Boy's Own

Our Leading Football Players,1888

The term Football was used in the Victorian press to refer to both Association and Rugby, sometimes creating the impression that the differences in the codes were negligible and that the games retained a common flavour.  In fact the South Wales and Yorkshire  press, though reporting almost exclusively on the handling code, hardly ever used the word Rugby in their columns. So , when the Boy's Own Annual featured a picture spread of Leading Football Players both codes were represented. I've italicized the Rugby players.  

 1  P.M Walters  (Old Carthusians, Oxford University & England)

 2  D Drummond - the only Drummond I could identify as playing top class Association or Rugby in 1888 was George "Geordie" Drummond of Preston North End.
 3  Sam Thompson (Preston North End & Scotland)

 4  J.R Dewhurst (St.Thomas's Hospital & England)
 5  Rawson Robertshaw (Bradford & England) 
 6  G.L Jeffery (Blackheath & England) 

 7  W.N 'Nuts' Cobbold  (Old Carthusians,  Cambridge University & England)

 8  T.W Blenkiron (Old Carthusians, Cambridge University) 

 9  H Springmann (Liverpool & England) 
10  E Wilkinson Bradford 
11  A. E Stoddart (Blackheath, England & The British Isles)

12    A.M Walters  (Old Carthusians, Cambridge University & England)

13  L Owen- I have been unable to identify this player. I can find no L Owen  playing for any of the major  Rugby teams listed in 1888 or thereabouts.  Association players of the era included G. Owen of Bolton Wanderers. and the brothers Billy and George Owen of Chirk and Wales. 

14  Fred Dewhurst  (Preston North End & England)

15  John Forbes  (Vale Of Leven, Blackburn Rovers & Scotland)

16  George Haworth (Accrington & England)

17  Patrick Hamilton Don-Wauchope (Fettes Lorettonian & Scotland) 

18  John Goodall (Preston North End & England)

19  W.F Holms (Edinburgh Wanderers & Scotland) 
20  H.B Tristram (Richmond & England)

Woolwich Arsenal 1900s

This poster appeared in The Boy's Own in 1910, along with the disclaiming caption that 'several of these men have now left the 'Arsenal''.
In fact by the 1910-11 season only 3 of the featured XI were still at the club.

Jimmy Ashcroft (Woolwich Arsenal:1900–08)
Ashcroft signed as a professional for the Gunners in June 1900. He played 303 first-class games in eight seasons for Arsenal. In 1901-02 he kept six clean sheets in a row and 20 clean sheets in 1903–04, club records that have not been bettered. Ashcroft won 3 caps for England in 1906, becoming Arsenal's first England international.

Archie Cross (1900-09)
Cross made 149 appearances for Arsenal before returning to Dartford. Initially a right back, in 1907 he switched to left back.

Jimmy Sharp (1905-08)
5 caps for Scotland and 116 games for Arsenal, scoring 5 goals. Moved to Glasgow Rangers for £400.

James Bigden (1904 -08)
Joined Arsenal from West Ham United in June 1904. He represented Woolwich Arsenal 87 times, scoring 1 goal.

Tommy Hynds (1907)
Scotsman Hynds was one of the Manchester City players implicated in an illegal payments scandal in 1904. Banned from football for four months and fined £75, he signed for Woolwich Arsenal while still under suspension. He made his Arsenal debut on 1 January 1907, and spent 5 months at the club.

Roddy McEachrane (1902-13)
A Scot who moved to Londonto work at Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Limited. He played for Thames Ironworks and became a professional footballer, also playing for
West Ham , the club that succeeded Ironworks. 

William Garbutt (1906-08)
The outside right later enjoyed a great career in management in Italy.

Tim Coleman(1902–08) 
Another peripatetic player who served 8 clubs in a 20 year career. In 196 games for Arsenal he scored 84 goals.Coleman gained 1 cap for England, against Ireland in 1907. He was sold to Everton for £700 in February 1908.

Peter Kyle (1906-08)
 23 goals in 60 appearances for Arsenal. The Scotsman started out with Clyde but after moving to Liverpool in 1899 he played for 9 different English clubs. Kyle joined Arsenal from Tottenham having been suspended for fighting with a teammate.

Charlie Satterthwaite (not Satherthwaite, as in the illustration: 1904–10)
Formely of Liverpool, but joined Arsenal from West Ham United and played 141 matches for Arsenal, scoring 48 goals. He retired from football in 1910.

David Neave (1904-05 & 1905-12)
Another Scot who joined Woolwich Arsenal from Arbroath. Neave was with Leyton briefly in 1905 but returned to Arsenal, for whom he played 168 matches, scoring 32 goals. 

Let's look at the performances of Woolwich Arsenal in the period 1900-13, when these players were at the club.

Season	Div.	Pos.	FA Cup
1900-01	2	7	R2
01-02	2	4	R1
02-03	2	3	R1
03-04	2	2 p	R2
04-05	1	10	R1
05-06	1	12	SF
06-07	1	7	SF
07-08	1	14	R1
08-09	1	6	R2
09-10	1	18	R2
10-11	1	10	R2
11-12	1	10	R1
12-13	1	20 R	R2

Having joined the Football League in 1893 Arsenal were the southernmost member club, their nearest neighbours being Small Heath (Birmingham). They were the only London club in the Football League until Chelsea and Clapton Orient joined in 1905.
There is a popular myth that Arsenal are the only club never to have been relegated out of the top flight of the Football League, as you can see, this is not the case, as they were relegated in 1913.