hungry to collect trophies, the legacy of this infamous derby will only grow stronger.
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