The history of the Arsenal Tula club

Today we will dive into the archive and tell you about the famous Tula football team, which changed its name in 1984 and went through a series of trials on the way to success. The focus is on Tula's Arsenal, whose history began with the arms factory and continues today.

The history of Arsenal from Tula

The year 1984 was a turning point in the history of Tula football. Ivan Zolotukhin, the head of the arms factory, was able to improve the results of the football team and took the initiative to rename the club. The fact is that in recent decades, the team has changed several names that emphasized a direct or indirect connection with TOZ: "Armory", "Zenit", "Trud", "Miner", "Metallurg", "Mashinostroitel". Zolotukhin wanted the name of the club to be not only euphonious, but also motivating for new successes.

In the fall, a competition was announced for a new team name. A lot of options were offered, but we settled on one thing — Arsenal. It is said that this name was promoted by Zolotukhin himself. He believed that this was the most suitable option for the team from the city of gunsmiths. The competition was won by a locksmith, an advanced manufacturer of Swags. He was celebrated at the first home game — he was presented with a memorable gift.

However, the fans and the press reacted to the renaming of the club with irony. There was a parallel with Arsenal in London, and after several unsuccessful seasons, the ironic attitude only intensified. However, the "gunsmiths" were able to prove that they were worthy of bearing the proud name.

The history of Tula Arsenal: defeats and ups

After the name change, the team suffered defeats — they lost the first two away matches of the championship. But failure soon gave way to success: the players showed character and defeated a worthy opponent, the Orekhovo-Zuyevsky Banner of Labor. There was a difficult test ahead — a football match with the Kaluga Zarya, after which a page of defeat was added to the history of Arsenal from Tula. The result of the game is the defeat of Tula with a score of 1:5. After that, there were two more defeats.

The team's fiasco was attributed to the loss of Pavel Shishkin, the top scorer at Tula Arsenal, whose history at the club came to a halt after an unsuccessful appendicitis operation. According to the footballer, it was a turning point when he found himself on the verge of life and death. It took the scorer almost the entire season to recover.

After an unsuccessful exit in the history of Tula Arsenal, the winning line flashed again: the defeat of the "Builder" with a score of 4:0. Then — the fall again: defeat in Saransk. As a result, the team played 7 matches in the first 10 rounds, 7 of which were lost.

However, then there was a turning point: in the remaining matches, the Gunsmiths lost only two games and scored three resounding victories. They managed to defeat the Kineshman Volzhanin with a score of 5:0, FSHM 4:0 and Kashirskoe Dynamo 4:0 .

We focus on the players whose names are inscribed in the history of Tula Arsenal: Ivashchenko A., Filimonov G., Prokhorov V., Semenov A., Chimbirev A., Shishkin P., Mazalov A., Cheryevsky Yu., Kleimenov V., Popov O., Tronnikov A., Tarabaev V., Bogachev G., Uskov A. Many of the players were They come from Tula clubs. A close—knit team, a well-coordinated team in work and hard training - all this has led to outstanding results.

After coming out of the crisis, a new perspective emerged — to become the winners of the championship. The Tula stadiums came alive again, and the fans actively supported the favorite team. The highlight of the season was a repeat meeting with Kaluga Zarya. The teams had already met at the end of the tournament, after which a crushing defeat appeared in the history of Arsenal from Tula.

After the defeat, the fans were waiting for revenge for the loss in the first meeting. Unsurprisingly, the stadiums were sold out — the hype was expected. During fierce resistance, the top scorer of the Tula team managed to score the only goal of the match. Tula Arsenal, whose history includes both ups and downs, won again. The victory was able not only to raise the morale of the team, but also to restore the faith of the fans.

After the success, new opportunities opened up for the "gunsmiths": there was a chance for gold, victory in the tournament, and with it a duel for promotion. However, despite the attempts, the team failed to repeat the previous triumphant defeats of the rivals. But the final was not bad: one victory and two drawn matches appeared on the pages of Arsenal Tula's history. The result was the bronze medals of the championship, which was a good result for the "gunsmiths", especially considering the previous results of the matches.