Talk:1914–15 Arsenal F.C. season
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1914–19 club season titles
editI'm going to make the following moves:
- 1914–15 The Arsenal F.C. season ––>> 1914–15 Arsenal F.C. season
- 1915–16 The Arsenal F.C. season ––>> 1915–16 Arsenal F.C. season
- 1916–17 The Arsenal F.C. season ––>> 1916–17 Arsenal F.C. season
- 1917–18 The Arsenal F.C. season ––>> 1917–18 Arsenal F.C. season
- 1918–19 The Arsenal F.C. season ––>> 1918–19 Arsenal F.C. season
Why? Since 1914 Arsenal have officially been known as "The Arsenal", in fact, Arsenal even registered the company as "The Arsenal Football Club Public Limited Company" as early as 1910. According to Kelly & Andrews with corroboration from Tyler & Soar, the club began to drop "The" from the club name in a selection of documents including match day programs from 1919. That being said, there is nothing to suggest that the club was not colloquially referred to as "Arsenal" during this period, which was effectively the first World War. Today, "The Arsenal Football Club" is signed below every article published by the club on their website, "The Arsenal" is announced by the stadium announcer before every match, and "The Arsenal" is the club's offical full name; but the club is generally/commonly/colloquially referred to as "Arsenal". Does that mean every season article should be renamed to "xxxx–xx The Arsenal F.C. season"? Of course not, but it does mean Arsenal's season history during WW1 should be titled just as any other season.
It is my opinion that these articles are titled the way they are purely because of TAH's article on the topic, which makes a bigger deal of something that shouldn't be a big deal. The article (and Tyler & Soar's book) also mentioned that the club restored the club name "The Arsenal" various times during their history, notably in the 1930s; yet these articles are not named as such. Overall, I've probably argued this really poorly, persuasive language is no speciality of mine, but as someone who reads a lot into Arsenal's history outside of Wikipedia, I personally believe these articles are far better off titled like the rest, and I also believe that the titles, as they are currently, are misleading in that they make it as if the club had a different name during this period, which isn't the case.
Refs:
- The Arsenal Football Club Limited Companies House
- Kelly & Andrews, How Arsenal's Name Changed The Arsenal History
- Tyler & Soar, Arsenal: The Offical Illustrated History, 1886–1996 Hamlyn