| Full name | Rotherham Swifts Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | the Swifts | |
| Founded | 1888 | |
| Dissolved | 1891 | |
| Ground | The Holmes | |
| Capacity | 4,000 | |
| Secretary | Fred Mickelthwait | |
Rotherham Swifts F.C. was an association football club from Kimberworth, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, England, active in the 19th century.
The first reference to the club is from July 1888, when a representative attended a meeting of 22 clubs to arrange fixtures before the 1888–89 season. [1] The club had enough members to field two XIs on its first match weekend in September 1888 (helped by recruiting several players from Ecclesfield), [2] the first XI losing at Eckington Works, and the second XI beating Junior Cup champions Carbrook Church at home. [3]
It also entered the FA Cup that season, although the competition now had qualifying rounds, and the Swifts were eliminated in the first qualifying round at Park Grange. [4] The club finished its first season with a £3 profit on income of £110. [5]
The Swifts' best run in the national cup came in 1889–90; after hammering an under-strength Owlerton 9–1 - away from home - in the first qualifying round [6] and going nap at Whitby in the second, [7] it was drawn to host the senior club in Rotherham, Rotherham Town, in the third. The tie ended goalless, an attempt to play 30 minutes of extra-time being curtailed when darkness fell after 10; [8] the replay also went to extra-time, Town this time apparently winning 2–1. [9]
However the match had ended 6 minutes early, and a successful Swifts protest [10] saw the final 6 minutes being played off on 2 December, as a curtain-raiser to the Sheffield Football Association match against the Cheshire Football Association, which fortuitously had already been arranged to take place at Town's Clifton Lane ground; owing to injuries both sides only fielded 10 men, and Town scored a third goal in the extra time. [11] Several of the players - the Swifts' Pearce, Whittam, Howell, and Watson, and Town's Rodgers, Cross, Longden, and Bridgewater - played in the main event for the Sheffield FA. [12]
The Rotherham sides also met in the third round of the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup the same season, Town this time winning at the first time of asking, 3–2 at the Swifts' Holmes ground. [13]
The club was a founder member of the Midland Alliance, a competition at a level below the Midland League (in which Rotherham Town played), in 1890. [14] However, after three games, the Swifts withdrew, [15] finding the costs of travel to be too great, and, before its resignation was accepted, applied to join the Sheffield & District League. [16] Its Alliance record of one win, one draw, and one defeat was expunged. [17]
The obvious problem for the club was that Town had already secured the support of Rotherham, and, when the clubs played home matches on the same day, the crowds headed for Town rather than Swifts. [18] The club duly dissolved before the 1891–92 season. There was a sad aftermath in May 1892, when former goalkeeper Thomas Pearce drowned himself in the canal near the Swifts' ground; a verdict of suicide by temporary insanity (blamed on being "troubled about his love affairs") was returned. [19]
The club wore blue and amber stripes. [20]
The club's first home match was played at the Richmond Park Ground in Kimberworth. [21] From November 1888 it played at the Holmes, [22] which hosted the replay of the Sheffield Cup in 1890, won by Rotherham Town. [23] The Swifts used the Pigeon Cote Inn on Steel Street for facilities. [24]
The highest recorded attendance at the ground was 4,000, for the FA Cup qualifying tie with Rotherham Town on 16 November 1889. [25]
The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92.
Sunderland Albion Football Club was an English association football club based in Sunderland, England, formed in 1888. The club played in the Football Alliance, a rival to the Football League, before disbanding in 1892.
Ecclesfield is a village and civil parish in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) north of Sheffield City Centre. Ecclesfield civil parish had a population of 32,073 at the 2011 Census. Ecclesfield wards of the City of Sheffield had a population of 35,994 in 2011. The population of Ecclesfield village stood at 7,163 in the most recent census.
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The 1889–90 Football Alliance was the first season of the Football Alliance, an association football league which was set up in England as an alternative to The Football League, which had begun in the 1888–89 season. A proposal that the Football League be expanded to 24 teams was rejected, so a new league was formed to cater for those excluded. Twelve clubs were accepted for membership, the same number as in the Football League, and they were drawn from a similar geographical area, stretching from the Midlands to the North West, but also further east in Sheffield, Grimsby and Sunderland.
Notts Rangers Football Club was an English football club, founded in 1868 under the name Nottingham St James. They became Nottingham Rangers in 1880 and by 1886 were habitually referred to as Notts Rangers.
The 1889–90 season was the first in existence for Sheffield United. Having not been elected to any organised league at that point they predominantly played friendly fixtures but did enter the FA Cup for the first time as well as locally arranged cup competitions The Sheffield Challenge Cup and the Wharncliffe Charity Cup. The club did not employ a manager in this period; tactics and team selection were decided by The Football Committee and the players were coached by a trainer. J.B. Wostinholm held the position of club secretary, dealing with player transfers and contracts, arranging matches and dealing with the FA. The first season was deemed a reasonable success with steady attendances to home games and progress in the FA Cup although the fluctuating nature of the team meant that consistency was never really achieved.
The 1890–91 season was Sheffield United's second, and their first and only season playing in the newly formed Midland Counties League, as the club sought to establish itself as a major footballing force. The team was selected by the club's football committee and coached by a trainer, but day-to-day affairs were overseen by club secretary Joseph Wostinholm. The club saw a large influx of players during the season as it continued to bolster its numbers with amateurs loaned or signed from other teams in the local area, a policy that resulted in an unsettled side, indifferent league results, and a mid-table finish.
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The 1890–91 season was the tenth season of competitive association football played by Small Heath Football Club, an English football club based in the Small Heath district of Birmingham, and their second season in the Football Alliance. They finished in tenth position in the twelve-team league for the second consecutive year. Seven wins, two draws and thirteen defeats gave them sixteen points, one point fewer than in 1889–90. The team scored 58 goals in Alliance competition, but conceded 66, at an average of three goals per match.
The 1889–90 season was the ninth season of competitive association football played by Small Heath F.C., an English football club based in the Small Heath district of Birmingham. They competed in the inaugural season of the Football Alliance. They finished in tenth position in the twelve-team league with six wins, five draws and eleven defeats, which gave them seventeen points. The team scored 44 goals in Alliance competition but conceded 67.
Ecclesfield F.C. was an English association football club based in Ecclesfield, South Yorkshire.
Eckington Works Football Club was an English association football club based in Eckington, Derbyshire.
Halliwell F.C. was an English association football club based in Halliwell, in north-west Bolton.
The Midland Alliance was an association football league for teams in the Midlands of England, which ran for three seasons in the 1890s.
