| Full name | Gitanos Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1864 | |
| Dissolved | 1881 | |
| Ground | Prince's Cricket Ground | |
| Secretary/Captain | Charles E. Farmer | |
Gitanos Football Club was an English association football club and one of the first members of the Football Association.
| Full name | Gitanos Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1864 | |
| Dissolved | 1881 | |
| Ground | Prince's Cricket Ground | |
| Secretary/Captain | Charles E. Farmer | |
Gitanos Football Club was an English association football club and one of the first members of the Football Association.
The club was founded in 1864, [1] their name, Spanish for "gypsies", and primarily consisted of Old Etonians and Old Carthusians (men who had attended Eton or Charterhouse). [2]
The earliest known report of the club playing an external fixture dates from 1867. [3] As a "select" club, in an era before players concentrated their efforts on one club, the Gitanos enjoyed the ad hoc services of a number of prominent players of the day, such as Arthur Kinnaird, Edgar Lubbock, Albert Thompson, George Holden of the Clapham Rovers, and J.H. Giffard of the Civil Service. [4] There was a particular overlap with the Wanderers as old boys of Eton and Charterhouse were eligible for both sides.
The club competed in the FA Cup in 1873, losing to Uxbridge F.C. in the first round. Given the overlap of membership with the Wanderers, most players preferred to play for the more successful club in Cup competition, and the Gitanos' one FA Cup tie saw only eight players turn up. [5] Those who did play were not the first choice players; of the line-up that faced the Royal Engineers that season, [6] only four played against Uxbridge, and two other players played instead for the Wanderers in the competition. The club did not enter the FA Cup again. [7]
The club gradually petered out over the 1870s, with competition for loyalty from the Old Etonians and Old Carthusians sides which gained more prominence over the decade. The club could still occasionally put out a strong side; Gitanos for instance gained a surprising 7–1 win over the Old Etonians - at the time the FA Cup holders - to open the 1879–80 season at Eton College. [8] It was still registered as a member of the Football Association in 1882 [9] but it does not seem to have played after meeting Westminster School in January 1881. [10]
The club wore scarlet, violet, and white, in broad "stripes", [11] which in the context of the time referred to hoops.
As the club's name - being Spanish for "gypsy" - suggested, the club played most of its matches away from home; it originally declared it had no ground [12] and 16 of its 18 matches in 1873 for instance were at the opponent's venue. It did however host two games at Lillie Bridge that year. [13] In 1874 the club gained a tenancy at the Prince's Cricket Ground. [14]
In 1891, an article in Fores's Sporting Notes reviewed a copy of the 1874 Football Annual and commented on how clubs had come and gone over time. The 1874 annual listed less than 200 football clubs in all of England, and by 1891 the author asked "what has become of such old giants as the Gitanos, Harrow Chequers, Pilgrims, and Woodford Wells." [15]
Wanderers Football Club was an English association football club. It was founded as "Forest Football Club" in 1859 in Leytonstone. In 1864, it changed its name to "Wanderers", a reference to it never having a home stadium, instead playing at various locations in London and the surrounding area. Comprising mainly former pupils of the leading English public schools, Wanderers was one of the dominant teams in the early years of organised football and won the inaugural Football Association Challenge Cup in 1872. The club won the competition five times in total, including three in succession from 1876 to 1878, a feat which has been repeated only once.
The Old Etonians Association Football Club is an English association football club whose players are alumni of Eton College, in Eton, Berkshire.
Charles William Alcock was an English sportsman, administrator, author and editor. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of the FA Cup.
Old Carthusians Football Club is an association football club whose players are former pupils of Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, England. The club was established in 1876 and won the FA Cup in 1881, as well as the FA Amateur Cup in 1894 and 1897. The club currently plays in the Arthurian League and have won the 'double' of league and Arthur Dunn Cup in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
The 1876 FA Cup final was a football match between Wanderers and Old Etonians on 11 March 1876 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the fifth final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup. Wanderers had won the Cup on two previous occasions. The Etonians were playing in their second consecutive final, having lost in the 1875 final. Both teams had conceded only one goal in the four rounds prior to the final. In the semi-finals Wanderers defeated Swifts and the Etonians beat the 1874 FA Cup winners Oxford University.
Albert Childers Meysey-Thompson was an English barrister and an amateur footballer who played for Wanderers in the 1872 FA Cup Final and for Old Etonians in the 1875 and 1876 FA Cup Finals.
Hertfordshire Rangers F.C. was a 19th-century English amateur football team based in Watford, Hertfordshire. It competed in the FA Cup and had two players represent England in international matches.
George Hubert Hugh Heron was an English footballer who made five appearances as a forward for England in the 1870s and won three FA Cup winners' medals.
Old Westminsters F.C. is an association football club composed of former pupils of Westminster School, London, England. They play in the Arthurian League.
Swifts Football Club were a football team based in Slough, England.
Shropshire Wanderers F.C. was an amateur association football club based in Shrewsbury, England. The club was active during the 1870s and once reached the FA Cup semi-finals.
Crusaders Football Club was an English association football club based in London. It was a founder member of the Football Association.
The West Kent Football Club was a 19th century association football and rugby football club that was notable for being one of the twenty-one founding members of the Rugby Football Union, as well as producing a number of international players in the sport's early international fixtures.
Edgar Lubbock LLB was an English amateur footballer who twice won the FA Cup and played first-class cricket. He later became a partner in the Whitbread Brewery, a director and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and the Master of the Blankney Foxhounds.
Harrow Chequers Football Club was a football club from London, England in the 1860s to early 1890s. It played as the Harrow Chequers from 1865 to 1876, when it was then renamed the Old Harrovians, and continued play until at least 1891. Derived from former pupils of Harrow School, the club was involved in the formation of the FA Cup in 1871. It was slated to play in three of the first six FA Cup competitions in the 1870s, but they forfeited each time, and never contested an FA Cup match as the Chequers. One of their players, however, Morton Betts, is remembered for scoring the first goal in the first ever FA Cup Final in 1872, which is essentially all that is remembered today of the club. However, as the Old Harrovians, the team had some more success, including reaching the semifinals of the 1877–78 FA Cup.
Farningham F.C. was a short-lived English association football club from the village of Farningham in Kent.
Alexander Tod was an English amateur footballer who scored for Old Carthusians in its 1881 FA Cup Final win.
Matthew George Farrer was a footballer and barrister, who won two FA Cup runners-up medals, and who also had great success in rowing.
Charles Edward Farmer was a footballer and solicitor, who won an FA Cup runners-up medal.
Francis Heathcote Wilson was an association footballer and barrister who played in the 1875 and 1876 FA Cup finals.