Pioneer Football Player. He gained recognition as a late 19th-century football player and was the Principal Founder of Arsenal Football Club. Born the son of lathe operator employed by the local railway locomotive manufacturing company, his father was also named David. By 1881, he had left the family home and was living as a lodger with the Henderson family at 318 High Street, Kirkcaldy. At age 18, he was employed as an Apprentice Engine Fitter at the railway works and played full back for Kirkcaldy Wanderers FC, he also captained the team. In 1885 he moved to London and worked at the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich, Kent, which is now South London. In October of 1886, after several failed attempts, he along with Jack Humble, managed to encourage several men who worked in the factory and were interested in playing competitive football, to subscribe towards purchasing a football with a view to forming a football club. According to Arsenal historian, Bernard Joy, in 1886, Danskin was the main person behind this action and he organized for a "subscription list around the workshops to obtain the first necessity; a football". Fifteen men subscribed 6d. each with Danskin contributing three shillings from his own pocket to make-it up the required total to 10s/6d. The club was founded, reportedly on Christmas Day of 1886, and initially called Dial Square, named after one of the factory workshops. He was captain of the team and work colleague, Elijah Watkins, agreed to be the Club Secretary. Fred Beardsley and Joseph Bates, who both formally played for Nottingham Forest and who had recently started working at Woolwich Arsenal, agreed to join the club. Dial Square's inaugural match was against Eastern Wanderers FC on 11th December, 1886. The game was played north of the River Thames in the Isle of Dogs on a rough piece of land that is now Tiller Road, Wapping. Every man was expected to provide their own kit resulting in them all wearing different colored shirts and trousers. Only three men possessed shin pads and most wore working boots adapted by metal bars being nailed across the soles. David played and captained the team. Dial Square won the game 6-0 but the players were not happy with the poor quality of the pitch. Elijah Watkins later commented, "Talk about a football pitch! This one eclipsed any I ever heard of or saw. I could not venture to say what shape it was, but it was bounded by backyards as to about two-thirds of the area, and the other portion was - I was going to say a ditch, but I think an open sewer would be more appropriate." After the match the team met at the 'Royal Oak' public house, they decided to rename the club Royal Arsenal and to play their home games on Plumstead Common. They also arranged to change into their football kit at the nearby "Star" public house. The revised name of the club was presumably derived from their workplace or their original favorite pub. Since the men could not afford to buy a football kit, Fred Beardsley wrote to his former club, Nottingham Forest, to ask them if they could help. The club generously agreed to help by supplying a complete set of red shirts. David Danskin also managed to recruit other workers at the factory who had experience of playing football at a higher level in Scotland. This included Peter Connolly and John McBean, who were both men were former Kirkcaldy Wanderers FC players; Humphrey Babour, J. M. Charteris and W. Scott. In 1888 Richard Horsington, who had previously played for Swindon Town, also joined the club. Bernard Joy described Danskin as being; "tall and thickset, he had a humorous twinkle in his eyes, to offset the grim effect of the heavy moustache fashionable at the time." Following an injury incurred in a match against rivals Clapton FC in January of 1889, he decided to step-down from the team and only rarely played thereafter. He did make one more appearance for the club as goalkeeper in March of 1890. He was standing in for fellow club founder, Fred Beardsley, who was playing for Nottingham Forest that day. In 1891, Royal Arsenal became the first professional football club in the south of England. By1893 the Royal Arsenal was renamed for a second time as Woolwich Arsenal upon becoming a limited liability company. Woolwich Arsenal was the first southern club to become a member of The Football League, commencing in the Second Division and reaching the First Division in 1904. However, by 1901, he had left the munitions factory and established a cycle business, describing himself as a 'mechanical engineer and an employer'. The family lived above the shop. He had three children but only a son named William lived to adulthood. In 1907, he sold the cycle business and moved to Coventry, where he began work as an examiner at Standard Motor Company. He remained there for the rest of his working life. During World War II, the family's home on North Street in Coventry, was severely damaged during an air raid in 1940, and the family had to rapidly evacuate the premises. The following day, they returned to discover his steel trunk, which had been well hidden and contained all his football jerseys, medals, family photos & other valuables, had been lost. As he aged, his health declined as a result most likely from his football injuries. In 1942 he became a long-term inpatient. He developed gangrene in one of his legs but refused to have an amputation. He apparently replied, "I've got two legs now and if I'm going to die, I'll die with two legs!" and chose death. He was buried beside his first wife, Georgina. To commemorate his role in the club's history, in 2007, Arsenal Scotland Supporters Club dedicated a blue plaque to Danskin near his birthplace in Burntisland. As a prelude to Arsenal's 1–0 victory over Everton at the Emirates Stadium and during Arsenal's 125th anniversary celebrations, two of his great-grandchildren delivered the match ball prior to kick-off.