1886–87 Royal Arsenal F.C. season

The 1886–87 English football season was the first in which the club that was to become Arsenal Football Club competed. At the Dial Square workshop in the Royal Arsenal, Kent (later London), munition workers agreed to expand the Dial Square Cricket Club to incorporate an amateur football team – Dial Square Football Club. Among the several workers who helped form the club, the men primarily responsible were David Danskin, Elijah Watkins and Fred Beardsley. The team played their first game on 11 December 1886 in Millwall against a pub team called Eastern Wanderers, Dial Square won 6–0 with unknown goal scorers.

Following their first match, the workers changed the club's name to Royal Arsenal Football Club; a club committee was formed as Danskin and Beardsley were voted captain and vice-captain respectively. Royal Arsenal won their first home game 6–1 on Plumstead Common against Erith on 8 January 1887. Facilities in local pubs were often used as changing rooms and administrative hubs during the season. In their first season, the club played ten friendly games; scoring 36 goals goals and conceding eight. They faced five different opponents twice, both home and away.