Royal Ordnance Factories Football Club were a football club from south east

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that existed in the late 19th century.

History

In 1893, the former workers' team at the Royal Arsenal in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

, Woolwich Arsenal FC, was by now a professional side and had joined the Football League. The workers at the Royal Arsenal, some of whom still played as amateurs for Woolwich Arsenal, proposed a new workers' team to fill the void, and so the same year founded Royal Ordnance Factories FC. Five amateurs from Woolwich Arsenal defected to the new side: Peter Connolly, William George, Jack McBean, Jimmy Meggs and McKenzie; two more, Bobby Buist and William Stewart joined them later. Additionally, one of Arsenal's founders,

David Danskin David Danskin (9 January 1863 – 4 August 1948) was a Scottish mechanical engineer and footballer. He was a principal founding member of Dial Square F.C., later renamed Royal Arsenal, the team that are today known as Arsenal. Born in Burntis ...

was also associated with the side as an official and referee. They opted to play in an all-blue kit, and at first played their home matches at the

Invicta Ground The Invicta Ground was a football stadium in Plumstead, south-east London, that was the home of club Royal Arsenal, now known as Arsenal. History Named after '' Invicta'', the motto of the county of Kent, the ground was Arsenal's first proper ...

in Plumstead, Royal Arsenal's old ground. In their first season ( 1893–94), the club entered the FA Amateur Cup, beating New Brompton before being knocked out 3–2 by

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. The rest of their first season consisted of friendlies. That changed in 1894–95 when they became founder members of the Southern League. They finished seventh of nine in their first season, and had to play a

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in order to retain their divisional status. They played Old St Stephen's, winning 3–1. That same year, Royal Ordnance Factories challenged their former colleagues Woolwich Arsenal in a local derby, on 25 April 1895; by now the side had moved to a new ground in

Maze Hill Maze Hill is an area in Greenwich and Blackheath, in south-east London, lying to the east of Greenwich Park, and west of the Westcombe Park area of Blackheath. It is part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and takes its name from the main thorou ...

near

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. Ordnance won the match 1–0, which was halted 15 minutes before time owing to bad light. Later that year, on 7 September, Royal Ordnance Factories were the first to team to ever play Thames Ironworks FC (who would later become

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

) at Thames Ironworks'

Hermit Road Hermit Road was a stadium located in Canning Town in London, England. It was the first home ground of football club Thames Ironworks, the works team of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. The club would later be reformed as West Ha ...

ground; the game ended 1–1. At the end of the 1895–96 season they had finished ninth out of ten in the Southern League and again had to play a test match, this time losing to Sheppey United 4–2. Despite this they managed to retain their league status. In the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

during those two seasons they went out both times to Millwall Athletic in the 4th qualifying round. The club was beset with financial difficulties throughout its life, as well as other problems such as the death of Peter Connolly in 1895. They resigned from the Southern League in the 1896–97 season after only playing seven games. All of those games were lost with a total of 46 goals conceded. In October 1896, Royal Ordnance Factories played Southampton St. Mary's at their

Antelope Ground The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St. Mary' ...

, with the match ending 10–0. In goal for the Royal Ordnance factory was Herbert Williamson who had been the "Saints" goalkeeper in 1894–95. Their record was expunged, and it is assumed the club folded soon after, in late 1896. The name was briefly resurrected over twenty years later with a similarly named club from the area, also known as Royal Ordnance Woolwich, that participated in the Kent League for two seasons after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Footnotes and references

{{Arsenal F.C. Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs established in 1893 Association football clubs disestablished in 1896 Defunct football clubs in London Southern Football League clubs 1893 establishments in England 1896 disestablishments in England

Ordnance Factories Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories, now known as Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) was an organisation, under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gov ...