Wanderers F.C.
Full name | Wanderers Football Club | |
---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Rovers | |
Founded | 1859 (as Forest F.C.) | |
Dissolved | c.1887 | |
|
Wanderers Football Club was an English
The club was a founder member of
History
Early years (1859–1871)
The club was initially formed as Forest Football Club in 1859 by a number of former
Forest's home ground from 1859 to 1865 was at Forest Place on Leyton Flats, a part of Epping Forest by the Whipps Cross Road between Snaresbrook and Leytonstone.[4][5][6] For the first two years of the club's existence, the players organised matches among themselves at Forest Place. The first match against another club took place on 15 March 1862, and resulted in a victory over Crystal Palace (not the modern club of the same name).[7] Both this match, and a return fixture between the two teams the following month, involved fifteen players on each team.[8] At the time, the rules of association football had not been codified, and many variants existed, differing in the number of players per team, whether players were permitted to play the ball with their hands, or the method of scoring goals. The club's rulebook from 1861 was based on the Cambridge rules of 1856 with a small number of additions.[9][10] In a September 1862 newspaper advertisement, the club sought opponents for matches "on the rules of the University of Cambridge".[11]
In 1863 the Forest club was among the founder members of The Football Association (the FA) and adopted the rules set down by that body, although they continued to play occasional matches under other sets of rules against clubs not affiliated to the FA.[12]
The following year, the club played its first match under the name Wanderers Football Club, against
Cup success (1872–1878)
In the 1870–71 season, the Wanderers finally turned around their fortunes, losing only five of thirty-seven matches played.
The following season, under the competition's original rules, Wanderers, as holders, received a
In October 1875, Wanderers travelled to Scotland for the first time, to play a match against the leading team from north of the border, Queen's Park. Despite fielding their strongest team, Wanderers were outclassed by the Scots and lost 5–0. The London club gained its revenge four months later, when Queen's Park travelled to London for a re-match and lost 2–0. This was the first match the Glasgow club, which had been formed nine years earlier, had ever lost.[23] Wanderers reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup without conceding a goal and then defeated Swifts to set up a final against Old Etonians. The Etonians' team contained five former Wanderers players, including Kinnaird.[24] After the initial match finished in a 1–1 draw, Wanderers won the replay 3–0 to win the tournament for the third time.
The following season, with Kinnaird back in the team, Wanderers overcame indifferent early form to again reach the Cup final, and defeated
Decline (1879–1887)
The Wanderers' fortunes declined rapidly following the club's hat-trick of FA Cup wins. By 1878, football clubs had been set up for former pupils of all the leading public schools, and many leading players chose to play for their respective old boys' team instead. Wanderers' fixture list was dramatically reduced in the 1878–79 season, and the team was knocked out of the FA Cup in the first round, losing 7–2 to an Old Etonians team led by Kinnaird.[26] The following season Wanderers managed to reach the third round of the Cup, but lost again to the Etonians, after which many more key players left the club.[27]
The club struggled on into the 1880–81 season, but was forced to withdraw from the FA Cup after being unable to raise a team for the scheduled first round match. After 1881, the club was reduced to playing only one match per year, against Harrow School each Christmas.[28] A book published by the newspaper The Sportsman claimed that the club folded in 1884,[29] but a match at Harrow was reported in The Times in December 1887, which Harrow won 3–1.[30]
Revival of Forest club
In 1868, the Forest club was revived in Woodford, Essex, wearing jerseys, caps, and stockings which were scarlet in front and black behind, with white shorts.[31] In October 1868, it was reported that the reformed club played its first match on the "old ground" in front of Forest Place.[5] Subsequent matches were played 200 yards from George Lane station in Woodford.[32] In imitation of the Wanderers, the club's members were often members of other clubs, and the secretary would choose whichever members were willing and able to play, but after the creation of the FA Cup this model was not sustainable, and the club's final match was a 0-0 draw away to Clapton Pilgrims in March 1872.[33] Pilgrims raised an issue with the FA about clubs borrowing players from other clubs after that match.[34]
Colours and crest
Wanderers are known to have played in orange, purple, and black for at least part of their existence, although as no photographs of the team exist, the exact design is not known. The FA's parade of winners at the
For the October 1875 match with Queen's Park, the club wore white shirts.[38] In the absence of shirt numbering, which would not be introduced for another sixty years, the match card identifies the individual players by the colours of their stockings (socks) or caps, with Alcock and Kinnaird both listed as wearing blue and white caps and Jarvis Kenrick identified by his cerise and French grey cap, the colours of his former club Clapham Rovers.[23]
|
Grounds
Forest F. C. played at common land in front of Forest Place on Leyton Flats between 1859 and 1865. This is now part of Epping Forest by the Whipps Cross Road between Snaresbrook and Leytonstone, about 500 metres south of the Snaresbrook Crown Court.[4][6][41] When Forest re-formed in 1868-1872, apart from the first game at the old ground at Forest Place they played at South Woodford, close to George Lane.[6]
Wanderers played at several locations between 1864 and 1887 throughout London, but predominantly at
Rivalries
Prior to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, individual schools played football according to their own particular rules.[44] Due to the connection Wanderers had with Harrow School, the school's football team played Wanderers frequently – 33 games between the two were recorded between 1865 and 1883. Among the club's other regular opponents were Royal Engineers, Clapham Rovers and Civil Service.[42]
Players
A total of fifteen players who listed Wanderers as their primary club played for the England national team in international matches, as follows:[45][46]
- cap)
- Francis Birley (1 cap)
- Alexander Bonsor (2 caps)
- Frederick Green (1 cap)
- Francis Heron (1 cap)
- Hubert Heron (3 caps)
- Leonard Howell (1 cap)
- William Kenyon-Slaney (1 cap)
- Robert Kingsford (1 cap)
- William Lindsay (1 cap)
- Alfred Stratford (1 cap)
- Henry Wace (3 caps)
- Reginald de Courtenay Welch(1 cap)
- Charles Wollaston (4 caps)
- John Wylie (1 cap)
The following players earned international selection whilst playing at other clubs, but held membership of Wanderers:[47]
- Alexander Morten (1 cap)
- Edward Hagarty Parry (3 caps)
- John Frederick Peel Rawlinson(1 cap)
- Francis Sparks (3 caps)
Additionally,
Club officials
The first Wanderers secretary was A. W. Mackenzie (1859–1864). He was succeeded by
Records and statistics
Season | Performance[52][53] |
---|---|
1871–72 | Winners |
1872–73 | Winners |
1873–74 | Lost in quarter-finals |
1874–75 | Lost in quarter-finals |
1875–76 | Winners |
1876–77 | Winners |
1877–78 | Winners |
1878–79 | Lost in first round |
1879–80 | Lost in third round |
1880–81 | Withdrew |
1881–82 | Withdrew |
Although records are incomplete, C. W. Alcock is believed to have played the most matches for the Wanderers, with at least 199 appearances, and to have scored the most goals, with at least 82.[54] He also recorded the highest goalscoring total for an individual season, with 17 known goals in the 1870–71 season, including four in a 6–1 win over Civil Service.[19] R. K. Kingsford bettered that feat when he scored five goals against Farningham in 1874, the most goals scored by a Wanderers player in a single match. The 16–0 margin of victory in the Farningham match was by far the largest win achieved by Wanderers, with no other scores in double-figures recorded.[55] The most goals conceded by Wanderers was eight, in an 8–2 defeat to Clapham Rovers in 1879; the club also lost by a six-goal margin on at least one other occasion, a 6–0 defeat to Queen's Park in 1876.[50]
Wanderers' total of five FA Cup final wins remained a record until Aston Villa won the competition for the sixth time in 1920. As of 2018, only eight clubs have won the tournament more times than the Wanderers.[56]
Honours
The club won the first FA Cup, won three in a row and appeared in the FA Cup Final five times, winning each time.[57] Wanderers hold the joint record for most consecutive wins with Blackburn Rovers and A. F. Kinnaird holds the record for appearances in a Final with nine. Wanderers are tied for ninth place with Everton and West Bromwich Albion for the most FA Cup wins.
- FA Cup
- Winners: 1877–78
- Winners:
Modern clubs
Sporting sides of Harrow School still use the Wanderers name and a Harrow alumni side named Wanderers took part in a 150th Anniversary Cup match against the Harrow first team in 2022, celebrating 150 years of the FA Cup.
References
- ISBN 0-415-35019-0.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 13
- ^ Alcock, C. W. (1906). The Book of Football. G. Bell & Sons. p. 255.
- ^ a b c Cavallini, p. 14
- ^ a b The Sportsman, 29 October 1868
- ^ a b c Chapman, David Ian (2016). A Short History Of The Forest Foot-Ball Club (Leytonstone). Leyton History Society. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 15
- ^ Cavallini, p. 16
- ^ J. R. Witty, "Early Codes", in Fabian, A. H.; Green, Geoffrey (1960). Association Football. Vol. 1. London: Caxton Publishing Company. p. 144.
- ^ Wikisource. – via
- ^ "Football [announcement]". Bell's Life in London: 2. 7 September 1862.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 17
- ^ Cavallini, p. 19
- ISBN 0-8473-1024-8.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 22
- ^ Cavallini, p. 25
- ^ Cavallini, pp. 120–123
- ^ Cavallini, p. 29
- ^ a b Cavallini, p. 126
- ^ Warsop, p. 40
- ^ Warsop, p. 41
- ^ Cavallini, p. 43
- ^ ISBN 0-00-218049-9.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 47
- ^ Cavallini, p. 51
- ^ Cavallini, p. 138
- ^ Cavallini, p. 140
- ^ Cavallini, p. 56
- Pelham Warner, ed. (1917). British Sports and Sportsmen: Cricket and Football. J. G. Hammond & Co. Ltd. p. 237.
- ^ "Football". The Times. 21 December 1887.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1869). Football Annual. p. 55.
- ^ Alcock, Charles (1869). Football Yearbook.
- ^ "match report". The Sportsman. 6. 9 March 1872.
- ^ "report". The Sportsman: 6. 16 March 1872.
- ^ "Football. 1972 FA Cup Final. Wembley Stadium. 6th May, 1972. Leeds United 1 v Arsenal 0. Flags and banners representing The Wanderers (wearing their kit of 1872), winners of the first ever competition, are paraded around the stadium during celebrations to". Getty Images. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- ^ "Wanderers 1872 FA Cup Winners". The Old Fashioned Football Shirt Company. Archived from the original on 21 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
- ^ Warsop, p. 143
- ^ "Queen's Park v London Wanderers". North British Daily Mail: 3. 11 October 1875.
- ^ "Eminent Victorians (Southern England)". Historical Football Kits. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "The FA Cup Finalists 1872–1879". Historical Football Kits. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ The Sportsman, 29 October 1868
- ^ a b c Cavallini, pp. 116–141
- ^ Blythe Smart, J. (2003). The Wow Factor. Blythe Smart Publications. p. 144.
- ^ Greenland, W. E. (1965). The History of the Amateur Football Alliance. Standard Printing & Publishing Company. p. 8.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 142
- ^ "Wanderers". England Players' Club Affiliations. Englandfootballonline. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
- ^ Cavallini, pp. 104–114.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 102
- ^ "England Football Online". Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ a b Cavallini, p. 137
- ^ Cavallini, p. 37
- ^ "The FA Cup Archive". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
- ISBN 1-899807-19-5.
- ^ Cavallini, p. 65
- ^ Cavallini, p. 129
- ISBN 978-1-899807-93-2.
- ^ "Cup Final Results". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
- ^ "Harrow School and the FA celebrate 150 years since the FA Cup's very first final". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
- ^ Buckley, Will (30 October 2009). "The forgotten story of ... the first ever FA Cup winners". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
- ^ "South London Memories: 'I'm a wanderer, yeah the wanderer, I roam around, around, around'". London News Online. South London Press. 13 January 2020. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
Works cited
- Cavallini, Rob (2005). The Wanderers F.C.: Five Times F.A. Cup Winners. Dog N Duck Publications. ISBN 0-9550496-0-1.
- Warsop, Keith (2004). The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. SoccerData. ISBN 1-899468-78-1.
Further reading
- Morris, Terry (2015). In A Class of Their Own: A History of English Amateur Football. Chequered Flag Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9932152-4-7.
External links
- Media related to Wanderers F.C. at Wikimedia Commons
- Wanderers at the Football Club History Database