Darwen Old Wanderers F.C.
Full name | Darwen Old Wanderers Football Club | |
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Nickname(s) | the Old Wanderers | |
Founded | 1879 | |
Dissolved | 14 May 1889 | |
Ground | Pot House | |
Chairman | Leonard Broadbent (solicitor)[1] | |
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Darwen Old Wanderers F.C. was an English association football club from the town of Darwen in Lancashire.
History
Foundation and early years
The club was formed in 1879,
The club's first seasons were low key, with the Wanderers first coming to local attention in 1882–83, by reaching the third round of the Lancashire Senior Cup, having beaten the Liverpool Football Club 6–4 in the first round.[4] In the third round, the Wanderers lost to Padiham F.C.[5]
Increasing impact
Its first impact on the football world was when the club beat
The Wanderers made it through to the quarter-finals of the local competition, and were not disgraced in a 2–1 defeat at the mighty
FA Cup entry
Emboldened by this rise in fortune, the club entered the
The professional era
In
A similar instance happened in the second round, when the club beat a weak
The difficulties of being a small side in an area saturated with football clubs - the town of
1887-88 season: triumph and tragedy
The Old Wanderers did turn professional, but its list of professional players for the 1887–88 season did not include any "imports"; all were local men and most had played for the Old Wanderers since the amateur days.[21] Burnley got a measure of revenge in the FA Cup, beating the Old Wanderers 4–0, with 3,000 attending at Turf Moor;[22] however the FA ordered a replay at Pot House because of doubts over the eligibility of some of the Burnley players,[23] and the cash-strapped Old Wanderers agreed to forfeit the tie in return for a monetary payment.[24]
The club suffered from two accidents in the season. In October, the club played a minor friendly against Heaton Park, during which match one of the Old Wanderer players fell onto Heaton Park's James Harkins. Harkins suffered an injury which turned into an abscess, from which he died on 1 January 1888, the jury returning a verdict of accidental death.
That season the club had its best run in the Lancashire Cup. Although the club lost in the first round to
The final did not take place. The Lancashire FA arranged for it to be played in Blackburn, and Preston demanded a change in venue, "on account of the feeling between
Winding up
Despite the long run in the Lancashire Cup of 1887–88, the club started the 1888–89 season £4 in debt, and, with the closest local clubs now engaged in activities with the
On 14 May 1889, at a meeting of the members of the club, the treasurer announced that there was now a positive balance of £4 5s 4.5d. However, after a long discussion, it was resolved that the club should cease to exist.[37]
The name was briefly revived for a junior club in 1891, but that club seems to have lasted little more than four months, losing in the
Colours
The club's colours were black and white "quarters", which was the term at the time for halved shirts.[40]
Key players
There were a number of players who stayed with the Old Wanderers from at least 1883 to the club's demise; the backs G. Moorhouse and R. Kirkham, Jonathan Pearson and captain J. W. Almond (who both played as forwards or half-backs), forward T. Chadwick, and winger J. Eccles.
Honours
Lancashire Cup
- Third place: 1887–88
East Lancashire Charity Shield
- Runners-up: 1883–84
References
- ^ "Treat to the Old Wanderers Football Team". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 8. 23 February 1884.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1885). Football Yearbook. p. 245.
- ^ "Olympic Football Contests". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 1. 26 August 1882.
- ^ "Football Notes". Liverpool Daily Post: 6. 21 October 1882.
- ^ "report". Liverpool Daily Post: 7. 9 January 1883.
- ^ "The Bolton Wanderers' Club". Manchester Courier: 3. 8 October 1883.
- ^ "Football". Liverpool Mercury: 3. 8 October 1883.
- ^ "A Referee Mobbed". Yorkshire Herald: 16. 6 October 1883.
- ^ "Football Notes". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 3. 18 January 1884.
- ^ "report". Darwen News. 18 October 1884.
- ^ "report". Manchester Courier: 3. 10 November 1884.
- ^ "report". Bolton Evening News: 2. 1 December 1884.
- ^ "report". Darwen News. 24 October 1885.
- ^ "report". Manchester Courier: 3. 19 October 1885.
- ^ "report". Darwen News. 28 November 1885.
- ^ "The Owd Reds". Read the League. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
- ^ "report". Athletic News: 3. 8 December 1885.
- ^ "report". North British Daily Mail: 6. 25 October 1886.
- ^ "report". Cricket & Football Field: 4. 23 October 1886.
- ^ "report". Glasgow Herald: 9. 1 November 1886.
- ^ "Sports and Recreations". Blackburn Standard: 7. 1 October 1887.
- ^ "report". Lancashire Evening Post: 3. 15 October 1887.
- ^ Manchester Weekly, 22 October 1887, notes that the FA upheld 16 different protests in the first round
- ^ "report". York Herald: 7. 31 October 1887.
- ^ "The Dangers of Football". Manchester Courier: 14. 7 January 1888.
- ^ "Extraordinary accident to a football player". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 3. 12 November 1887.
- ^ "Local Intelligence". Blackburn Standard: 8. 8 October 1887.
- ^ "Lancashire Senior Cup". Manchester Courier: 3. 21 November 1887.
- ^ "Lancashire Senior Cup". Manchester Courier: 3. 23 January 1888.
- ^ "Sports and Recreations". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 7. 3 March 1888.
- ^ "report". Manchester Courier: 15. 3 March 1888.
- ^ "Football". Manchester Courier: 3. 13 April 1888.
- ^ "Sports & Recreations". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 7. 21 April 1888.
- ^ "Sports & Recreations". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 3. 12 May 1888.
- ^ "Newton Heath v Darwen Old Wanderers". Manchester Courier: 7. 24 December 1888.
- ^ "Lancashire Senior Cup". Liverpool Mercury: 7. 12 November 1888.
- ^ "Darwen Old Wanderers FC". Blackburn Weekly Standard: 7. 18 May 1889.
- ^ Not the later Barrow A.F.C. but a club which had lost in the first round of the Junior Cup and was also known as Barrow-in-Furness: see Manchester Courier, 18 September 1891, p. 3.
- ^ "List of results". Manchester Weekly Times: 6. 18 December 1891.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1885). Football Yearbook. p. 245.; the term for quartered shirts at the time was 'harlequin' pattern.
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