London schoolboys leave for Russia . To meet Finnish boys in football match . The first party of British schoolboys to visit the USSR , twenty boys from from the Barnsbury Central School , Islington , left King ' s Cross Station , London , on their way to Russia . They are to visit Copenhagen and Helsingfora , where they will meet a team of Finnish boys who have taken the name ' Arsenal ' in a football match . The London schoolboys are taking a football autographed by every member of the Arsenal team , and at the end of the match the British Minister in Finland will present the ball to the Finnish boys . Photo shows , the party of schoolboys carrying the autographed football at King ' s Cross , before departure . 8 April 1936