Linfield Football Club is a Northern Irish professional football club based in south Belfast which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Irish League. The fourth-oldest club on the island of Ireland, Linfield was founded as Linfield Athletic Club in March 1886 by workers at the Ulster Spinning Company's Linfield Mill. Since 1905, the club's home ground has been Windsor Park, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland national team and is the largest football stadium in Northern Ireland. The club's badge displays Windsor Castle, in reference to the ground's namesake.
James Daniel Ross was a Scottish footballer who played as an inside forward.
Harry Wood was a professional footballer who played most of his career as an inside forward for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton.
David Weir was an English footballer who played for several clubs in the 19th century, including Bolton Wanderers and Ardwick, and won two caps for England.
Dundee Wanderers Football Club was a football club based in Dundee, Scotland. They were formed in 1894 as a result of a merger between two local clubs, Wanderers and Strathmore. The club was briefly a member of the Scottish Football League (SFL), playing in Division Two during the 1894–95 season, but after finishing second from bottom of the league they failed re-election. In December 1894 the suffered an all-time record SFL defeat, losing 15–1 to Airdrieonians. Their home ground was Clepington Park.
John Barton, known as Jack Barton, was an English footballer. He played at international level once for England while on the books of Blackburn Rovers.
The 1888–89 Football League was the first edition of the Football League, which ran from the autumn of 1888 until the spring of 1889. Created and named in Manchester during a meeting on 17 April 1888, the Football League is the oldest professional association football league competition in the world.
Thomas Pearson was an English footballer who played at inside-left.
John Barr Gordon was a Scottish professional footballer of the 1880s and 1890s.
James Trainer was a Welsh association football player of the Victorian era. He was named the best goalkeeper of the English Football League several years in a row starting with the initial season of 1888–89, when he was part of the unbeaten Preston North End team nicknamed "The Invincibles".
Arthur Lowder was an English international footballer of the 1880s and 1890s who played as a left half with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 1889–90 season was the eighth season in the history of Burnley Football Club and their second in the Football League. Burnley ended the season in 11th position with a record of 4 wins, 5 draws and 13 defeats. As a result, the club was forced to apply for re-election to the League for the following season; the application was successful and Burnley retained their berth for the 1890–91 campaign. Burnley lost eight consecutive matches between 9 November 1889 and 22 February 1890 and did not achieve their first win in the League until 1 March 1890, when they beat Bolton Wanderers 7–0. The team was knocked out by Sheffield United in the First Round of the FA Cup, but they had success in the Lancashire Senior Cup, beating Rossendale United, Higher Walton and Haydock on the way to the final, where they defeated rivals Blackburn Rovers by two goals to nil.
Thomas Widdowson was an English footballer who played in The Football League for Notts County.
Arthur Wilkinson, born in 1868, was an English footballer who played in The Football League for Accrington.
Joe Cooper, also known as Joseph Cooper, also known as Jeremiah Cooper was an English footballer who played for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Woolwich Arsenal. Joseph Cooper was a strong running inside–forward always running for the ball.
Joseph Pearson was an English footballer who played as a midfielder. Pearson did not make his league debut until his second season (1889–90) at Bolton Wanderers. However, he was selected to play left-half in their 3 FA Cup ties in the 1888–1889 season. In the first 2 ties against Hurst and West Manchester, Pearson was part of a midfield that helped to achieve 2 clean-sheets, but Bolton were unable to score as both games ended 0–0. However, on 17 November 1888. Pearson and his team were well beaten by Irish club, Linfield Athletic, with the final score being 4–0 to Linfield. He played one league match for Liverpool on 3 September 1892 against Higher Walton in the 1892–93 season.
G. Owen was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers. He played in the inaugural Football League season of 1888–89 and played 7 matches and scored three goals. His debut was on 8 December 1888, at Leamington Road, Blackburn, then home of Blackburn Rovers. Owen replaced Davie Weir at centre-forward, the latter had moved to right-half. Within 8 minutes of the start Wanderers were 2–0 down and then got one back. As the half wore on both sides had chances to score but Wanderers got an equaliser to make it 2–2 at half-time. With the 2nd half under way again both teams could have taken the lead. However, Wanderers did get a grip on the match as they took a 4–2 lead. But Rovers, one of the best teams of 1888–89, came back and made it 4–4 at full-time. Owen's debut goal was scored on 22 December 1888 at Pike's Lane, Bolton, when the visitors were Accrington. The first half was tight and Wanderers' goal, to give them a 1–0 lead, was controversial, as Accrington players claimed the ball had gone over the bar, not under. Accrington equalised early in the second half, but then Wanderers ran away with it with Owen's debut goal completing the scoring at 4–1. Owen's last game of the season was on 5 March 1889. He made 3 appearances at inside left, 3 at outside left and 1 at centre forward. Wanderers finished the season in 5th place. Owen scored 3 goals and assisted Wanderers to score 63 goals in 22 games, the 3rd highest of the season. Owen only played the one season.
Walter Rushton was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers.
William Barbour was a Scottish footballer who played in the English Football League for Accrington and Bury football clubs.
E. Siddons was an English footballer who played in The Football League for Bolton Wanderers, in the late 19th century.
