From archery on the football pitch to a bit of fun online

There is no doubt that people like a flutter.  Roulette, blackjack, baccarat, poker…

And there is no doubt that people have always liked a flutter.   Of course they didn’t have the current options back at the start of the 20th century – but they still liked a flutter.

So at the end of the 1901/2 season when the Woolwich Arsenal FC funds were looking a bit dodgy, Jack Humble, a director of the club who had been the club’s first chairman back in 1893, came up with the idea of organising an archery tournament as a fund raiser.

Which might seem a bit dull to you today – but stay with me on this, because this archery competition became one of the big events in terms of fund raising for Arsenal at the time.  In fact when it was held on 29 November 1902 it raised about £1,200.

Now that might not sound too much by to...