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

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, that existed in the late 19th century.

History

In 1893, the former workers' team at the

Royal Arsenal The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is an establishment on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London, England, that was used for the manufacture of armaments and ammunition, proofing, and explosives research for the Br ...

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 thro ...

, Woolwich Arsenal FC, was by now a professional side and had joined the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. 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 Peter William Connolly FSA (8 May 1935 – 2 May 2012) was a British scholar of the ancient world, Greek and Roman military equipment historian, reconstructional archaeologist and illustrator. He was a regular contributor to such periodicals ...

, William George,

Jack McBean John Lucas "Jack" McBean (born December 15, 1994) is an American former soccer player who played as a forward. Club career McBean, a California native, formally signed for LA Galaxy at the age of 16 in April 2011. As of July 2011, he was the y ...

, 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 Burntisl ...

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 ...

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Until 1965, Plumstead was in the historic county of Kent and the detail of much of its early history can ...

, Royal Arsenal's old ground. In their first season ( 1893–94), the club entered the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an England, English football (soccer), football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of p ...

, beating New Brompton before being knocked out 3–2 by

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. 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 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 thoro ...

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 Greenwic ...

. 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

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) 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 Ham ...

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 competit ...

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's ...

, 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 List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

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