Tottenham Hotspur was founded on 5 September 1882 as simply "Hotspur Football Club," formed by a group of schoolboys led by Robert "Bobby" Buckle and a couple of friends.

As the story goes, the boys gathered beneath a gas lamp on Tottenham High Road to get the club off the ground, choosing the name "Hotspur". Their first matches were played on Tottenham Marshes, an entirely public patch of land they had no real control over. In April 1884 the name was changed to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.