Now I must be open and say that headline could be a little misleading, because although we know that the club’s name was changed around this time from Dial Square to Royal Arsenal FC there is a little uncertainty as to the exact date.
On 2 January 1887 an advert appeared in The Referee (a weekly publication) placed by Elijah Watkins of Dial Square FC requesting opponents in the Football Challenges section. The club’s name at this point was most clearly Dial Square F.C.
But then at some stage between 3-5 January 1887 the name of the club was changed from Dial Square to Royal Arsenal as on 7 January 1887 the Woolwich Gazette reported that sometime between 1 December 1886 and 5 January 1887 a meeting was held to widen the club to everyone in the area, rather than just members of Dial Square.
Thus effectively the club became Royal Arsenal Association Football Club at this point. Since the 2 January advertisement still used the name “Dial Square” this suggests the name change took place between 3 and 5 January.
And most certainly we know that for the match on 8 January 1887 this was between Royal Arsenal and Erith.
Finally to conclude the month’s activities on 28 January the Woolwich Gazette reported that Royal Arsenal v Eastern Wanderers, was played at Plumstead Common. The say, “The Arsenal score another win against the Wanderers by one goal to nil,” confirming once more that the original December match was indeed played. This is also probably the first use of the name “The Arsenal” – which of course became the name of the club for a short while before its final transition to “Arsenal”.