Woodford Bridge F.C.

Last updated

Woodford Bridge
Full nameWoodford Bridge Football Club
Nickname(s)the Bridge [1]
Founded1880;142 years ago (1880)
Dissolvedc. 1886;136 years ago (1886)
GroundGlen Hall, Snakes Lane

Woodford Bridge FC was an English association football club based in Woodford Bridge, Essex. The club was founded in 1880 and entered the FA Cup from 1881-82 to 1883-84 without winning a tie.

The club's second FA Cup entry, in 1882-83, saw it drawn to play the Royal Engineers, who, although a shadow of their former selves, still easily won 3–1, despite the Bridge taking a wind-assisted early lead. [2]

The club claimed a successful season in 1884–85, winning 13 of its 22 matches, [3] and reaching the final of the second Essex Senior Cup. The club survived a protest from the Forest Rangers club from Epping over whether one of the Bridge players (Pottinger) was genuinely a member of the club, although, given that Woodford Bridge had won the tie 7–1, the protest was considered to be nothing but a "waste of time". [4] In the semi-final the club beat Colchester (Town) at Brentwood by the same scoreline, [5] but lost to the Old Foresters in the final at Chelmsford 7–0, in a match that only lasted 75 minutes as the referee called for time after half-an-hour in the second half; by the time he had been persuaded to bring the teams back for the last 15 minutes, many of the Bridge players had already left. [6]

Despite this successful competition run, the club did not enter the FA Cup for 1885–86, and that season was knocked out in the third round of the Essex competition by competition debutants Ilford. [7]

The club was still active at the start of the 1886–87 season, being represented at the Essex County Football Association half-yearly meeting, [8] but there are no reported matches for the club thereafter. The next reference to a club in the town after this is to Woodford F.C. in 1896, which was almost certainly a separate club. [9]

Colours

According to the Charles Alcock annuals, the club's colours were blue and amber for 1880–81, blue and white for 1881–1884, and dark blue with an amber Maltese cross for 1884–85. In practice these all probably refer to the same design.

Related Research Articles

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". Comprising mainly former pupils of the leading English public schools, Wanderers was one of the dominant teams of the early years of organised football and won the Football Association Challenge Cup on five occasions, including defeating Royal Engineers in the first FA Cup final in 1872.

Blackburn Olympic F.C. Association football club

Blackburn Olympic Football Club was an English football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire in the late 19th century. Although the club was only in existence for just over a decade, it is significant in the history of football in England as the first club from the north of the country and the first from a working-class background to win the country's leading competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup. The cup had previously been won only by teams of wealthy amateurs from the Home counties, and Olympic's victory marked a turning point in the sport's transition from a pastime for upper-class gentlemen to a professional sport.

Long Eaton Rangers Football Club was a football club based in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England, which, for a brief period in the 1880s, had a legitimate claim to being one of the best teams in the country. They were founding members of the second ever league, The Combination, in 1888, and when that folded, the Football Alliance in 1889.

The 1884 FA Cup Final was a football match between Blackburn Rovers and Queen's Park contested on 29 March 1884 at the Kennington Oval. It was the showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, it was the 13th Cup final. It was the first time that a Scottish team reached the final of the tournament, with Queen's Park knocking out the previous holders of the trophy en route.

John Rawlinson (politician) English barrister, politician and footballer

John Frederick Peel Rawlinson was an English barrister, politician and footballer. An amateur, he won the FA Cup with Old Etonians in 1882 and made one appearance for England in 1882 playing as a goalkeeper, before serving as a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University from 1906 to 1926.

Witton Football Club was a football club from Blackburn in Lancashire.

Clopton Allen Lloyd-Jones was an English businessman and amateur sportsman, best known for football and cricket. He played for the Clapham Rovers when they won the FA Cup in 1880 and was selected, but did not play, for Wales as an international.

Spilsby Town F.C. Association football club in England

Spilsby Town F.C. is an English football club based in Spilsby, Lincolnshire. They play in the Boston & District League Premier Division, outside the English football league system.

Brentwood Football Club was an English football club based in Brentwood, Essex, playing at the County Cricket Ground at Shenfield Road. From 1886 the club was known as Crusaders F.C.

Acton was an English association football club, founded in 1873 under the name St Stephens (Westminster). In 1879 the club changed its name to Acton F.C. and moved to a ground near the Mill Hill Tavern, Gunnersbury Lane, Acton.

Lower Darwen F.C. was an English association football club from the village of Lower Darwen in Lancashire.

Bolton Olympic F.C. was an English association football club from Bolton in Lancashire.

Bradshaw F.C. was an English association football club from the village of Bradshaw Brow, near Bolton in Lancashire.

Rossendale Football Club was an amateur football club based in the village of Newchurch within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. The club was founded in 1877 and was a founder member of the Lancashire League in 1889–90; however the club folded at the end of the 1896–97 season.

Darwen Old Wanderers F.C. was an English association football club from the town of Darwen in Lancashire.

Notts Olympic Football Club was an English football club from the Radford district of Nottingham.

Fishwick Ramblers F.C. was an English association football club from Preston in Lancashire.

United London Scottish Football Club was an English football club, founded in 1883.

Mellors Limited Football Club, also variously given as Mellors' or Mellor's Limited, was an English football club from Nottingham.

References

  1. ↑ "The Semi-Final of the Essex Association Cup". Essex Standard: 6. 21 February 1885.
  2. ↑ "Royal Engineers 3-1 Woodford Bridge". The Field: 620. 28 October 1882.
  3. ↑ Alcock, Charles (1885). Football Annual. p. 243.
  4. ↑ "Essex Football Association". Essex Standard: 2. 31 January 1885.
  5. ↑ "The Semi-Final of the Essex Association Cup". Essex Standard: 6. 21 February 1885.
  6. ↑ "Essex Association Challenge Cup". Essex Standard: 8. 21 March 1885.
  7. ↑ "The Essex Football Association Challenge Cup". Essex Standard: 5. 3 April 1886.
  8. ↑ "Essex County Football Association". Essex Standard: 6. 28 August 1886.
  9. ↑ "London Results". Lloyd's Illustrated Newspaper: 20. 11 October 1896.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.