The 1939–40 season was the first of Arsenal Football Club's seasons in the Wartime League, a football competition which temporarily replaced the Football League. Arsenal won the South 'A League.'
Background Although the 1939–40 Football League season began as normal on 26 August 1939, teams only played three matches. Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and the Football League was abandoned. 42 of Arsenal's 44 professional players in September 1939 joined the services and many of the administrators followed. Arsenal's stadium was transformed for Air Raid Precautions.
Arsenal played six friendlies away from home as they negotiated the use of White Hart Lane and as the Wartime League was being organized.
Football resumed on 28 October 1939, with the clubs being organized into ten regional leagues. For each game, supporters could only travel from within 50 miles, and crowds were limited to 8,000. Arsenal's first match was against Charlton, which they won 8–4 with Leslie Compton scoring three penalties. The Football League War Cup was introduced in the spring of 1940.
Arsenal competed in the South 'A' League and South 'C' League. Arsenal won the 'A' league in 1939–40, and were to find further success in future wartime seasons. In the 'A' League, all of the matches except for one were played by 8 February 1940, with the last being played on 3 April. Once most of the games in the 'A' League had been played, Arsenal began to compete in the 'C' League in which they finished third.
Results Arsenal's score comes firststatto.com
Legend WinDrawLoss
Football League First Division
DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 26 August 1939 Wolverhampton WanderersA2–2 30 August 1939 Blackburn RoversH1–0 2 September 1939 SunderlandH5–2
League suspended due to World War II
Football League South
Selected results from the league.
DateOpponentVenueResultAttendance 21 October 1939 Charlton AthleticH8–4 4 November 1939 Crystal PalaceH5–0 11 November 1939 Norwich CityA1–1 18 November 1939 Tottenham HotspurH2–1 25 November 1939 MillwallA3–3 2 December 1939 West Ham UnitedH3–010,000 9 December 1939 WatfordA3–1 16 December 1939 Southend UnitedH5–1 23 December 1939 Charlton AthleticA?–? 26 December 1939 Crystal PalaceA3–0 30 December 1939 Norwich CityH3–0 20 January 1940 West Ham UnitedA0–38,000 10 February 1940 BrentfordH3–15,000 16 March 1940 West Ham UnitedH2–310,371 23 March 1940 ChelseaH3–01,200 8 April 1940 West Ham UnitedA1–28,000 13 April 1940 PortsmouthH3–2 17 April 1940 ChelseaA2–2 6 April 1940 BrentfordA4–28,000
Group A League table
Group C League table
Football League War Cup
References
External links Arsenal season-by-season line-ups